Best practices for recruiting and retaining fathers in parenting research : insights from fathering researchers

Abstract

Objective. Significant progress has been made in studying andrecognizing fathers’ contributions to children’s development.However, fathers remain underrepresented in parentingresearch relative to mothers. Logistical challenges are oftencited as barriers to the successful recruitment, participation,and retention of fathers. The current study sought to betterunderstand successful strategies to overcome barriers andinclude fathers in parenting research. Design. We conducteda qualitative study that utilized in-depth interviews with father-hood scholars across the globe (N = 30) to identify (1) efficientpractices for recruiting fathers and (2) effective strategies forretaining fathers in longitudinal research. We used thematicanalysis to generate major and minor themes. Results. Sixthemes emerged, four related to successful recruitment prac-tices (the composition of the research team; the location/method of recruitment; recruiting fathers, not parents; andbeing flexible with testing) and two related to challenges ofrecruiting fathers (mothers acting as gate-closers; the restric-tions applied by some institutional research ethics boards). Theanalysis identified two successful retention practices: develop-ing rapport with participating fathers and maintaining contactbetween waves of data collection. Conclusions. These themesprovide insights into how to include fathers in parentingresearch successfully. Recommendations for conducting father-inclusive research are presented as well as best practices forincluding fathers in research.