A Guide to Recruiting Busy Participants in Qualitative Research: Twelve Tips That Will Enhance Your Chances of Success

Introduction

Let us face it; we are all busy. However, no one is busier than a researcher trying to recruit other busy people to participate in their research, and in this case: qualitative interviews. Many researchers depend on interviews to gain knowledge on our topic of interest. Yet, recruiting people to participate in qualitative research, and interviews specifically, is challenging at best (Williams, 2020). While most student textbooks take for granted the task of attracting participants to research projects (Bonisteel et al., 2021; Staksrud, 2019), there has been an upsurge in research on the recruitment of vulnerable or “hard-to-reach” participants (Bonevski et al., 2014; Shaghaghi et al., 2011), as well as on recruitment of interviewees in general (Archibald & Munce, 2015; Kristensen & Ravn, 2015). Although I found the existing literature immensely helpful for preparing and addressing recruitment issues, there seems to be less of a focus on successful strategies for recruiting participants (Negrin et al., 2022). These strategies are crucial for enhancing both the trustworthiness and the overall success of qualitative studies. Additionally, accessing elaborate research accounts may be a daunting task for students and novice researchers. As such, I aim to provide a snapshot of my recruitment journey, followed by twelve hands-on and easily accessible tips to enhance the chance of recruitment success.

I do not have a clear-cut definition of busy people. Even so, we all have a sense of who they are. Have you ever met a teacher who had too much time on their hands? Or a principal? Or maybe a health worker? Neither have I. As a postdoctoral education researcher, I have spent the last year trying to recruit participants for a large project on the transition from the school-based part of vocational education and training to company-based training (apprenticeships). I wanted to interview the individual responsible for hiring apprentices about what they look for in an applicant. The interview guide was carefully developed by the research team to balance the need for in-depth information about companies’ recruitment and selection processes while recognizing participants’ severely limited time. As you can imagine, it was not an easy task, but an important one. The questions and the topics were not sensitive. What became sensitive, it seemed, was time.

These were busy people; people hard at work, whether it was in retail, managing an electricity business, or being an administrator in a nursing home. We all know that electricians are in high demand and are paid by the hour. Health care personnel have faced budget cuts and restrictions, which limit the time they can spend with a patient or a client. I get why spending an hour with a researcher would not be a top priority. While email number 250 was being sent out, simultaneously with updating my recruitment plan (whom had I contacted, and when), I had flashbacks of my time as a PhD candidate. I vividly remember spending a considerable amount of time during my first year trying to access school leadership teams to talk about how they support teachers in their work with shy students (see, e.g., Solberg et al., 2020; Solberg et al., 2021). Not only did I want one-on-one time with these people, but I also wanted to meet them together. Not an easy task, as school leadership personnel are not the easiest to gather in the same room due to their very busy schedules.

Of course, I am not saying “busyness” is the only reason for my recruitment struggles. While potential participants may have many reasons for providing an actual “yes,” such as helping themselves or others or being able to share something of interest to themselves (Peel et al., 2006), we know that the process is filled with “no’s,” silence, or “I’m too busy.” Reluctance to participate in qualitative interview research may be due to several reasons, such as, unfamiliarity with the research topic (see, e.g., Giorgi, 2021), sensitive topics (see, e.g., Gross & Gelman, 2025), representing a “hard-to-reach” population (Shaghaghi et al., 2011), or even the characteristics of the recruiter (Newington & Metcalfe, 2014). As such, I did not attribute the silence, “no’s,” ghosting, or reluctance (yes, I experienced them all) to a single reason. What I do know is that they all worked in jobs that were hands-on and busy, a fact that I needed to be aware of when recruiting them.

I cannot discuss recruitment without touching upon the importance of research ethics, and especially free and informed consent (Klykken, 2022; Roth & von Unger, 2018), which is a key part of recruiting participants. This means that it is up to the individual to decide whether they want to participate in your research. It is “voluntary and based on clear, unambiguous information about what engagement in the research will entail” (Klykken, 2022, p. 795). This also includes withdrawing consent at any time without the need to provide a reason. As I will come back to, there is a delicate balancing act between nagging and voluntary participation.

Fast forward to today, and I can proudly say that I have completed the recruitment phase of the project. I have interviewed approximately 30 people, all successfully recruited. Inspired by Staksrud’s (2019) brilliant and easily accessible article about ten types of informed consent that your supervisor never told you about, I want to provide twelve tips on successful recruitment of busy people. I present them now in a (relatively) random order.

Concluding Remarks

My recruitment journey is far from done. After all, I am on the brink of my academic career. My ambition is for this article to provide other novice researchers with tools for recruitment when trying to reach very busy people. The tips rest on the premise of research as an ethical endeavor, demanding attention throughout the whole process, from the conception of a project to its execution and dissemination. Even though recruiting busy people may not be the most gratifying part of being a postdoctoral researcher, I found the process immensely educational. I learned how to provide information about the project in a succinct way. I learned that most people are interested in participating in research that concerns them. And I learned that being turned down is part of life.

In conclusion, I hope this article ignites a small spark in the field of recruitment research, lighting up the path for researchers striving to gather valuable perspectives from constantly busy individuals. Remember, recruitment is not just about getting a foot in the door. Sometimes, it is about easing that door open with a flurry of name-drops, brief emails, and the occasional phone call. Happy recruiting!