HUMAN SUBJECTS AND COGNITIVE AGING RESEARCH: A UNIQUE SOLUTION TO A PERENNIAL PROBLEM

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Abstract
A fundamental concern of cognitive aging researchers is to find a representative sample of healthy, older adults who are willing to participate in experimental research. There are essentially two methods for marshalling a sizable body of older research participants. One can solicit the aid of local community‐dwelling adults through civic and church‐related organizations. Alternatively, one can travel to specific locations where elderly people are likely to congregate, for example, a retirement community. In this article, we describe our experiences with these two methods of research‐participant recruitment. The processes involved in both securing and utilizing a local body of research volunteers are presented first. We then discuss two subject‐testing expeditions outside of the university environment that have been highly successful. In the final section, we contrast selected demographic characteristics of our local and off‐site research volunteers and discuss the implications of differences between these two populations for conducting research with aged people.

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