How To Recruit High Quality Respondents

How To Recruit High Quality Respondents

The success of a qualitative research project depends on the quality of the respondents that are recruited. Getting the best respondents possible comes down to high caliber recruiting. Some techniques work better than others.

Following are 4 tips we value at Group Dynamics to help ensure a top-notch recruiting process that provides the ideal respondents for your next research project.

  1. Skilled Project Management.
    Recruiting high quality respondents starts with a project manager who will review the screener and ask the client any questions prior to beginning the study. The project manager needs to understand the client’s objectives and the screener, so that the project managers can knowledgeably brief the recruiters.
  2. Experienced Recruiters.  
    Recruiters need to be well-trained, friendly, professional, outgoing, and easy to talk to. Most recruiters specialize in specific areas, such as the medical field, which could include recruiting patients or physicians. Other recruiters specialize in recruiting respondents for B2B or B2C industries. Matching a recruiter with their area of expertise will ensure they understand the language on the screener as well as understanding how to recruit the most appropriate respondents for a project.
  3. Communication.
    A key component to a successful high quality recruiting process is communication.  The qualitative research firm's project manager is responsible for troubleshooting any issues that arise while recruiting respondents. The project manager is the intermediary between the client and the recruiters.  It is imperative that the project manager gets frequent updates from the recruiters (keeping track of quotas) and passes them along to the client, pointing out any concerns along the way.
  4. Validating respondents
    Once respondents are recruited is validating is a necessity.  After a respondent has been screened and qualified, they are contacted again, and re-asked the questions (by someone other than the original recruiter) to assure the respondents qualify and that nothing was missed in the original screening process.

In addition to making certain that each respondent is qualified and validated, it's important to consider the convenience for the respondents and compensate them accordingly. When working with a qualitative research firm to recruit high quality respondents, you may have to be flexible with your time as well as your financial investment.