Sampling Migrants via Facebook Advertisements - A New Method … · 2020-04-02 · Estimated reach1 Unique users reached with ads1 1 Payed link clicks Completed questionnaires2 Austria

Sampling Migrants via Facebook Advertisements

Steffen Pötzschke & Michael Braun

International Forum on Migration Statistics, Cairo January 20, 2020.

A New Method to Improve (Cross-National) Data on H2R Populations

Why sample migrants using Facebook? Balance shortcomings of established methods

(especially in cross-national research): Availability of sampling frames in all countries (e.g.,

population reg., telephone books); Limitation in geographic range (at reasonable costs) (e.g.,

random route sampling); Increasing costs the smaller the target population (e.g.,

random digit dialing, random route sampling); Likelihood of systematic undercoverage of specific

subpopulations (e.g., onomastic sampling using telephone book);

Target population must be included in sampling frame (e.g., onomastic sampling using telephone book).

(See: Andreß & Careja, 2018; Reichel & Morales, 2017, Pötzschke, 2015)

Sampling Migrants via Facebook Advertisements | Pötzschke & Braun

2

General research interest: (How) Could Facebook be used to sample migrants?

Could this sampling procedure be used to amend existing methods? Why would it be a good idea? Size (e.g., in 2018: Facebook 2.32 billion active users per month worldwide [Facebook, 2019];

Geographic coverage; (Potentially) Allows sampling of:

Individuals without telephone connection, Small and scattered populations, Very mobile and transnationally active populations.

Sampling vias Facebook advertisements: Use of FB’s business model No gate-keeper/ need for direct cooperation

approach open to all researchers; No direct access to user data needed: Approach is fully covered by FB’s terms

of use; Similar research existed, but mainly medical & health studies realized in USA

(e.g., Arcia, 2014; Chu & Snider, 2013; Ramo & Prochaska, 2012; literature review: Whitaker, Stevelink, & Fear, 2017).


3

Basic survey parameters

Online survey (completion time approx. 14 min.);

Sampling via Facebook advertisements;

Targeting Polish migrants in Austria, Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (aged 18 and above);

Questionnaire could be reached via advertisement link or the project’s Facebook page;

Questionnaire, ads and FB page in Polish only;

Field period (survey): November 18, 2015 to January 13, 2016.


4

Settings of the Facebook ad campaign

Campaign objective: “Send people to your website” Welcome page of our online survey;

Targeting variables (phrasing according to options offered by FB): Behaviors: ‘expats (Poland)’ and ‘away from hometown’, Location: Austria, Ireland, Switzerland & United Kingdom

‘people who live in this location’, Age: ‘18-65+’, Sex: ‘All’.

Fielding and costs of the campaign

Campaign period: November 18 to December 17, 2015; Total Budget: €500 ($557) approx. €17 ($19)/day; Five advertisements:

All text components equal, Only the used pictures differed, No incentives offered.


5

Poles in Europe – Mobility

and communication

Are you from Poland but live

in another country? If so, you

are invited to participate in

our survey.

Design of the advertismeent


6 Copyright information pertaining to the picture used in the shown advertisement: Igor Mojzes/ Fotolia.com.

Estimated reach1

Unique users reached

with ads1

Payed link

clicks1

Completed

questionnaires2

Austria 15,000 7,918 408 127

Ireland 54,000 28,107 1,314 455

Switzerland 9,000 3,432 215 72

UK 410,000 50,979 1,257 434

Source of absolute figures: 1 Facebook advertisement statistics; 2 Based on para data. Only respondents who reached the questionnaire via the Facebook advertisements.

1,103 completed questionnaires; 1,100 with the advertisement period (i.e., first four weeks); Survey costs per completed questionnaire: €0.45 ($0.50).

Results (overview)


7

Accuracy of targeting

99% of the respondents were Polish migrants;

98% identified as residents of one of the target countries;

98% were at least 18 years old.


8

Accuracy of targeting

99% of the respondents were Polish migrants;

98% identified as residents of one of the target countries;

98% were at least 18 years old.

Compliance with all targeting criteria

1.055 respondents = 96 % of the sample


8

Reachability of respondents via telephone based sampling

97 % of the 1,000 migrant respondents used a country of residence (CoR) mobile number;

Only 42% lived in a household which had a landline connection;

Only 14% of the respondents were included in the CoR telephone book.

98% could, theoretically, be reached with expensive RDD (mobile and landline numbers combined);

86% of the respondents were very unlikely to be reached with onomastic sampling.


9

Level of education (in %)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Ireland UnitedKingdom

Austria Switzerland

Doctoral degree or higher[ISCED 6]

Higher education (universitydegree) [ISCED 5]

Post-secondary education[ISCED 4C]

Secondary education [ISCED3A]

Vocational education [ISCED3C]

Completed elementary school,8 classes [ISCED 2]

(n=444) (n= 426) (n= 122) (n= 69)


10

Gender distribution of Polish nationals (in %)

Sources pop. statistics for 2016: Eurostat 2019 (Austria, Switzerland & UK); Central Statistics Office 2019 (Ireland).

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Population statistics Survey

male female

Austria (survey n=111)

Ireland (survey n=440)

Switzerland (survey n=69)

United Kingdom (survey n= 424)


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Conclusions & discussion

The usefulness of social networking sites for migration research goes beyond their character as ‘big data’ repositories.

Facebook’s targeting mechanism works as advertised; Technique is cost-efficient and not dependent on incentives; Analytically relevant sample sizes can be reached within short time; Sample characteristics:

Overrepresentation of female respondents, Predominantly well-educated respondents; But: More sophisticated design of advertisement campaigns might reduce

these biases;

Main limitation: convenience sample; Technique is suitable, e.g.:

as part of a cross-national sampling strategy; to survey otherwise hard-to-reach populations.


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Thank you for your attention!

For further details see: Pötzschke, Steffen and Michael Braun. 2017. "Migrant Sampling using Facebook Advertisements: A Case Study of Polish Migrants in Four European Countries." Social Science Computer Review 35 (5): 633-653. doi:10.1177/0894439316666262.

Contact:

Steffen Pötzschke ([email protected])

@stpoetzschke

https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316666262

mailto:[email protected]

https://twitter.com/stpoetzschke

https://twitter.com/stpoetzschke

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http://www.eucross.eu/cms/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=91&Itemid=157




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Sampling Migrants via Facebook Advertisements - A New Method … · 2020-04-02 · Estimated reach1 Unique users reached with ads1 1 Payed link clicks Completed questionnaires2 Austria