Institutional Review Board (IRB)

IRB News

November 2019 - Conducting research with familiar persons

Why can’t my friend/colleague/student/family member be a participant?

Can people you know participate in your research? Yes, they can! But there are a few caveats to consider with this…

A hallmark of ethical research is that participants feel free to participate. When we have existing relationships with our potential participants, we might exert some pressure for them to participate. One way to minimize the pressure to participate is to have the participant contact you rather than you contacting them. Let’s look at two examples:

The Professor’s Research

Problematic Version:

Professor A has a new study and needs undergraduate participants. Professor A announces to their class that a new study opportunity is available and that they would like student volunteers to participate. Professor A then passes around a sign-up sheet so students can indicate if they would like to participate.

Corrected Version:

Professor A has a new study and needs undergraduate participants. Professor A knows that asking students directly could produce some undue influence over their decision to participate. Instead, Professor A has a senior student from another class come in to recruit. The recruitment process involves the student describing the study and passing around a sign-up sheet so students can indicate if they would like to participate. At no point in the recruitment does the student identify Professor A as being the researcher for this project.

The Student’s Thesis

Problematic Version:

Student B is working on a thesis project and needs participants. Student B needs a specific population of students to participate, and many of these students will be their friend. Student B asks some classmates if they will participate in the study.

Corrected Version:

Student B is working on a thesis project and needs participants. Student B needs a specific population of students to participate, and many of these students will be their friend. To help reduce undue influence to participate, Student B asks the department chair for assistance in sending out recruitment materials to all the students who meet inclusion criteria. These recruitment materials outline the study, but also give information on how to contact Student B to participate.

So What’s the Difference?

In both these cases, there is the possibility that a current relationship between researcher and participant might encourage the individual to participate; more so than they would if someone else had been the researcher. In these situations, the researcher needs to reduce these influences. The ideas presented here are only examples—other creative solutions exist.

There are times, however, when it is necessary in your research to directly recruit familiar participants. While these occasions are fairly rare, they do come up from time to time. If you feel that you must directly recruit familiar participants, please reach out to the IRB Chairs for assistance so we can help your protocol get through quickly.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions over these or other IRB-related topics.

Happy researching!