Recruiting study participants from your team
- Kind
- Ethical dilemma
Prompt
You are a research assistant on a university study of children's sleep habits that pays each participant $40, and recruitment is well behind schedule. Your supervisor suggests you invite the under-14 soccer team you coach on weekends, since their parents already trust you. What would you do?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Professionalism and integrity
How to approach this question
This panel question tests whether you recognize a conflict of interest when a recruitment deadline makes it convenient to ignore. Name the problem directly: the parents trust you as their children's coach, the players may feel pressure to please you, and the $40 payment adds another layer of influence on families. Consider whether the study's approved recruitment plan allows this approach, and whether consent from these families would truly be voluntary. Weigh helping your supervisor catch up against protecting families who might not feel free to say no to you. Decide what you'd do, how you'd raise your concern with your supervisor respectfully, and what other recruitment ideas you could offer instead.
More on conflicts of interest
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