Why investigators look to ResearchMatch for recruiting national participants

Investigators at the University at Buffalo looking to recruit study participants nationally turn to ResearchMatch, a web-based tool that was established as a collaborative effort with participating sites in the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium and hosted by Vanderbilt University. The nonprofit program helps to connect people interested in research studies — an amount currently numbering more than 170,000 individuals — with researchers from institutions like UB.

“For studies that do not require an in-person element, ResearchMatch is a great way for researchers to cast a wide net for participants outside of Western New York,” explains UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Clinical Recruitment Coordinator Ashley Regling, MA. “Whether they are looking for healthy participants or those with specific medical conditions, there is a large national database of people interested in learning more about research opportunities.

‘A quick, effective, and organized method of recruitment’

“Over time, Vanderbilt has continued to enhance the platform based on practical feedback from research teams and their recruitment experiences,” says Regling. In 2024, the ResearchMatch site is celebrating its 15th year, and recently rolled out a variety of enhancements. These include the translation of the platform to simplified Chinese and Researcher “office hours,” in which researcher training will be extended by 30 minutes to allow researchers to drop in and ask specific questions about their studies. (Sign-up for monthly researcher training can be found on the researcher dashboard.)

The platform has been widely used by UB investigators, including recent user Hannah Kolpack, a project coordinator working in the School of Public Health and Health Professions.

“ResearchMatch has a large database, and they vet out profiles — minimizing encounters with bots,” Kolpack says. “I had approximately 350 individuals indicate their interest and complete the screening survey I sent them in a little over one month, which is incredibly fast. Approximately 85% of those volunteers were determined eligible, indicating that the participant pool was specified based on the demographic and inclusion/exclusion criteria.”

Overall, Kolpack found ResearchMatch to be “incredibly user friendly and time efficient for both researchers and volunteers. It is a quick, effective, and organized method of recruitment.”

‘A great, free option’

ResearchMatch being free to use was a reason Natasha Allard, PhD candidate, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, School of Public Health and Health Professions, turned to the platform for several studies, including two large online surveys.

“I was first drawn to ResearchMatch because there was no cost to researchers, and as a PhD student that was really important because I did not have much funding available,” she says. “I was able to use my funding fully for participant compensation and not for platform fees.”

These thoughts are echoed by Tahleen Lattimer, MA, PhD candidate, Department of Communications, College of Arts and Sciences.

“It is a great free option,” she says. “In addition, I would recommend ResearchMatch for the data quality. The participant responses I have received have been rich and of high quality. The participants really value the opportunity to participate in research.”

Lattimer’s work focuses on minority health, and after trying other methods ResearchMatch helped her connect with the specific population she wanted to survey.

“The platform provided me with a more representative sample for my work,” Lattimer says. “I found the data from ResearchMatch to be richer and of higher quality than what I had previously. Plus, ResearchMatch allowed me to recruit in a little over a month.”

How to get started

Allard recommends that interested researchers watch or attend ResearchMatch trainings and then work closely with Regling, UB's ResearchMatch liaison.

“One of my roles as a liaison is to help researchers develop their volunteer contact message in community-friendly language that is compliant with ResearchMatch requirements,” Regling says. “Our hope at the CTSI is that ResearchMatch continues to serve as a method of increasing accessibility to research within our Western New York community and beyond.”

Investigators and research staff with questions about ResearchMatch, or who need additional information on how to get started, are encouraged to reach out to ctsiresearch@buffalo.edu. See a ResearchMatch-created download for more information on the platform.

To learn more about various participants databases and other useful materials, check out the CTSI Recruitment Resources Toolkit. The toolkit includes links to Buffalo Research Registry, a CTSI-run database of people from Western New York who have shown interest in becoming research study volunteers, and the Participate in Research Portal, a searchable listing of current studies.