2-044 - What Works?: Creative Strategies for Recruitment of Infant Participants

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

One of the fundamental ingredients for high-quality developmental science is a reliable and representative stream of participants. In a recent survey of infant researchers (n = 108; Brand, unpublished), 32% reported being “somewhat dissatisfied” or “extremely dissatisfied” with their recruiting numbers, and 43% said the types of studies they undertook were limited by the slow pace of infant recruitment. In this panel, moderated by Melanie Soderstrom, four scholars describe their most successful and cost-effective strategies for recruiting infant subjects. Klaus Libertus discusses using Facebook ads to target key demographics, as well as cultivating a successful online presence (e.g., lab Facebook page). Rebecca Brand describes a strategy of inviting parents to lab for no-strings-attached “playdates.” Hosting playdates builds rapport with parents in the community and helps overcome many of the obstacles to their agreeing to research participation. Caitlin Fausey (with collaborators Jenny Mendoza and Stephanie Gluck) will discuss the University of Oregon’s “Team Duckling” initiative to improve community visibility via better branding (e.g., new logo) and building community partnerships. Finally, Nicole Sugden presents findings from interviews with parents about their motives for participation, as well as from her experimental study of recruiting scripts at community events. She finds that success of script types is influenced by race of target and race of researcher. Her work suggests ways to craft targeted, empirically-based, and inclusive recruitment strategies. In addition to sharing these four successful strategies, we envision that conversation among panelists and audience members will reveal a rich collection of recruitment best-practices.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Moderator

• Melanie Soderstrom, University of Manitoba

Panelists

• Klaus Libertus, University of Pittsburgh

• Rebecca J. Brand, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY

• Caitlin Fausey, University of Oregon

• Nicole A Sugden, University of British Columbia