The lecture “Insights from a Decade of Meta Advertisement-Based Survey Recruitment: Methods, Applications, and Pitfalls” will be delivered by Dr. Steffen Pötzschke from GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (Mannheim, Germany).
When: 9.12.2025, 12:30-14:00
Where: BRISPO Main Conference Room (5.2.03)
This event will be held in person. Everyone is welcome to bring their lunch along.
Abstract:
Sampling is a pivotal step in survey research, as it fundamentally shapes data quality and determines the scope of feasible analyses. The choice of sampling method and frame affects representativeness and hence influences the types of research questions that may be addressed. In recent years, social media advertisement-based recruitment - particularly via Facebook and Instagram - has emerged as a valuable strategy for survey research, especially when targeting hard-to-reach populations and in contexts of time-sensitive data collection. Drawing on a decade of practical experience, this seminar will share critical insights and lessons learned from deploying Meta advertisements in a diverse array of survey contexts. Case examples range from national and cross-national projects, targeting voluntary migrants, refugees, and specific occupational groups to sampling Germany’s general population. The talk will outline the overarching methodology, offer guidance on best practices, and discuss the advantages and inherent limitations of this approach. Special attention will be paid to common pitfalls and methodological trade-offs of advertisement-based survey sampling.
About the speaker:
Steffen Pötzschke is deputy team leader of the GESIS Panel, project consultant and (tenured) senior researcher in the Survey Design and Methodology Department at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (Mannheim, Germany). Furthermore, he is a corresponding member of the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (University of Osnabrück, Germany), and co-chair of the IMISCOE Standing Committee Methodological Approaches and Tools in Migration Research. His research interests include survey methodology, migration research methods, (forced) migration and transnationalism. Together with Sebastian Rinken, he edited the collection Migration Research in a Digitized World: Using Innovative Technology to Tackle Methodological Challenges (Springer, open access, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01319-5).
Steffen.Poetzschke@gesis.org | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1039-275X | https://bsky.app/profile/stpoetzschke.bsky.social
