Montana State launches database to connect Montanans with research opportunities

BOZEMAN - It started with a statement. A request for help, really.

"I'm having difficulty getting people to participate in some of my studies," a Montana State University psychology researcher said to MSU's Research Integrity and Compliance office.

That led to a key question for researchers across campus.

Would it be beneficial for researchers to be able to access participants who are ready to be contacted because they have agreed to be ahead of time? asked Brenna Szott, program manager in MSU's Institutional Review Board, about a year ago. The IRB is part of the university's Research Integrity and Compliance office.

The answer indicated a need to develop a pool of potential participants for MSU researchers to invite into their studies.

To address that need, MSU recently launched a secure database containing information about people who have registered as potential research participants for MSU studies. The database, called the Research Community Database, was launched earlier this month. It currently contains information provided by hundreds of people who have expressed willingness to be a research subject.

"Researchers often struggle to find appropriate participants for the studies that ultimately benefit individuals, families, and communities," said Alison Harmon, vice president for research and economic development. "Building this database is a way to address that problem, while also giving us an opportunity to connect with Montanans in a meaningful way that can be meaningful."

Making the connection between the potential participants and researchers is sometimes an outsized proposition.

"The university works with thousands of members of the public each year," Szott said. "Some of the studies might be online and involve 1,500 people, or you might have 10 people who are going to come into a lab and step on a treadmill or do a taste test at a local restaurant. We're talking tens of thousands of members of the public being involved annually."

She said working with Montanans benefits local researchers and Montanans alike.

"It benefits the community we serve, as well as MSU itself," she said. "It's a way for MSU to partner with Montanans in research ethically, securely and with respect for our communities while encouraging engagement from people across the state."

To begin to meet the demand for research participants, the IRB sent out 20,000 flyers to residential addresses in Bozeman.

"We just started sending those flyers two weeks ago," Szott said. "We plan to send another 40,000 out, including to rural residents whose voices can sometimes be harder for researchers to reach."

She said the database currently only includes residents from Gallatin County.

"We're starting in Gallatin County and would eventually like to include as many voices from across Montana as possible," Szott said. That would be facilitated largely by distributing the flyers more widely.

The flyer includes a QR code for potential research participants to scan, leading them to an enrollment form that takes about five minutes to complete. All questions are optional, and Szott said the responses are stored on a secure server at MSU and never shared outside university. She said participation in research studies is always optional, and some studies may offer compensation.

"Personal information stays private-never shared, not even with the researchers," she said. "Community members always choose if and how they participate."