Mobilise Data report: online surveys, Wave 1

The MOBILISE project examines why some people respond to discontent by protesting, others by migrating while yet others stay immobile. It focuses on four countries that have seen outmigration and protest in recent year (Ukraine, Poland, Morocco and Argentina) and migrants from these countries who live in Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. Migrants were surveyed online and recruited into the sample through Facebook advertising. MOBILISE also conducted online surveys of the national populations of Argentina and Ukraine. This report explains why MOBILISE choose to recruit the sample through Facebook advertisements and provides detailed information on the set-up of the sampling. It also present an overview of the effectiveness of this method, in terms of costs, reach and bias, and of issues encountered. We find that sampling through Facebook advertisements is a cost-effective way to obtaining a large sample. The method seems particularly effective in reaching recent migrants and reaching migrants from small communities. There is some indication of a bias in gender, education and political interest. The papers ends with recommendations on the use of this approach for future surveys.