Recruitment made easier!

ResearchMatch is a NIH-sponsored national, disease-neutral, research registry of volunteers who want to get involved in research studies. It was developed by institutions affiliated with the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program and provides a secure, web-based approach to address a key barrier to advancing research: finding research participants.

ResearchMatch is now translated into Spanish allowing Spanish speakers to register themselves and their children! If you have IRB approval, you can message them with your Spanish IRB approved contact message. Use the new language filter on ResearchMatch indicating that your message is in Spanish.

How it works:

ResearchMatch allows researchers to search for de-identified volunteers who have registered themselves as being interested in participating in research. The researcher creates a cohort of people that meet selected key Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the study by using the filters on ResearchMatch and then sends their IRB approved message to potential volunteers via ResearchMatch.  

Interested participants create a “profile” with their basic health information. This allows researchers to search for potential participants that meet certain criteria. The potential participant can be sent the IRB message about the study and can then choose whether to provide their contact information to the researcher. This is an excellent resource for researchers looking to identify potential participants outside of usual-care settings.

The researcher finds the contact information of those interested individuals on their ResearchMatch dashboard and can then contact them directly.

How to Register Yourself and Your Study:

1. Key study personnel recruiting participants should register themselves as a researcher on  ResearchMatch.
2. Have an IRB approved study and add your study:
   1. IRB applications are submitted and managed via the online routing system, tick@lab. Log in with your UTRGV credentials to submit or manage your applications, click here for resources on using tick@lab.
   2. Have an IRB approved ResearchMatch advertisement (also referred to as a contact message). Unlike an email, this recruitment message does not include study team identifiers. No embedded surveys. Maximum 2000 characters.
   3. Optional: If you have approval and the capability to recruit monolingual Spanish speakers, you will need an IRB approved contact message in Spanish.
   4. Optional: Submit a REDCap Pre-screening eligibility survey for IRB approval.
3. Log in to ResearchMatch (researchmatch.org/researcher) and register your study in ResearchMatch:
   1. If you are not the PI, then list yourself as the proxy. The PI will be emailed to approve you as their proxy. 
   2. Have your recent IRB Final Approval Letter (with the study expiration date, if applicable) saved where you can find it. You must upload your IRB Final Action Letter with the current expiration date, if applicable. The liaison will verify that you have IRB approval to use ResearchMatch and that you have an IRB approved ResearchMatch advertisement that does not contain identifiers.

Once you are approved, you will have access to search for potential Volunteers and send them your Contact Message and REDCap Prescreening survey. 

Questions

Contact Dr. Jennifer Cahn, UTRGV ResearchMatch Liaison, jennifer.cahn@utrgv.edu , (956) 296-1707

Volunteers

Looking to volunteer for ResearchMatch? Check out more information here or register on their website.

Volunteers can register for ResearchMatch at researchmatch.org – it only takes 5 to 10 minutes to register. Volunteers of any age, race, ethnicity, and health status are invited to join. By registering in ResearchMatch individuals are not registering to participate in any study. They are showing interest to be contacted about studies that may be a good ‘match’ for them. The goal of ResearchMatch is to better connect volunteers with potential study opportunities.