A Doctoral Research brings many
different challenges, and although this might come as a surprise, one of them
is to find participants to take place in interviews and focus groups. This job
can become even more difficult when a group with specific demographic and
behavioral characteristics needs to be formed for the research, so it's not
just about finding people, you have to find the right people. Even though this is not an easy
task, there are a number of ways to find participants. For better results, it's
interesting to mix distinct approaches to attract different people and make
sure you reach the final number needed. Here are a few ways to find
participants for doctoral research interviews:
The university itself may be the
best place to get participants. Not only are current students available, but
there are numerous people that can be reached using the Alumni's Directory.
These people studied in that same university, so usually there is a sense of
helping researches who are still there, allowing them to achieve great things
that will look good for the university as well. This is also a way to attract people with a strong academic
background, which can be useful for many specific researches.
Some Notable Alumni Assoc.
Cambridge Alumni Directory and Info, UK
London School of Economics Alumni, UK
Texas A&M Uni Alumni Association,USA
Stanford Alumni, USA
Alumni Uni. of Toronto, Canada
Alumni of Waterloo University, Canada
McGill University Alumni, Canada
2. Face-to-Face
It's possible to contact
different teachers in your own university or even in other ones, and ask for a few
minutes when they teach a class for a group of people you are interested in. A
small face-to-face introduction can work wonders to get people to participate. Take a moment to introduce
yourself, your research and its goals and objectives, and then ask for the
students' support to help you achieve those goals. Keep it simple and just pass
along a sheet where people can sign up, adding their names and email addresses.
It's much harder to say no to an actual person than to ignore a faceless email.
3. Specialized Websites
Because this is such an important
issue, specialized websites are becoming more common and popular in order to
help researchers in the process of finding participants. They are usually
platforms designed to be a place where researchers and participants meet, like
the one created by students from The University of Nottingham (www.callforparticipants.com).
These sites can provide
advantages for everyone, since participants can look for studies that match
their specific profile, or that offer any kind of reward for their time, and
researchers can have access to a pool of pre-screened participants, using
different demographic filters.Both can benefit from a completely
secure environment where people can communicate, share and contribute to many researches
in a quick, easy and practical manner.
4. Finding Potential Participants via Linkedin
Being a professional social network,
Linkedin can also be considered an interesting option when it comes to
recruiting participants. A researcher can browse through the profiles in order
to find people working in different areas, having access to their professional
experience and academic background. That way, it's easy to find the
participants according to each research's specific needs.
5. Using Social Networks
Other than Linkedin, other social
networks can also be used in the process, such as Twitters bio, About.me and
even Facebook. It's possible to look for the people that have the specific
interests and characteristics a given research needs, taking advantage of the
fact that most people are connected to these networks pretty much all the time.
Interviews and Analysis
After actually finding the right
participants and conducting the interviews, it's necessary to keep other
important information in mind for the success of the research. The interviews
or focus groups must be clearly recorded in order to make sure all the essential
information will be available later. Other than recording, it's always
recommended to use a professional transcription service to transcribe all the
audio information that was collected. Transcripts are easier to store than
audio files, and provide a better way to analyze all the important data, rather
than going back and forth hearing different parts of audio. Official transcripts must also be
available for the doctoral supervisor's analysis and will usually be archived
along with the complete work, so make sure to choose a reputable company that
can transcribe all the audio recordings in a professional, fast, safe and
confidential way.
Conclusion
There are certainly many
difficulties involved in the process of doing a doctoral research, and finding participants
is known to be one of them. However, with technology and recent developments,
this process is becoming easier, as each day there are more options available
to recruit the right people you need for your research.
Other Suggested Readings and Useful Links:
1. Academic transcription services for students and academicians by AllTranscript.com
2. Important reasons why you should outsource transcription services.
3. Read all previous articles posted by AllTranscript.com at AllTranscript's Blog.
4. Transcribe conferences and seminars into text at affordable rates.
Other Suggested Readings and Useful Links:
1. Academic transcription services for students and academicians by AllTranscript.com
2. Important reasons why you should outsource transcription services.
3. Read all previous articles posted by AllTranscript.com at AllTranscript's Blog.
4. Transcribe conferences and seminars into text at affordable rates.
Check us out on Twitter @Alltranscript |
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