Facilitators and Barriers to Recruiting Physicians for Psychological Research: The Personal Experience of a Graduate Student

Abstract

This article is a reflective piece on a master’s student’s journey, and my navigation through a perceived methodological failure. The article explores the challenges recruiting physicians as participants for psychological research, particularly when a graduate student. The interdisciplinary nature of this project bridged into the health field as the focus was on physicians’ knowledge surrounding autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are unique difficulties with recruiting from a physician population. Facilitators and barriers regarding thetechniques and methods utilized are described and recommendations are made. Implications regarding conceptualizing research failures for graduate students are discussed, as well as implications for supervisors and the research population.