Navigating Nightlife Research: Understanding the Impact of Recruitment Methods on Participants’ Reported Characteristics

Street-intercept interviews are the gold standard recruitment method in night-time economy research; however, online recruitment methods are an important tool for researchers, particularly when conducting pilot projects or when resources are limited. The two studies presented aim to further our understanding of how key outcome variables relevant to nightlife research vary between samples recruited through different methods. Study 1 compared survey data from a Qualtrics online panel sample ( n  = 475) and a social media sample ( n  = 465) on key outcome variables including: frequency of alcohol consumption, pre-drinking and experiences of nightlife-related aggression and harassment in the past 12 months. Study 2 compared experiences of nightlife harassment within the last 3 months across the Qualtrics panel online survey sample and a street-intercept interview sample ( n  = 223). Analyses were split by participant gender. For Study 1, chi-square analyses indicated that female social media participants were significantly more likely to report experiences of sexual harassment within night-time entertainment precincts within the past 12 months compared to female panel participants ( p  < .001). Several demographic differences also emerged across samples. In Study 2, female street-interview participants were significantly more likely to report both sexual ( p  < .01) and physical ( p  < .001) harassment in night-time entertainment precincts within the last 3 months compared to female panel participants. There were no such differences across methodology type for male participants. The current study demonstrated that the proportion of participants reporting harms within the nighttime economy differed based on the data collection method used. The findings suggest that researchers should be cautious about underreporting females’ experiences of nightlife-related sexual and physical harassment when utilising samples from online panel providers. The findings may assist researchers in selecting the most appropriate participant recruitment method, given their specific research question.