Recruiting
Finding and enrolling qualified participants for a research study. The single biggest bottleneck in applied research—and the one most teams underestimate.
Definition: Finding and enrolling qualified participants for a research study. The single biggest bottleneck in applied research—and the one most teams underestimate.
Recruiting is the process of finding people who match your study criteria and getting them to show up, on time, ready to participate. It sounds simple. It is the hardest part of running research at scale.
Why Recruiting Is Hard
- Availability: The people you most want to study—busy professionals, niche users, hard-to-reach demographics—are the hardest to reach and schedule
- Qualification: Your screening criteria narrow the pool dramatically. A 10% incidence rate means contacting ten times more people than you need
- No-shows: Even confirmed participants cancel or forget. Plan for a 10-20% no-show rate as baseline
Recruiting Channels
- Own panel: A pre-screened pool of participants who have opted in. The fastest and cheapest option if the panel matches your target
- Aggregator panels: Large-scale access to diverse demographics, but quality varies significantly between providers
- Guerrilla / intercept: Approaching people in context (retail stores, events, public spaces). Low cost, limited targeting
- Client-sourced: Your client provides their own users. Highest relevance, but introduces selection bias and relationship dynamics
The Planning Rule
Double whatever timeline you initially estimate for recruiting. Triple it for B2B or niche audiences. Recruiting delays are the most common reason research timelines slip.
Related Terms
Screening
The process of evaluating potential research participants against eligibility criteria before they enter a study. Good screening protects data quality; bad screening wastes everyone's time.
Incidence Rate
The percentage of people who respond to a recruitment invitation that actually qualify for your study based on screening criteria. A low incidence rate means most respondents will be screened out.
Sample Size
The number of participants in a research study. Appropriate sample size depends on research goals, method type (qualitative vs. quantitative), the precision required, and the number of distinct user segments being studied.