Post-Pandemic Recruitment Methods for Conducting School-Based Research

Abstract

Abstract School-based research is valuable for understanding and improving educational practices and outcomes, but study recruitment in school settings can often be challenging, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. As school-based recruitment efforts have increasingly shifted online, researchers must consider and employ effective strategies when recruiting participants using digital communication tools like email. This short report reflects on anecdotal experiences from two studies conducted in elementary schools in the United States (US) and Canada to provide an overview of different practical techniques researchers can use to design email recruitment plans for school-based research. Notably, researchers may benefit from using web-based tools to create comprehensive and representative recruitment lists. Emails that feature concise and personalized messages with videos or graphics may cater to educators' needs and priorities. Strategically timing recruitment and reminder emails to match school calendars and educators’ schedules may help to align recruitment with the school calendar. Limitations related to the restricted generalizability of the sample and the need for further empirical research to test these methods are discussed. Future research should explore methods for recruiting other important school stakeholders (e.g., caregivers and students) and other recruitment tools (e.g., social media and video software).