Information for applicants
Electronic recruiting
On the question of recruiting participants via e-mail and the Web (‘electronic recruiting’) we have decided that
(a) in principle we see no reason to veto this method
(b) we anticipate potential problems where the computer network would be overloaded
(c) the number of electronic recruiting proposals should be carefully monitored.
Electronic recruiting is acceptable within the following limitations:
- Any mailing to an identifiable group of people (e.g. to all of the students in a College or a class) should be brief and succinctly explain the nature of the research and the criteria for participation.
- Clear indication that this is a request for help from a researcher should be given at the beginning and that the reader, if not interested, should ‘hit the delete button’.
- If the reader of the e-mail is interested in participating then he or she should be asked to contact the researcher directly (not a group reply), or referred to a Web page where the research information is located.
- Under no circumstances should University Office telephone numbers be given as contacts for student research. Under no circumstances should file attachments to group messages be used.
- The GU postmaster must be asked for permission to send e-mails to group addresses. As well as complying with data protection principles this will also provide a means of monitoring the use of email across campus for research of this kind.
The researcher should check that they are complying with data protection principles in the use of personal information.
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