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Table 1 Types of digital tool for recruitment evaluated in the studies

From: Digital tools for the recruitment and retention of participants in randomised controlled trials: a systematic map

Digital tool

Number of studies

% of recruitment studies (n = 96)

% of all studies (N = 105)

Internet site

51

53

49

Social media

40

42

38

email

30

31

29

Television or radio

30

31

29

Automated screening to identify potential participants 

22

23

21

Internet forum

5

5

5

Smartphone or tablet App

5

5

5

Video

5

5

5

Automated identification of trials for which people are potentially eligible 

4

4

4

Instant-messaging or text-messaging

4

4

4

Automated telephone call

2

2

2

Other computer programme

2

2

2

Chatbot

1

1

1

Crowd-sourcing platform

1

1

1

 Virtual snowballing

1

1

1

Smartphone or tablet other use

1

1

1

Internet pop-up advertisements

0

0

0

Digital lecture/presentation (e.g. PowerPoint)

0

0

0

Others

16

17

15

  1. Note: studies could use more than one tool type, so the total number of studies and the percentages do not summate to N = 96 and 100%, respectively.