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Manhunt

The Challenge of Enticing Men to Participate in a Study on Friendship

Deakin University, Burwood Victoria, Australia

This article explores the methodological problems encountered as I attempted to locate and recruit 40 male participants for the research I am currently undertaking on the experience of friendship across gender and the life course. The situation I found myself in was that men were considerably harder to recruit than women. In this article, I describe the various problems I encountered and I propose several reasons that men's reluctance to participate may have occurred. I outline the strategies I employed to counter these recruitment difficulties and reflect on some measures that might have been taken to avoid these problems. This is in no way a conclusive article, but it aims to raise the issue of male reluctance, which I believe requires serious discussion in the wider social research community due to the "interview society" in which we currently find ourselves.

Key Words: research method • recruitment • respondent reluctance • gender • masculinities

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