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