Recruitment

The success of any human subject research project is usually only as good as the researcher’s ability to recruit the proper participants. Common limitations of empirical research studies usually include small sample sizes and/or samples that are not representative of the population. Small and/or nonrepresentative samples could result for a number of reasons (e.g., limited funding, time, access to the population of interest); however, effective recruitment is often a factor. Recruitment is the act of enlisting people for a certain cause, in this case, participation in a research experiment. This entry discusses different methods of recruitment and strategies to improve recruitment methods.