At certain times of year I’m inundated by requests by academics and organisations. Suddenly everyone is looking for participants to recruit to research projects, oversight committees, steering groups, and the like! I’m fully on board with this and am happy for you to utilise this platform to reach out. Big Birthas is all about evidence based info, and we’re strong believers in “Nothing about us, without us”!
Website posts are pushed out to the Facebook group of 1k+ members. Links are also posted automatically on the BigBirthas Facebook page, Instagram, and Threads. (I’ve waved bye-bye to X-itter, so no more posts there, but they were mostly seen by professionals anyway). If you just need me to share a social media post you’ve already put out on any of those, just message me or @BigBirthas on those platforms, I’m usually happy to oblige.
I’ll put a link to how to contact me below… But before you jump to that, I need to be clear on what I need from you.
Having done this for a number of years, I’ve refined the process and I’ve learnt what works and doesn’t work. What follows both makes it easier for me posting, and for you in terms of engaging the audience. So these are my minimum requirements:
How to get your request onto BigBirthas
Big Birthas is a blog. So, in addition to your standard recruitment information/ad you have already, you will need:
- 300-1000 word blog post to accompany the ad – make it chatty and news-y. Think ‘magazine article’! Introduce yourself. Why are you doing the study? What are you hoping to learn? Why might people want to get involved etc?
- Photographs/graphics to accompany it (minimum of 2) – this is your opportunity to be a ‘real’ person people might want to help – not a faceless ‘boffin’ looking for test subjects!
- Information about the reimbursement you offer (or if you don’t, say why) for participants’ time/expenses
Links to related webpages, background info, references etc are welcome. Further explanation of what I’m looking for and why below.
These are a couple of good examples of researchers looking for participants:
https://bigbirthas.co.uk/bump-pregnancy-app/
https://bigbirthas.co.uk/your-chance-to-tell-the-rcm/
If that’s all good by you, just use the button below to go to the Contact Me page and send your request.
I don’t charge anything for posting your study on the website. If you do have any budget for promotion, though, I won’t say no to a contribution to BigBirthas hosting costs! I run the site and support group on a voluntary basis, a shoestring budget, and it’s all paid from my own pocket. While there are ads and affiliate links, they amount to very little – most years they don’t even cover the annual domain renewals, let alone the hosting fees! So, anything you can contribute is appreciated!
When will it get published?
How soon your post makes it onto the website is down to a few variables. Namely:
- How busy I am in ‘real life’ – Big Birthas isn’t my job, it’s something I do as and when I’m able.
- How many other requests are ahead of you in the queue – I consciously leave at least a week between posts, and certain times of year are extremely popular!
- Whether you’ve given me everything I need up front, or I have to chase you for it.
Further info and explanation:
A minimum of 300 words in a friendly, conversational style giving background information. If you’re stumped, think about what you would say if you were being interviewed about it for a magazine article?
Explain the background/why you’re looking for participants etc.
You could talk about your background, how you got into this research, introduce your team, your motivations, the prior research that has been done on the topic and what you hope to add, your methodology (the BigBirthas audience tends to be pretty science leaning/academic, so this is definitely of greater interest than you might anticipate!), where else you’re looking for participants, what you plan do do with the results, how you hope your results will have impact/be implemented, be publicised etc. Upper limit is 1,000 words, but I’m not strict on this.
What you choose to write is absolutely up to you, but engagement is always better the more ‘human’ your post is. Clinical, (boring!) fact driven requests for participants and bullet-point lists don’t tend to inspire us. We also want to hear and see how you’re interested and interesting. Show us that you’re relatable, rounded human beings who see and respect us… Not nameless, faceless, crusty old boffins in labcoats hunting down human guinea pigs! Participants want to feel useful and valuable, not that we’re going to be used up and tossed aside when you’re done!
The other reason for doing it is website SEO (search engine optimisation – e.g. Google ranking). Google and other search engines rank sites on the quality of their output. Posting the bare minimum can tank your rankings, and I’ve worked hard to get Big Birthas where it is! Usually requests for participants are very minimal and clinical, but Big Birthas is a blog. Yes, we need the recruitment information displayed clearly, but to fit the blog format, a more discursive piece of text needs to go with it.
