Recruiting Participants

In qualitative inquiry, recruitment refers to the process whereby the researcher identifies and invites (recruits) participants to join the study. Qualitative researchers strive to include participants who meet the study criteria and who represent the richest and most complex source of information (data) relevant to the phenomena being studied. The specific research questions will guide the choice of the research design that is best suited to address the study objectives.

A major element of the research design involves developing guidelines as to who will be recruited for the proposed study. “Inclusion” and “exclusion” criteria address who will be approached (involving criteria such as age group, diagnosis, geographic location, and ethnic background) and, on occasion, when they will be approached (e.g., requiring participants to be at a specific disease stage). Careful design of a sampling [Page 744]strategy and recruitment scheme will help to ensure maximum discovery and knowledge about the phenomena under study.

Two key elements that must be addressed are the appropriateness of the sample being recruited (are participants who can best inform the research being identified and enrolled in the study?) and adequacy (are there enough data collected to develop rich thick descriptions of the phenomena under study?). If the answer to the last question is no, then theoretical saturation of the data has not occurred and further recruitment or revision of the inclusion criteria, based on data collected to date, is indicated.

Specific strategies include snowball recruitment, where nomination of other potential participants is made by those already enrolled in the study, and use of media approaches, such as paid advertisements in newspapers, posting and/or mailing of informational flyers, and publication of information about the study through online sources (e.g., chat rooms, discussion boards). Use of the internet for recruitment and implementation of data collection is receiving increased attention, but as with all recruitment strategies, it must first make sense in terms of the research question and not be used primarily for ease of access by the researcher.

In developing a recruitment strategy, researchers must carefully consider who they may be excluding by the strategy they will be adopting. For example, in the previous example of online recruitment, studies have shown that minorities, persons of low socioeconomic status, those with internet access issues, and socially isolated adults all may be underrepresented in this type of scheme. Use of existing agencies, service organizations, and/or social groups that involve the target population is another avenue for recruitment. This has the advantage of efficiency because the groups or agencies are already serving an identified population that meets all or most of the study's criteria. However, researchers must again examine the issue of who would not be reached if the recruitment strategy is overly reliant on this approach. Use of more than one recruitment strategy can assist in widening the potential audience and participant pool.

Barriers to recruitment may include certain groups' fear and/or mistrust of research and researchers based on historical wrongs such as may be found among some African American groups who know of the deceptive research practices used in the 40-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study in the United States. It can be challenging to engage in research when the researcher's cultural background and that of the participants are not similar. There may be a lack of preexisting knowledge by the community about the area of research proposed in the current study. Providing information about the study to interested community members through an informal orientation and question-and-answer period would be a prudent first step in recruitment.

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