Give three of Dustin’s Dozen tips for collecting data in the field. Explain how each would work and how likely each will lead to recruiting participants successfully.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Dustin’s Dozen tips for collecting data in the field are common sense suggestions for recruiting participants off campus. At the same time, we all know that common sense is not always common. Three of these tips include dress decently, the inverse correlation, and personalize your pitch. Dressing decently seems like common sense, but this is actually very difficult for many students today given the differences in fashion across generations. While the textbook refers to male students tucking in their shirts and avoiding baseball caps, dress is also important for females. Females should keep in mind that it is always better to dress more conservatively than sexy and to be stricter than they think they need to be. Basically, dress communicates professional maturity and impacts that important first impression. The inverse correlation refers to the fact that the larger the bureaucracy, the less likely a researcher is going to get the go ahead to conduct research. Therefore, when possible, start at a lower level and only go higher if you must. At the same time, researchers need to consider people’s employment and standing in the organization—ask, but do not pressure. Third, it is important to personalize your pitch. Ask individuals to participate in your individual research, not general research. Also, do not beg, but do make it clear that this study is important to you—if you, the undergraduate in Research Methods, cannot get enough participants, you cannot do your study so you might fail the class and then you will not graduate and end up living on the streets. Or something along those lines. Recruiting participants off campus is more difficult than recruiting on-campus, but it can be done.