I'm conducting a Qualitative Phenomenological study on organizational wellness and how they address employee's osteoarthritis needs. I was thinking of using a support groups page on Facebook to recruit, but this isn't allowed by the groups I am a member of. I was wondering how other researchers conduct recruitment for interviews?
Hi Corey,
You might try placing a newspaper advertisement.
Have a great day!
--Adrian
You could start getting in touch with larger organizations who might have a 'Corporate Wellness' program or something related; they should be able to get you in touch with some initial participants from which snowball sampling would be a way to continue. That said, you must be aware that this already biases your sampling: approaching participants in these kinds of organizations where there are already such programs in place might elicit different responses compared to those working for companies that have not given these programs consideration. Good luck!
Thijs
Very interesting question. Hopefully its answers will be very helpful to many of us.
The following papers should be helpful, particularly the foreseeable problems/challenges/barriers in recruiting participants; recruitment strategies/techniques; recruitment process via Facebook/forum, motivation of participants, etc.
- Archibald, M. M. and Munce, S. E. P. (2015) Challenges and strategies in the recruitment of participants for qualitative research, University of Alberta Health Sciences Journal, 11, 1, pp. 32-37.
- Dennis, B. K. (2014) Understanding participant experiences: Reflections of a novice research participant, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 13, 1, pp. 395-410.
- Lijadi, A. A. and van Schalkwyk, G. J. (2015) Online Facebook focus group research of hard-to-reach participants, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 14, 5, pp. 1-9.
- Marks, A., Wilkes, L., Blythe, S. and Griffiths, R. (2017) A novice researcher's reflection on recruiting participants for qualitative research, Nurse researcher, 25, 2, pp. 34-38.
- Patel, M. X., Doku, V. and Tennakoon, L. (2003) Challenges in recruitment of research participants, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 9, 3, pp. 229-238.
- Shaw, V. N. (2005) Research with participants in problem experience: Challenges and strategies, Qualitative Health Research, 15, 6, pp. 841-854.
- Weslowski, P. (2014) Using forums and message boards to recruit study participants in qualitative research, The Qualitative Report, 19, 39, pp. 1-15.
As a student I worked for a marketing company in research. The goal was to find out which cigarette brand best conveyed the feeling of "wellness". We had helpers who went out into the streets and asked the people if they were ready for an interview. That was a lot because there was a little reward, a gift of money. Whether this is helpful or discouraging for this you can decide for yourself.
Further to the papers as mentioned above, the following sources may further help, particularly: in regard to phenomenological research, the research participants should have the capacity to provide full and sensitive descriptions of the experience under investigation….participants should be able to develop some significant relationship with the phenomenon under study (see: Darlinbgton and Scott, 2002, pp. 51-52).
Furthermore, as far as internet recruitment is concerned, two guiding principles have to be observed, namely: appropriateness and adequacy…internet recruitment should be adopted in relation to the research question, rather than convenience/ease/accessibility (see: Hamilton and Bowers, 2006, pp. 823-824).
- Darlinbgton, Y. and Scott, D. (2002) Qualitative research in practice: Stories from the field. Asutralia: Allen & Unwin.
- Hamilton, R. J. and Bowers, B. J. (2006) Internet recruitment and e-mail interviews in qualitative studies, Qualitative Health Research, 16, 6, pp. 821-835.
- Kosinski, M., Matz, S. C., Gosling, S. D., Popov, V. and Stillwell, D. (2015) Facebook as a research tool for the social sciences: Opportunities, challenges, ethical considerations, American Psychologist, 70, 6, pp. 543-556.
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