Document Actions
Recruitment and Sampling
Adequate recruitment and sampling procedures are the first step towards a successful HBM study. COPHES provides scientific support for a harmonised recruitment of study participants and the collection of samples in a European population-based HBM study.
The team dealing with recruitment and sampling elaborated a report on the relevant existing practices to conduct population-based studies in Europe. On this basis, the team prepared general guidelines describing different options for the choice of an adequate population segment, for the recruitment process and for conducting field work and interviews.
The final suggestions were integrated into the study protocol, with clear recommendations and examples of standard operation procedures to guide the implementation of the pilot study, DEMOCOPHES, and test the feasibility of the proposed procedure.
Quality assurance methods for conducting the field work were also developed, including: detailed guidelines on single procedures, the so-called Fieldwork Manual, training programmes for the interviewers, as well as internal and external quality control measures. In addition, questionnaires which were used during the field work to obtain information on nutritional and lifestyle behavior of study participants were made available.