In the world of qualitative research, participant recruitment can often feel like navigating a minefield. It’s not just about getting people to show up; it’s about precision, authenticity, and meaningful engagement. While recruitment methods like social media outreach, emails, and snowball sampling have made it easier to reach large numbers of potential participants, these virtual strategies also come with their own set of challenges, as highlighted by two recent studies.

A study by Thompson et al. (2021) reveals the real challenges of recruiting participants for qualitative research, especially in an online setting. The researchers used social media, emails, and referrals to gather participants, but faced serious issues with fraudulent respondents. In one project, 46% of the eligible participants were suspected of using fake identities, and 39% didn’t show up for their scheduled sessions.