I promise, previous researchers have often been surprised at the volume of interest they received using this approach!
Photos/graphics
It’s important to illustrate your post – both for the blog’s SEO and engagement, so images are a must. I recommend photos/headshots of the project team members – again to prove you’re not the desiccated out of touch academic types but real, friendly, personable humans the Big Birthas audience might feel safe engaging with!
You could include graphics/illustrations you may have, diagrams of your planned process, a logo for the project, stock imagery you feel illustrates your project or, at the very least, the logo of your institution/department, or a photo of your campus! There’s no real limit on the number of images to include – but 2 is the minimum.
Info about reimbursement
It’s not exactly rocket science that if you’re looking for participants that you’re likely to get more responses if there’s some opportunity for reward… whether that be a direct payment or entry into a prize draw. But it’s more than that.
The NIHR provides helpful information and guidance on why reimbursement for expenses is encouraged for survey participation, and why a more formalised budgeted payment system is recommended for lay contributors on oversight committees and steering groups.
If you don’t offer any form of reimbursement (many PhD studies simply won’t have a budget to offer anything!) then that’s fine too, but I do ask that you’re clear about why this is, why people might want to get involved anyway, and the time commitment required.
You may also want to think about how you’re going to weed out applicants who are ONLY applying because there’s an incentive being offered. Sadly, lately I’m hearing more and more reports from researchers that they’re seeing people who don’t fit the criteria for a study applying, simply because there’s an incentive on offer. If your pregnancy related research PPI questionnaire actually only goes out to people who aren’t/have never been/could never be pregnant, then it’s a waste of everyone’s time – so it’s worth working out how to screen for this
Lastly – PLEASE DON’T ONLY OFFER Love2Shop or One4All vouchers!
There has been a long time trend for universities to offer these, thinking they represent a good option for rewards. They are easy to buy in bulk, so finance departments like them! Even the NIHR used to recommend them (they’ve changed their website since I contacted them about it). While they were widely accepted and reasonably flexible, they have significantly changed in recent years.
Most people when asked would prefer cash. Or if this isn’t possible, a voucher they can use in a supermarket.
You’ll see these for sale in a number of supermarkets, but those same supermarkets don’t accept them as payment!?
A couple of years ago, it was possible to use Love2Shop and One4All in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA etc. by using them to buy those stores’ gift cards. This now incurs a 5% fee. They can’t be used in discount supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl.
If your study is trying to reach underserved populations, this is especially important. For a mum without access to transport and therefore tied to whatever shops are local, or who shop at Lidl/Aldi, buy kids clothing and shoes predominantly from supermarkets or second hand; Love2Shop and One4All are basically just a burden, forcing them to use more expensive/inconvenient shops. And they expire in a surprisingly short period of time. According to this government document, millions are unspent each year. The document also explains how retailers like them because they encourage people to spend 40% more!
Vouchers are legally declarable as income
Whatever reward/reimbursement you offer, they should be reported as income. So it’s only fair to expect that they can be used as such! Better to offer participants a voucher for a store of *their* choice (and yes, you can even get gift cards for Aldi and Lidl!) that the participant can easily use !
If your university finance department has Love2Shop/One4All only policy – please forward them this! I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t appreciate their own salaries only being usable to buy groceries after losing 5%, or being restricted to a select few stores (a surprisingly large number of which are jewellers?!)! It’s probably time they updated to a more inclusive reimbursement policy.
(You can advertise your study on Big Birthas if only Love2Shop etc are offered, but I really want to raise awareness of how poor and exploitative an option they’ve become. They’re run by the Park Hampers company… who have a long running business model of exploiting people in poverty. When I complained directly about the lack of notice of the above changes for voucher holders, the response was basically ‘We can do what we like. We can change the T&Cs whenever we like, and don’t have to warn you. Complain to the Financial Ombudsman if you want’. I no longer accept invitations to participate in anything where Love2Shop/One4All is the only option, as a matter of principle. That pretty much sums up what you need to know!)
I’m not the only one who feels this way – check out their Trustpilot ratings!!
Many thanks
Big Birtha x
