Engaging workplace representatives in research: what recruitment strategies work best?

Coole, Carol; Nouri, F.; Narayanasamy, M.; Baker, Paul; Khan, S.; Drummond, Avril E.R.

Abstract

Background

Workplaces are key stakeholders in work and health but little is known about the methods used to recruit workplace representatives (WRs), including managers, occupational health advisers and colleagues, to externally funded healthcare research studies.
Aims

To detail the strategies used in recruiting WRs from three areas of the UK to a qualitative study concerning their experience of employees undergoing hip or knee replacement, to compare the strategies and inform recruitment methods for future studies.
Methods

Six strategies were used to recruit WRs from organizations of different sizes and sectors. Data on numbers approached and responses received were analysed descriptively.
Results

Twenty-five WRs were recruited. Recruitment had to be extended outside the main three study areas, and took several months. It proved more difficult to recruit from non-service sectors and small- and medium-sized enterprises. The most successful strategies were approaching organizations that had participated in previous research studies, or known professionally or personally to team members.
Conclusions

Recruiting a diverse sample of WRs to healthcare research requires considerable resources and persistence, and a range of strategies. Recruitment is easier where local relationships already exist; the importance of building and maintaining these relationships cannot be underestimated. However, the potential risks of bias and participant fatigue need to be acknowledged and managed. Further studies are needed to explore how WRs can be recruited to health research, and to identify the researcher effort and costs involved in achieving unbiased and representative samples.

Citation

Coole, C., Nouri, F., Narayanasamy, M., Baker, P., Khan, S., & Drummond, A. E. (2018). Engaging workplace representatives in research: what recruitment strategies work best?. Occupational Medicine, 68(4), 282-285. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqy047

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 6, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Mar 20, 2018
• Publication Date: May 23, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 28, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 21, 2019
• Journal: Occupational Medicine
• Print ISSN: 0962-7480
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-8405
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 68
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 282-285
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqy047
• Keywords: Employers, recruitment, research methods, work, workplaces
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/933783
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/occmed/advance-article/doi/10.1093/occmed/kqy047/4945432
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in [insert journal title] following peer review. The version of record C Coole, F Nouri, M Narayanasamy, P Baker, S Khan, A Drummond; Engaging workplace representatives in research: what recruitment strategies work best?, Occupational Medicine, kqy047 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/occmed/advance-article/doi/10.1093/occmed/kqy047/4945432.