Gatekeepers

"Gatekeeper" refers to a person(s) who control(s) access to the participant population. A gatekeeper shall not also fulfil the role of participant recruiter. The gatekeeper should not actively recruit participants.

If you are recruiting people linked to a company, organisation, institution, or community, you almost always need a gatekeeper (that is someone with the authority to give access e.g. manager, department head, community leader).

• Gatekeepers may share your recruitment info, but due to POPIA, they must not handle responses from participants.
• Participants should be asked to contact you directly if they’re interested.
• You must prepare a draft letter of permission, but you can only send it once you have ethics approval (include your REC-H number).

Your draft letter must:

• Be on the official university letterhead,
• Clearly explain your study and what you are asking for,
• Include your contact details, the gatekeeper’s address, and the time commitment for participants,
• Request permission to access participants and/or premises, if applicable.

For a research study involving Nelson Mandela University staff or students that is to be conducted by student or staff of Nrlson Mandela University , the gatekeeper is one or more of the following:

• DVC: Research, Innovation and Internationalisation (for staff and/or student participants across more than a single faculty);
• Executive Dean (for student participants from multiple Departments in the same faculty);
• Head of Department (for student participants from a single Department).

For external researchers, the gatekeeper is:

• DVC: Research, Innovation and Internationalisation 

The RECH recognises that researchers and students need to develop their studies in collaboration with the target community, population or relevant stakeholders to reduce the exploitation of participants and communities and to ensure that the participating community share the benefits of research as far as possible.

Prior community engagement could assist the researcher with building rapport with the target community or group, and/or negotiate access to participants or confidential databases/archives. This might help the researcher to plan their research more effectively to avoid setback

Prior community engagement refers to any consultation, discussion, or involvement with the community or group that your research focuses on before starting the study. This helps ensure your study is relevant, respectful, and ethically sound.

• Engagement may include meetings with community leaders, cultural advisors, or representatives of the population group.
• It shows that the study has community support, helps identify potential risks, and strengthens trust.
• Even informal engagement like conversations or prior collaboration should be described briefly.

Researchers are cautioned that the purpose of such prior engagement is solely for building rapport and refinement of the research question or aims/objective

Prior community engagement should not be confused with formal recruitment and data collection for the purpose of research. Prior engagement does not equal permission to conduct the study. You still need to obtain ethics approval and formal gatekeeper permission (where applicable) before beginning any data collection.

Researchers must inform participants and stakeholders that formal recruitment and data collection can only start after ethics approval is obtained.