Recruitment Flyer Guidance

The purpose of the flyer is to invite participants to join the study. The information on the flyer should be limited but with enough detail so that the participant can determine their eligibility and interest in the study. The flyer should be easy to read and understand (the use of bullets can be useful to break up the text).

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) must review all recruitment flyers before they are posted for participants to access. The recruitment flyer(s) should be submitted with the initial application or with a modification. Recruitment can only begin AFTER you have received IRB approval.

The recruitment flyer must include:

1. A headline that grabs the attention of the potential participants.
   • Examples:
     • Want to improve your eating habits?
       or
     • Enjoy coffee daily?
       or
     • Have you suffered a knee injury?
2. An image that is relevant to your study that will grab the attention of the participants.
   You can find free images on unsplash.com (external link) or other similar websites.
3. The purpose of the study
4. Brief description of eligibility criteria.
   • Examples:
     • Women over 18 years old
       or
     • 7- year old children with diabetes
5. What the participants will be asked to do.
   • Examples:
     • Respond to a 10-minute anonymous online survey
       or
     • 2 on campus lab sessions (30 minutes each) and a follow-up phone call (10 minutes) two weeks after the second lab session.
6. The time commitment.
7. That it is research.
8. The UMaine logo or mention that it is a UMaine study (see more information on UMaine logo guidelines).
9. The study location (if applicable).
10. Compensation (if applicable).
    • Examples:
      • You will be entered in a raffle for a $50 Visa gift card
        or
      • You will receive a $10 Amazon gift card.
11. The name of the Principal Investigator.
12. Contact information (email and phone number) of the research team.

Please also review our Example Flyers.