I am at a stage of my research where I will start recruiting participants soon. My sample is reasonably healthy older adults (55-70 years). I have given a number of health talks in community centres where people could sign up for the study. However, relatively strict inclusion criteria will be applied. Hence, I will need to exclude people. Now, I would like to get some idea on how to best do it. People should still feel valued but I also need to make sure I conduct valid research. What are your experiences and suggestions?
It can be really hard to turn folks away. Hence compassion and still "hearing" their story is of great value. Especially with an older adult population. I think everyone appreciates a thank you and recognition for their willingness to support research. You can certainly post the criteria and indicate that the current research focus won't allow inclusion of a huge number of people without this specific criteria. You can do this up front and limit the volunteers. And many people simply send out a letter indicating their thanks and appreciation with the information about not being included. Offering to share your results with folks at the appropriate time - whether they were within the study or not- can also be a way of recognizing their value. Clearly any steps need to honor the ethics of the study and research. Good luck with your study!
It's important to contact all volunteers and thank them for their interest and willingness to participate. You should clearly and honestly explain why they have not been selected this time, whether it is because you were looking for certain criteria and they didn't fit, or whether you randomly selected from the pool of eligible volunteers and they weren't picked. You might want to offer to add them to a mailing list to be informed of the study findings when you're done. You might want to add them to a list of potential participants for a future study, but only if you have ethics clearance to keep their data for this purpose.
Please, what about someone who is conducting a sensitive study that requires limited number of participants but there could be more participants who probably meet the inclusion criteria and ready to be interviewed, how do you turn them down? I am putting together my ethical issues to that effect and your feedback will be appreciated. Many thanks
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