Effective recruitment and retention for online surveys

Researchers using online study methods can face special challenges in recruiting and retaining participants. Participants in online studies are almost always self-selected and dropout rates can be high. The problem of self-selection can be balanced by the fact that using the Internet can be an excellent way to recruit participants from special interest groups. Researchers will need to make special efforts to recruit participants from groups under-represented on the Internet. Dropout rates can be reduced by offering incentives, keeping surveys and experiments short, and testing online studies for usability.