Yesterday I had four requests from researchers to share their online study about Coronavirus. Today I've had seven new requests.

Alongside working out if your research is necessary, also think about recruitment. What's the best way to reach your participants? #ResearchTip

I don't have a magic portal to participants.
Sending me requests to share your study is pointless if you're after a particular sample which I don't have access to.
It also assumes I'll have the time to check your planned work and vouch for you.
Recruitment, and quality, matters.

In the scramble to do a study, which is intensified with everyone trying to do research on Coronavirus, recruitment is often an afterthought. It should be integral to your work.
Online recruitment requires planning, piloting and refining.

If you're expecting people in your networks to amplify calls for participants then those people MUST have a link with the kind of participants you want to connect with. Otherwise you're wasting your time, and theirs. And you may end up with participant volunteers you can't use.

Recruitment is built on relationships. If you're rocking up in online groups demanding people share your calls for participation you may well cause alarm, distress or annoyance. The way you build your recruitment networks needs care, time and reflection. It's an underrated skill.

And I shouldn't have to say this, but if you ask someone to share your study and they don't, demanding reasons why, pressuring people to support your work, or being aggressive if they refuse is really dodgy behaviour. Your conduct online is an ethical issue. Your actions matter.

This is crucial when many potential pools of participants may be vulnerable or marginalised. Participants are not fodder for your curiosity nor there to be harvested for your career progression. This applies for any research - on or offline. Don't assume online = no rules apply.

I have a policy that unless I have specifically helped design a study or I know the researchers well (and have checked the work they are doing), I don't forward calls for participation. The sheer volume I'm sent and the worryingly poor quality of many studies makes it risky.

My job is based on teaching people to do research effectively, ethically and inclusively. If a study isn't of the standard I'd expect for my own projects or those I'm supervising then I'm not endorsing it. And with more being sent my way daily,I have no capacity to check quality.

I wish PhD supervisors, PIs, research team leads, ethics committees and journal editors were all better at prioritising recruitment as an inclusive, ethical activity. And seeking evidence on recruitment strategies, interrogating them closely.

This thread is only covering who needs to be in your study and how/where you might find them prior to inviting them to join.We've not even covered ways to introduce your study in an inviting/inclusive/ethical way. There's so much to this process we need to unpack and teach better