Participant Recruitment Section
Methods guidance from the University of Northern Iowa and CONSORT reporting guidance both treat recruitment as reportable study procedure rather than merely a label for the final sample. Required recruitment detail varies by study design, discipline, ethics review, and reporting guideline; do not present one template as universal.
A Participant Recruitment section explains how potential participants were identified, approached, invited, and enrolled.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
Required recruitment detail varies by study design, discipline, ethics review, and reporting guideline; do not present one template as universal.
Further guidance
Content
Keep the sampling strategy conceptually separate: sampling explains how cases are selected or targeted, while recruitment explains the operational process of reaching and enrolling participants.
Practical Application
Explain how potential participants were identified, contacted, invited, and enrolled, including relevant recruitment settings/channels and timing. Keep recruitment distinct from sampling: sampling describes who is targeted or selected conceptually, while recruitment documents the operational process that produced the enrolled group.
Purpose
Describe the recruitment setting or channels, how people were approached, relevant timing, and the practical enrollment process at the level needed to understand how the sample was obtained.
Reader Check
Could a reader reconstruct how eligible people moved from the target/source population to invitation and enrollment, without confusing that process with the sampling strategy itself?
Worked Example
For an online survey, describe where the invitation was posted or sent, the recruitment dates, eligibility screening, and enrollment/consent steps; put the rationale for the sampling approach in the separate sampling discussion.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Chapter Four: Quantitative Methods — Part 3, Making Sense of Your Study (opens in a new tab)University of Northern Iowa · University methods guidance supporting clear reporting of study design, recruitment, operationalized variables, instruments, and reliability/validity
- CONSORT 2025 statement: updated guideline for reporting randomised trials (opens in a new tab)The BMJ / CONSORT · CONSORT 2025 reporting guidance for participant eligibility criteria and recruitment information in randomized trials