title: Recruitment issues in school-based research: lessons learned from the High 5 Alabama Project.
abstract: School-based research requires a multi-level recruitment process to ensure an adequate sample. This article describes the High 5 Alabama recruitment experience at four levels; district, school, classroom and individual. One hundred percent of 28 schools across three districts and 108 classroom teachers contacted agreed to participate. Moderate success (69%) at the individual level, which required active parental consent for the student and parent to participate, resulted in 1,698 student/parent participants. An examination of differences between participants and nonparticipants revealed under-representation of a subsample of the population in the project sample. Suggestions obtained from project staff and teachers intended to enhance future school-based recruitment strategies include enlistment of a district advocate; meeting with teachers to solicit support; using incentives with students and teachers; direct contact with parents; having teachers keep rosters of students returning consent forms; and tailoring recruitment strategies for specific subpopulations.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Health Behavior, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham 35294-0022, USA.
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Binkley
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Duvall
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Copeland
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raczynski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000407:Alabama; D002648:Child; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008297:Male; D018579:Patient Selection; D012107:Research Design; D012574:Schools; D013663:Teaching