Participant recruitment in intervention research: scientific integrity and cost-effective strategies

摘要

The success of any intervention study is dependent on the ability of investigators to recruit and retain appropriate and sufficient numbers of research participants. Yet, investigators sometimes overestimate their ability to address the methodological issue of participant recruitment. This is detrimental to scientific integrity and especially challenging when a study's recruitment resources are limited. This article describes the research recruitment process and provides an analysis of issues and strategies for scientifically responsible participant recruitment. Four phases of the recruitment process are explored as they relate to recruiting scientifically appropriate and sufficient samples. The four phases are as follows: (1) generating initial contacts; (2) consenting; (3) screening; and (4) enrolment and retention. Generalizability of study findings while ensuring human subjects' protections and addressing issues of cost efficiency also are discussed in relation to these phases. Additionally, cost-effectiveness data are presented for a recently completed intervention study.