A guide to target group participation

Target group participation is often a condition for receiving a grant and always an opportunity to strengthen your research. But how does it work? And what can you do yourself?

Here’s a little preview: target group participation takes more time than many researchers realise. But it’s worth the investment.

Are you sure who your target group is?

It may seem like a strange question, but it’s a valid one. Almost all dementia research ultimately contributes to treatment, support or a better quality of life with dementia. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘people with dementia’ are your only target group. Who is your research about, and who needs to put it into practice? The answers to these questions will reveal who else is in your target group. This could include nurses for whom you’re developing an intervention, doctors for whom you’re investigating new diagnostic tools, policymakers for whom you’re summarising insights into prevention, or people with dementia for whom you’re developing support services.

👉🏼Tip
Sometimes it isn’t possible to involve a target group directly in your research. In that case, consider who might be a suitable representative. For people with advanced dementia, for example, you might consider appointing their next of kin as representatives of the target group.

What types of target group participation are there?

You can involve your target group(s) in various ways, broadly categorised as research participation and the use of experiential expertise.

Research participation

In research participation, you involve the target group as co-researchers: you allow participants to contribute ideas about the research itself. The target group can help determine which research questions are the most pressing, for example. Or they can suggest which measurement tools are most suitable, if, for instance, you need to choose between focus groups, questionnaires and interviews. And your target group can assist with the presentation, dissemination and application of your results: which format and language are understandable, practically useful and appealing to the target group? Another useful aspect is that the target group can help decide where and how best to recruit respondents.

Utilising experiential expertise

If you’re conducting people-centred research, you need information about their perspective. How do they experience things? What challenges do they face in a particular situation? What do they need? In doing so, you should always involve your target group as experts by experience.

This can take various forms. You can involve them as respondents to a questionnaire, for example. Or use them as co-creators who contribute to the development process. Or as testers of the outcome: your intervention, prototype, innovation or communication message.

👉🏼Tip
At the start of your research, consider both forms of participation. Consider which choices affect the feasibility of your project, such as: how much time are you asking of participants, and where? And determine which choices influence the relevance and applicability of your results; you should involve the target group in thinking about this.

Is diversity always important? Yes!

Whoever belongs to your target group: always check whether your co-researchers or experts by experience reflect the diversity within their group. Is your target group nursing home nurses? Then check, for example, whether you have involved people with different levels of education. Be sure to consider this if your target group consists of people with dementia or their carers; this group also includes people from migrant backgrounds, with limited education, low incomes, small social networks, or a disability. They are often ignored, forgotten or approached inappropriately in research.

If your participant group does not reflect the target group, your results will not reflect the target group either. And that has serious consequences. Your research findings should be applicable not just to some people in your target group, but to everyone. Because everyone deserves appropriate care, treatment, support and training.

👉🏼Tip
Reach out to people and take the time to build a rapport with your target group first. This could be, for example, a community centre, a sports club, a religious community or a hobby group. Don’t start talking about your research straight away; instead, be curious and get to know each other first. Genuine interest and curiosity are vital for building a rapport.

Have you allowed enough time?

Recruiting fellow researchers and participants is very time-consuming, especially if your target group includes people from migrant backgrounds, those with limited education or financial resources, small social networks, or a disability. And you wouldn’t be the first to give up because, for example, recruiting participants doesn’t seem to be working out. But bear in mind: that’s all part of the process; it does indeed take a long time.

👉🏼Tip
Stay flexible and be prepared to learn as you go. Is your original plan not working, or is recruitment proving difficult? Then take the time to work out what’s going wrong and learn how to adapt your plan. Just like researcher Gili Yaron; read her story in ‘Involving healthcare providers: how to sow the seeds’.

Read more

During the conference ‘New Generation of Older People Staying at Home for Longer’ (June 2025), a session was held on collaboration with migrant communities. Read the tips on Movisie.nl.