Abstract
Asian-Americans are one of the most understudied racial/ethnic minority populations. To increase representation of Asian subgroups, researchers have traditionally relied on data collection at community venues and events. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has created serious challenges for in-person data collection. In this case study, we describe multi-modal strategies for online recruitment of U.S. Vietnamese parents, compare response rates and participant characteristics among strategies, and discuss lessons learned. We recruited 408 participants from community-based organizations (CBOs) (n = 68), Facebook groups (n = 97), listservs (n = 4), personal network (n = 42), and snowball sampling (n = 197). Using chi-square tests and one-way analyses of variance, we compared participants recruited through different strategies regarding sociodemographic characteristics, acculturation-related characteristics, and mobile health usage. The overall response rate was 71.8% (range: 51.5% for Vietnamese CBOs to 86.6% for Facebook groups). Significant differences exist for all sociodemographic and almost all acculturation-related characteristics among recruitment strategies. Notably, CBO-recruited participants were the oldest, had lived in the U.S. for the longest duration, and had the lowest Vietnamese language ability. We found some similarities between Facebook-recruited participants and those referred by Facebook-recruited participants. Mobile health usage was high and did not vary based on recruitment strategies. Challenges included encountering fraudulent responses (e.g., non-Vietnamese). Perceived benefits and trust appeared to facilitate recruitment. Facebook and snowball sampling may be feasible strategies to recruit U.S. Vietnamese. Findings suggest the potential for mobile-based research implementation. Perceived benefits and trust could encourage participation and may be related to cultural ties. Attention should be paid to recruitment with CBOs and handling fraudulent responses.
Highlights
Asians are the fastest growing racial/ethnic groups in the U.S [1], with a population of more than 18 million as of 2019 (6% of the total population) [2], which is projected to grow to 41 million (9% of the total population) by 2050 [3]
Attention should be paid to recruitment with community-based organizations (CBOs) and handling fraudulent responses
According to the 2019 American Community Survey, 74% and 31% of the Asian population in the U.S reported that they spoke a language other than English and that they spoke English less than "very well," respectively [2]
Summary
Asians are the fastest growing racial/ethnic groups in the U.S [1], with a population of more than 18 million as of 2019 (6% of the total population) [2], which is projected to grow to 41 million (9% of the total population) by 2050 [3]. When Asian-American participants are included, research typically aggregates Asian subgroups into one single category [6,7,8] instead of providing data for separate subgroups. This trend masks important subgroup differences, as AsianAmericans are extraordinarily heterogeneous, comprising of people from over 30 countries and speaking over 100 languages/dialects, with diverse socioeconomic status, religious and cultural backgrounds, immigration histories, and patterns of health services utilization [8,9,10,11]. We describe multi-modal strategies for online recruitment of U.S Vietnamese parents, compare response rates and participant characteristics among strategies, and discuss lessons learned
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