VI Social Media Recruitment Tips
Recruitment advice for recruiting blind participants on social media platforms.
Searching for Participants
On Instagram
It's easiest to find eligible families via hashtags: #BlindBaby, #BlindToddler, and #BlindKidsCan are popular. Before contacting families, it's good to check that the child is probably within target age range (6-30 months) and that the family seems to be in the U.S. (important for payment).
On Reddit
It's easiest to find specific subreddits that are dedicated to blindness and visual impairment, or to parenting, like r/Blind. Most subreddits of this type have a policy forbidding any and all recruitment posts, in order to prevent spam, but it is possible to find posts made by parents seeking community advice by searching the forum. It's good to make sure the post was made within the last year or two (at most) as a way to check eligibility. You can then reach out to the parent (the OP) via messages or chat.
On Facebook
Most Facebook pages are group pages (Parents of Blind Babies, NFB, AFB, Massachusetts Early Intervention). Messages to the group are often screened by moderators. You can only reach out to groups on Facebook from a personal account, not from the LDS account.
It's good to try and find some data on etiology to see whether the kiddo fits eligibility criteria. Micropthalmia, Albinism, Leber's Congenital Amauroma, Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, are all good candidates, but err always on the side of reaching out. Currently, we don't recruit kids with Cortical Visual Impairment.
Messaging Families
Initial Message
Hi! My name is [STUDY CONTACT], and I am a [LAB ROLE] in the Bergelson Lab at Harvard University. We study how infants learn words from the world around them. I’m reaching out because we’re looking for families with 6-30 month-old blind, Deaf, and DeafBlind infants for a research study which families can complete entirely from home. The study involves online surveys about the child’s vision history and language development, and there’s also an option to complete an audio recording of the child’s language environment. Families receive a $20 Visa or Amazon gift card for the surveys and an additional $35 for the language environment recording. Please let me know if you’re interested in more information about this research opportunity or if you might be willing or able to share our flyer or text about our study on your social media page.
Follow-Up Message
Hello! Just following up to see if you'd like to participate in our language development research! I'm happy to answer any questions :)
Family Responds Positively (Is Interested or Wants More Info)
Thank you for your interest! We are so happy to hear from you, and we hope you will see us as a resource in the future. We just have a few questions to confirm your child's eligibility! - What is your child's birthday? - Was your child born more than three weeks before their due date? - Does your child have severe to profound vision loss? Does your child have a diagnosis? - When did your child acquire vision loss? - Does your child have any history of hearing loss or ear infections? - Does your child have any additional disabilities? - Does your child hear any languages other than English on a regular basis? If so, what language and how many hours a week would you estimate?
If you're not comfortable disclosing the info in messages, that's totally okay, we will send you a Qualtrics survey link. If you're good with briefly mentioning these things, that's great.
Family Is Eligible and Interested (Child Under 18 months)
Wonderful! Thank you so much! The study involves 2 online surveys: the first is about children's demographics and family history (https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cClpQAM2XcHT18G) and the second asks about which words your child knows (Generate WG CDI link).
Once you're done, just let me know what the best email is for you to receive the gift card! :) Happy to answer any questions on here or at [email protected]. Thank you again for your help with our research!
Family Is Eligible and Interested (Child Over 18 months)
Wonderful! Thank you so much! The study involves 2 online surveys: the first is about children's demographics and family history (https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cClpQAM2XcHT18G) and the second asks about which words your child knows. There are two versions of this survey. If your child is already combining words together (like "Mommy up"), please use this link: Generate WS CDI link. If your child is combining words together just yet, please use this link: Generate WG CDI link.
Once you're done, just let me know what the best email is for you to receive the gift card! :) Happy to answer any questions on here or at [email protected]. Thank you again for your help with our research!
Family Is Not Eligible
Thank you so much for your response., and for taking the time to get back to us. We looked at your responses, and, unfortunately, currently your child is not eligible for this study. We are, unfortunately, constrained by very specific criteria we have to follow to make sure the group of kids we get is as uniform as possible, and that we look at a set of very specific variables at a time.
We would still love to have you as a participant for other studies where eligibility might be different. We will keep your information and if and when that changes we'll be sure to reach out to you. Again, please feel free to ask us questions or reach out, and we would be thrilled if you referred people you know to us, as well.
Family Wants More Info
Our lab studies vocabulary development in young children with visual impairments so that we can better understand how vision influences how children learn words. Here’s a link to our lab website! https://prod-bergelsonlab.drupalsites.harvard.edu/
We offer a couple of study options:
- Online surveys (8-48 months old): Families complete 2 online surveys, one about language development, and one about vision history and demographics. This helps us map out how blind infants develop vocabulary, and which factors influence language learning. Families receive a $20 Amazon gift card for completing the surveys
- Language recording (6-30 months old): We would mail you equipment to complete an at-home language recording, where your child would wear a vest with a special recorder in it (like a pedometer for words!) for one day. This helps us understand the link between the language children hear, and the words they learn! Families receive $55 for completing the recording (and accompanying surveys)
- (or, if you’re ever in Boston, we also have in-person studies!)
If you’re interested in completing the surveys, I’m posting the links here!
The first one is vision history and demographic information: https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cClpQAM2XcHT18G.
The second one is for language development. There are two versions of this survey, and you only need to complete one. If your child is already combining words together (like “Mommy up!”), please use this link: https://webcdi.stanford.edu/form/background/18354/. If your child is not yet combining words together, please use this link: https://webcdi.stanford.edu/form/background/18353/
Once you’re done with the surveys, just let me know what the best email address is for you to receive the Amazon gift card :)
Family Wants to Know If They'll Receive Study Results
Yes! We are hoping to complete this study by the end of next year, and we'll send a summary of the results to all of our participating families, as well as a link to the final article, when it's ready :) We also keep links to any published articles on our lab website: https://prod-bergelsonlab.drupalsites.harvard.edu/publications
Family Completed Surveys
Great-Thank you so much! I'll send it to our payment team, and it should arrive in your inbox this week! Would you like to be contacted if there are additional research opportunities you might be eligible for? (And if so, do you prefer [INSERT SOCIAL MEDIA] or email?)
Nudging Family to Complete Surveys
Hello, just checking in to see if you're still interested in participating :)
Sending updated links for your convenience if you'd still like to be a part of this study: demographics survey: https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cClpQAM2XcHT18G.
Language survey for infants combining words (like "Mommy up!") (WS CDI link) OR Language survey for infants not-yet combining words (WG CDI link)
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