How to find a sample for your study (social sciences)

[Meraki]

For those of you working in the social sciences that require human participants for survey, field, or experimental studies, I'm curious how you initially connected with your samples? I know the most common routes are through our advisors' networks, using our own network, or using undergrads, but I'm wondering what other strategies have worked well for others who had no prior connections with their desired samples? My particular field is organizational psychology, but I'd be happy to hear suggestions that are not specific to organizational samples as they might spark some other ideas. How did you approach your prospective sample and gain their trust and interest in participating? I have a sample population in mind, but I have no connections (and neither do any of my faculty), so I'm trying to decide how I should approach the organization, or perhaps finding a different sample that will allow me to explore the same research question. 

[iwearflowers]

If there is someone in the organization with similar interests or an existing body of work on your topic, you might reach out to them. They could serve both as a mentor and as an entry point to the organization. Also, consider how your research benefits the organization. A lot of working with stakeholders is essentially salesmanship. You're asking them for a favor, so you have to show them how they will get some value out of their efforts on your behalf.

[ResilientDreams]

I do research with preschoolers and I've found recruiting participants to be HARD. My college doesn't have a database of kids so we spend a lot of time calling preschools and asking if they'd be willing to participate. I'm sure it's easier when you're working with professional organizations and not kids, but sometimes to find your sample you have to do a lot of cold calling. 

[juilletmercredi]

My dissertation was conducted with primarily Black and Latino gay and bisexual men. I went to graduate school in New York, so I spent a lot of time 'in the field' recruiting. We posted flyers at gyms, coffee shops, gay bars, LGBTQ centers, university campuses, and the like. We had a booth at Pride where we signed people up; I visited gay bars with my research lab and passed out palm cards; when there were other parades or social events in the city we stood on street corners and passed out cards. We also posted ads in gay periodicals and on both general-interest websites and LGBTQ+ websites. So basically, we pounded the pavement! We also established connections with an LGBTQ+ center and clinic to recruit participants that way.

The caveat, though, is that my dissertation was a sub-project/related project to the larger grant-funded project my PI was doing, so I had the infrastructure of the entire lab to rely on to get the recruitment done - since we were recruiting for the larger project all up and my dissertation was an analysis of a chunk of that data for a specific purpose. (I also wouldn't say that we had no connections with our desired samples, because I'm black and queer and so was a significant portion of my lab, including my PI. So we kind of knew where to go.)

If you're doing organizational research, you may want to think about how your research findings could potentially benefit the organization and pitch it that way. Could you release the results and/or write up a summary for the organization after you're done? Could you provide recommendations or insights for them?