Editor's note: Based in New York City, the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) is a not-for-profit professional organization of independent qualitative research consultants in North America. As members of the QRCA Field Committee, Grace Fuller, president of Fuller Research Services, Inc., a Portsmouth, Va., qualitative research consulting firm, and Gerard Pampalone, a partner in Carpenter & Pampalone, a qualitative research firm in Fairfield, Conn., regularly review aspects of recruitment in an effort to improve the process. With these goals in mind, they offer the following article on recruitment.

Imagine our industry without professional recruiters. Suppose qualitative consultants had to recruit their own respondents. Looking at the last screener you've written, would you be able to recruit your own study? Would you want to?

Here are some guidelines for effective screener development, based on input from recruiters in past QRCA Field Committee studies and a decade of personal experience. Keep these guidelines handy and see if they improve your screener writing skills.

Format

  • Establish a standard screener format and keep it consistent. It should include a "summary section," preferably on the front page, for recruiters to fill in qualifying respondents' names, addresses, phone numbers, both day and evening, date recruited, plus demographics and other qualifying information. This makes it easier to check quotas and send confirmation letters. Additionally, it's helpful to restate dates and times of scheduled interviews or focus groups on the front page so recruiters can repeat them to respondents just before hanging up.
  • Screeners should be double-spaced with clear separations of questions. Put instructions to recruiters in capital letters enclosed in parentheses.
  • Avoid lengthy screeners. If a screener is five to 10 pages long, respondents may think they are participating in a phone study. Avoid asking questions that are not directly related to the screening criteria, as this can tire respondents and discourage them from completing the screening process.
  • A critical section of any screener is a final page of recruiter instructions. In addition to briefly stating the objectives of the recruitment, it provides recruiters with a checklist of quotas. Write recruiter notes in a bullet fashion, summarizing specifications.
  • If terminate and tally numbers are needed, advise recruiting services before recruitment starts. It's difficult to guess or reconstruct this information after recruitment begins.

Content

Provide as much information as possible in the introduction and in the invitation. State the nature of the study and reassure respondents about the legitimacy of the research study and that no one will try to sell them anything.

  • Mention the study topic in the introduction to pique respondent interest. This is especially vital when recruiting medical and executive studies. It is more difficult to recruit professionals with a blind screener.
  • To make more efficient use of recruiters' time, place major qualifiers and disqualifiers in the front of the screener. Exceptions to this are sensitive questions such as age, race and income questions which may turn off respondents when asked too early in the recruiter-respondent relationship.
  • Keep related questions together, such as behavioral or usage requirements, demographics and security screens. Random ordering of questions is disorienting for respondents.
  • When asking rating or frequency questions, break them into two parts, e.g., "Do you agree or disagree?" Then ask, "Do you agree/disagree strongly or somewhat strongly?" Breaking the probe into two parts forces respondents to put more thought into their responses.
  • Employment questions should include respondents' occupations and industry. If married, spouses' occupations and industries should be recorded also.
  • If an articulation question is needed, such as when recruiting for individual depth interviews, make it an open-ended probe that is timely and related to the subject matter of the study. For example, when recruiting for a toothpaste brand study, interjecting a question about the death penalty forces respondents to make a difficult transition.
  • For respondents who qualify, the invitation paragraph should repeat the topic of the study and state the date, time and place of the interview or focus group. Additionally, provide respondents with a phone number to call if they have to cancel. Instruct respondents not to send anyone in his or her place.
  • Most importantly, leave respondents with positive experiences of the research process. Even though some respondents won't qualify for a current study, it's good for everyone when respondents are willing to cooperate in future studies.