"What’s so special about studying old people?". The ethical, methodological, and sampling issues surrounding the study ofolder adults and ICTs

Generational research surrounding technology use and trends is beginning to receive more attention. Most of this research has focused on the younger generations, while ignoring those generations at the older end of the age spectrum. As research of younger generations becomes more popular, it is likely that researching older generations will also grow in popularity. There are, however, several methodological, ethical, and sampling challenges that researchers must consider when researching older adults. We draw from our multi-disciplinary meta-analysis of 622 papers that study “older adults and ICTs” to illustrate our points. Sampling challenges, for example, include defining the population under study and the difficulties of obtaining a diverse population due to traditional recruiting strategies. The paper includes suggestions on how to address some of the pitfalls, and for future methodological development.