I am beginning to realise that trying to recruit participants is really very difficult. I have managed to get quite a lot of interest at Y University and have also began now to arrange first appointments. At X University, however, things are much more difficult. I have now e-mailed twice the students who originally expressed some interest in my research project at that university, and only had one reply. Unfortunately, I only collected e-mail addresses and realise that I should have collected telephone numbers as well.
I was a bit more savvy of the time I got to Y. University and have collected a contact phone number as well as e-mails. Having e-mailed the students at Y University suggesting appointment times, I have now been able to telephone those who have not replied and fix the time for the initial interview. This does take quite a lot of organising. I can see that my main work over this next few months will be to organise the participant groups and get the first set of interviews done. It's going to be very difficult to get any reading done as well as keeping the appointment diary going. I should point out, in case anyone ever does read this, but I also work part-time as a lecturer and part-time as a counsellor, both of which also take up quite a lot of my time.
1 comment:
Hi Rob!
I can totally relate to your frustration... I find it's not the theoretical side of the research but the practical things which are the real blocks - I've been waiting for two years (I'm part-time) to get going on the fieldwork and it's almost a come-down being confronted with the realities of data collection... but it's the same with all research and important to factor that in - the time it takes to recruit and the problem solving and downright tenacity it involves. Good luck!
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