NUCATS Launches Innovative Recruitment and Retention Consulting Service for Research Teams
The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute has officially launched a new Recruitment and Retention Consulting Service, designed to help research teams across Feinberg School of Medicine and affiliated clinical institutions more effectively connect with hard-to-reach study participants.
Led by Kathryn Macapagal, PhD, Associate Professor of Medical Social Sciences, a faculty expert in recruiting minoritized populations for research on stigmatized health issues, the new service builds on years of in-house expertise in digital and community-based recruitment. What started as an informal knowledge-sharing initiative has now grown into a formalized service following a successful pilot in 2020 and 2021.
“People kept asking how we were able to find the participants we did,” said Macapagal. “Eventually we realized that we could meet a growing need across Northwestern by offering structured consultations and resources to help others.”
What the Service Offers
The Recruitment and Retention Consulting Service provides free consultation for up to two one-hour sessions per study and is available to FSM researchers and clinical affiliates. Services span the full research lifecycle and include:
- Study design support: Developing recruitment strategies for grants, budgeting guidance, and letters of support
- Advertising review: Expert feedback on recruitment materials including language, design, and IRB-facing materials
- Digital recruitment expertise: Tailored guidance on using paid and unpaid social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook
- Fraud prevention: Strategies for identifying and deterring fraudulent participants and AI-generated responses in online recruitment or online studies
- Retention strategies: Templates, scripts, and motivational messaging for keeping participants engaged, especially in longitudinal studies
- Community-engaged approaches: Support for researchers gathering feedback from participants to improve study procedures
“We marry our recruitment methods expertise with your population and content expertise,” said Macapagal. “We’re not just here to help you find people - we want to help you keep them engaged, ethically and effectively.”
A User-Friendly Process
Researchers can request a consultation through a simple REDCap intake form. The team, led by project manager Alvarado Avila, then reviews the submission and schedules a 30-minute intake meeting to understand the study’s unique needs. Depending on the project, the team will either recommend a full one-hour consultation or direct the team to curated resources. Each consult includes a custom action plan and follow-up support.
“Our goal is to help teams avoid reinventing the wheel,” said Avila. “We have years of templates, scripts, and IRB-approved language ready to share.”
Real-World Impact
Diane Chen, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Child Psychology), a recent user of the service, praised the team’s guidance in launching a national study that recruited adolescents via social media — a method new to her team.
“We came out of the consultation with a clear action plan,” said Chen. “The fraud prevention advice and connections to experienced partners in digital recruitment were especially helpful. The letter of support they provided also strengthened our grant application.”
Since its pilot, the team has provided 46 consultations across 22 departments and four institutions, with 94 percent of users reporting satisfaction. The service continues to expand with a new resource database and community forum where researchers can share strategies and tools with each other.
NUCATS encourages all researchers — from early-career investigators to experienced faculty — to explore the recruitment and retention consulting service and discover how it can support innovative, inclusive, and effective research.
To request a consultation, visit NUCATS Recruitment and Retention Service.