Recruiting Research Assistants Out-of-State?

[AlmostDoctorWho]

Hi there,

I am wondering if anyone on this forum has recruited volunteer RA's from states other than where their lab is located? If so, I was curious how you recruited them and also how the set-up worked out.

My project will span several states and thus, I am hoping to recruit RA's from out-of-state. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to go about recruiting 3-4 dedicated RA's? I am hoping to avoid CL if possible, but wasn't sure how common it is to reach out to other universities for RAs.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience/thoughts!

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[deleted343839]

I've known people who supervise their RAs remotely while they're away on internship, but not what you're describing. It seems risky to recruit volunteers to run your study sites for you without pay, direct oversight, or institutional support. Has your IRB signed off on this?

 

[AlmostDoctorWho]

Thanks for your thoughts MamaPhD. I would provide oversight to the volunteers and I have been in touch with the IRB re: volunteers. Volunteer RAs would mainly provide support, which could be done remotely. The would not have direct contact with study participants; rather it would be for things like posting advertisements, etc. And all RAs would have to complete the IRB training at my institution prior to joining the lab.

Did the people you know who supervised RAs remotely while on internship experience any specific challenges? Thanks again!

 

[AlmostDoctorWho]

Also, I forgot to mention that they would not "run study sites." Rather, I am hoping to find local students who can help post recruitment materials in their location. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[deleted343839]

Oh, that's a bit different than what I was imagining. If there is no contact with participants, this will be a less attractive opportunity for the typical volunteer who is looking to get meaningful research experience. You might have trouble getting people to sign up for this, especially if you are not affiliated with the local institutions and are basically an unknown entity.

Instead of recruiting RAs I might instead try an errand service like Taskrabbit or something along those lines. It will cost a little $ but it sounds like what you need is little more than an errand-runner.

 

[deleted343839]

Did the people you know who supervised RAs remotely while on internship experience any specific challenges?

No, nothing out of the ordinary, but the context was different. They had face-to-face relationships with the RAs (who were undergraduates at the same institution) and had personally trained them prior to leaving for internship. Also, fellow lab-mates were around to keep an eye on things.

 

[AlmostDoctorWho]

Good to know! I will keep that all in mind. Thank you again for your time

 

[PsychPhDone]

Do you have grad student friends at those sites? If I had a friend email me asking me to post a few flyers, I'd do it.