Gender Diverse Recruitment to Research Projects

Abstract

Participation of families, patients, and communities from diverse population groups in research in general is lower than participation of people from the dominant cultures in the United States (Halbert et al., 2008). The lower participation of minority groups is problematic from both a scientific and a social justice viewpoint. In health research, for example, from a scientific standpoint lack of participation of a specific subgroup, such as ethnic minorities, prevents the exploration of specific ethnic differences in patterns of disease (Burchard et al., 2003; Cooper, Kaufman, & Ward, 2003; Krieger, Chen, Waterman, Rehkopf, & Subramanian, 2005). In turn, the lack of study of the biological and social patterns of disease and risks among diverse ethnic and racial groups leads to the inability to identify differential risks among ethnic groups. Furthermore, although it is widely recognized that health disparities between ethnic groups are overwhelmingly environmental in nature (e.g., due to differences in socioeconomic status, education, culture, lifestyles) (Institute of Medicine, 2003; Sankar et al., 2004), the lack of studies of diverse groups of people prevents us from identifying the key causal elements of the disparities. This knowledge is critical as we move forward to apply multidisciplinary approaches to prevent, treat, and control diseases and to promote physical and mental health. Indeed, the limited participation of a diverse population in studies of risk factors for psychological and social problems will lead to inadequate consideration of a broad base for solutions to problems of all sorts. For example, if we do not identify the social and behavioral diversity related to health patterns, we reduce the likelihood that changing and improving these patterns will be solved through social and behavioral means. One thing is clear: if we do not recruit diverse samples into our studies, we impede progress toward an accurate understanding of the psychological issues described in all of the chapters in this handbook and reduce the likelihood that we will be able to reduce disparities of all sorts. Recruitment and sampling are the most critical phases of any study in which we want to compare two or more groups of people on our outcome variables. We have all heard jokes about psychological knowledge being based only upon evidence from rats and college sophomores. Although this largely has been true historically, psychologists now recognize that generalizability from research samples requires that those samples be more representative of the general population than most college student samples are likely to be. Given that the majority of psychology majors in the United States now are women, specific attention to the recruitment of male participants is needed if research is conducted on campus. Furthermore, from a social justice standpoint, it is important to create research settings that have equitable access to participation for all persons, independent of ethnic background