Finding people to participate in your research

When planning your recruitment strategy and identifying your target groups, it is important to consider how you are going to reach a diverse range of people (e.g., age, culture, ethnicity, disability) that are representative of the community you are hoping to impact.  

Find out more about the make-up of people living with arthritis in the UK in our State of MSK health report. For more advice on improving your inclusivity and diversity take a look at our advice and resources here. 

Preparation

  • Involving people with arthritis in developing and reviewing the information you will use to attract, recruit and explain your project to participants will be key to finding and keeping people onboard. Take a look at our Versus Arthritis Involvement hub for further support.
  • Information about your research shared with participants should be clear and jargon free. 
  • This report on the MAPLE project, looking to create accessible participant information, provides some interesting findings and advice.  

The degree of involvement, time commitment, number of visits, data storage and future usage plans are important to ensure participants feel secure in taking part, and have confidence and understanding of the project. You can read more about how to involve people at this stage on our involvement in the conducting and monitoring of research page.

How to reach people to take part 

  • Be Part of Research is a place you can advertise your project to potential participants - index (nihr.ac.uk)
  • Reach out to the young people’s research advisory group Your Rheum. 
  • Snowball sampling – recruit among your immediate networks and then ask them to share with their networks.
  • Ask your local NHS services and health professionals. It may be possible to target specific services/GP practices which work with communities you are interested in engaging with. 
  • Advertise on social media.
  • Explore support and engagement with community organisations and patient groups.

How can we support recruitment of participants to your research?  

We can advertise opportunities for people with arthritis to participate in our funded research on our website, please contact us: researchliaison@versusarthritis.org.

How charities support recruitment to clinical research | Association of Medical Research Charities