Recruitment of participants
When considering recruitment of participants please consider:
- Who will be recruiting the participants – will it be members of the research team or will there be others involved?
- How will participants be approached and informed about the research?
- How will the potential participants notify the investigators of their interest in participating?
- Will potential participants be given time to consider and discuss their involvement in the study?
- How will you obtain informed consent from participants? You will need to outline your process in a step-by-step manner.
Recruitment strategies in human research
Competing interests & reimbursement
Competing interests include dual relationships or conflicts of interest that may exist between a researcher and potential or actual participants. Please consider dependent relationships – and address them (student/lecturer, health practitioner/patient)
Any reimbursement/incentive must be approved in your ethics application. You can be reimbursed for:
- travel
- accommodation
- parking
- time
- and inconvenience.
The key principle is that remuneration should not be disproportionate to the time involved and should not encourage people to take risks.
Payment of participants in research: information for researchers, HRECs and other ethics review bodies (NHMRC)
Informed consent
Recruitment of research participants involves seeking their consent regarding their participation in a research project.
The National statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research states that the consent of participants must be both voluntary and informed. When recruiting participants, their informed consent must be sought in relation to their participation in the research.
Consent may involve Information to Participants' forms and Consent forms, however in some cases oral consent may be appropriate. In the case of online surveys, consent is implied; consent is considered to have been given if the participant chooses to complete and submit the survey which would have essential information about the project included on the first page.
You must use the following pre-approved templates when preparing your Information to Participants and Consent forms;
Waiver of consent
Research may involve access to and use of data or information that was originally generated or collected for previous research or for non-research purposes. The main ethical issue arising from this use is the scope of consent provided, or alternatively, the impracticability of obtaining consent.
Privacy concerns arise when the proposed access to or use of the data or information does not match the expectations of the individuals from whom this data or information was obtained or to whom it relates.
Recruiting participants via social media
A standard Human Research Ethics application needs to be submitted. In most cases this will include a request for a waiver of consent as part of the application in a statement attached in lieu of the Information to Participants’ form.
Writing an application for Waiver of Consent