Participant recruitment

All of the studies in the lab require that we recruit participants. All recruitment procedures are governed by the IRB, so please check your approved IRB protocol for approved recruitment methods.

Some of the recruitment methods we use are:

1. Word of mouth: Members of the lab are free to notify people that we are recruiting participants for our lab's studies. However, before bringing someone into the lab to participate in an experiment, that individual must directly contact us via email or telephone expressing their interest in the study. 
2. Flyers: Each IRB protocol has an IRB-approved flyer attached to it. In most cases, this flyer can be posted both on and off campus or handed directly to interested participants. If you want a fancier flyer, you should design that yourself and make sure you receive IRB approval via a study modification before using it. 
3. UT lists: Many of our protocols allow us to distribute information about our studies via UT email lists. If you want to use this approach, you must use the IRB-approved email script associated with your protocol. To use UT lists, you should:
   1. Identify the lists to which you want to distribute recruitment materials. These can be found here: https://utlists.utexas.edu/sympa/lists
      1. Some possibilities are:

         1. kin_club@utlists.utexas.edu

         2. clubneuro@utlists.utexas.edu

         3. neu-postdocs@utlists.utexas.edu

         4. bme-grad@utlists.utexas.edu

         5. ut_gswe@utlists.utexas.edu

         6. cns-gradstudents@utlists.utexas.edu

         7. cns-postdocs@utlists.utexas.edu

         8. ece-postdocs@utlists.utexas.edu

         9. synapse@utlists.utexas.edu

         10. womeninstemlc@utlists.utexas.edu

   2. Contact the owner of the list describing your request, including a copy of your IRB-approved email script. The list owner can be contacted at nameofthelist-request@utlists.utexas.edu
   3. If the list owner approves your request, send your IRB-approved email script to the list OR request that the list owner distributes your IRB-approved email script. 
4. REDCAP: If your IRB-approved protocol lists REDCAP as a valid recruitment / screening tool, you will create a REDCAP survey specifically for that protocol. REDCAP generates a QR code and a direct link for each survey created. This QR code / link should be included on your IRB-approved flyers so potential participants can directly access the REDCAP surveys. 

After a potential participant decides they are interested in learning more about our studies, they will be instructed to email smnp@austin.utexas.edu for more information. At this point, you should respond to the email as quickly as possible. In your response, include a brief description of the procedures involved in the experiment, the number of sessions the participant would be asked to complete, the overall duration of each session, and any potential compensation the participant may receive. You should also include a list of our IRB-approved eligibility criteria, instructing the potential participant to respond with a YES or NO to each question. If the potential participant is eligible and interested in participating, you can then schedule them for a time to complete the experiment.

Once you have scheduled an experiment, please ensure that you add this information to the SMNP+FALCON lab scheduler. Make sure that you are not adding it to your personal calendar instead. On the scheduler, list the study name and the names of the research staff who will perform the experiment. You should never list any personally-identifiable information about the potential participant on the lab scheduler. 

Finally, when booking a participant, you can also reserve the F84 parking spot in front of Bellmont. This is best used for those participants who plan to drive to the study. To book the permit, follow these steps.

1. Navigate to the Booking Link - https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/BELLabReservations@utexas.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

2. Under "Select Service", select the amount of time you would want the booking to be (30 minutes - 4 hours). If you want to exceed 4 hours, still select 4 hours and you are able to manually select the duration later
3. Under "Select Staff (Optional)", select "F84 Permit - MCRS"
4. Select the desired date on the Calendar widget (to the left of the Select Staff option)
5. Select the desired start time for the reservation (Under "Select Staff (Optional)" )
6. Fill in the "Add your details" and "Provide Additional Information" sections
7. Click "Book"
8. The F84 permit can be found in one of the 546 Hallway Kitchen drawers.