Information for Investigators

What is STAR? | How to Request Participants | Statistical Concerns Boilerplate for New Grant Proposals|

What is the STAR Registry?

Iowa ranks fourth nationally in percentage of residents age 65 and older, and second in percentage of those age 85 and older. Yet researchers often have difficulty recruiting from these higher age groups.

To address this problem, the University of Iowa Center on Aging has developed a registry of research volunteers, the Seniors Together in Aging Research (STAR) Registry, to help connect individuals interested in participating in research studies with UI investigators seeking research volunteers. Over 1000 individuals age 50 and older are enrolled in the STAR Registry, including people who are healthy as well as those with medical conditions.

The STAR Registry is available to all UI investigators who require older research volunteers for their IRB approved studies. Interested investigators are encouraged to contact the STAR Registry to discuss their research projects and potential needs. The STAR Registry will work closely with volunteers and investigators to match research projects with volunteers who meet their inclusion criteria.

 

The STAR Registry offers:

• Enthusiastic and interested volunteers

• Searchable database including medical, demographic, and other searchable fields

• Recruitment assistance

• Resource information on subject recruitment for use in grant applications

 

For more information about the STAR Registry, how to utilize the registry, the cost and the data available for searching, please contact:

Linsey Abbott
STAR Registry
Phone: 319-384-4221
Email: linsey-abbott@uiowa.edu

or

Daniel Gerwin
Research Coordinator
Phone: 319-384-4566
Email: daniel-gerwin@uiowa.edu

Toll Free: 866-393-4603
Website: www.centeronaging.uiowa.edu/star

How to Request Research Study Participants

Thank you for your interest in working with the Seniors Together in Aging Research (STAR) Registry at the University of Iowa Center on Aging (COA). The STAR Registry maintains a volunteer subject registry of well-characterized older adults age 50 and over with a demonstrated interest in participating in research studies on aging. Self-reported medical information obtained from all members is maintained in a database, allowing us to query for potential subjects based on the specific research study criteria.

 

COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH FACILITATED RECRUITMENT

At no cost, STAR staff will run a preliminary query to provide a general idea of how many volunteers we may have that would qualify for your study. This free preliminary query will help you determine whether STAR can meet your needs.

The STAR Registry mails your study recruitment materials members of the STAR Registry who are targeted as likely to qualify for your study, based on your inclusion/exclusion criteria. There is a $50 flat fee for the query, plus $2 per recruitment package mailed (mailing to 100 people would cost a total of $250, including the $50 flat fee plus $200 to mail 100 recruitment packages).

 

REQUEST FOR STUDY PARTICIPANTS

1. Complete the brief Subject Request Form, providing basic information about the study and include a copy of the IRB approval letter and stamped Consent Form.
2. Review the STAR Registry Health Questionnaire in order to list all fields to be used for inclusion or exclusion criteria (including gender, age, medical conditions etc.).

After we receive the information mentioned above, we will review your application. Once your study is accepted, the number of potentially eligible volunteers can be identified. You may choose the size of your mailing at that time. We will mail the recruitment materials that you supply, to your chosen number of targeted voluteers, along with our STAR cover letter. Your recruitment material should be simple and eye catching, and refer interested volunteers to a specific contact for more information.

STATISTICAL CONCERNS

The STAR registry may be used to recruit subjects for a wide array of studies, including studies based on focus groups, panel/cohort studies, case control studies, and clinical trials. The registry can also serve as the basis for studies intended for instrument development or biomarker and physiological methods development. Exploratory and pilot studies coordinated through the registry may facilitate the formulation of hypothesis and power/sample size determinations for larger scale studies.

The most common sources of bias in human studies are selection bias, non-response bias, and response bias. As with any volunteer registry, studies based on the STAR registry are subject to selection bias. Similarly, studies based on STAR may be subject to non-response bias, since some of the registrants who are approached for a study may decline to participate. Aside from survey studies based on national databases such as NHANES and NHIS, where samples are carefully drawn and results are weighted to account for underrepresentation, virtually any human-subjects study conducted within the realm of biomedicine and public health would involve selection bias.

Since STAR registrants are not randomly sampled from the local population of elders, they are not necessarily representative of this population. Thus, results from studies based on the STAR registry cannot necessarily be extrapolated to the general population of all elders, in Iowa or beyond. However, results can be extrapolated to a larger group of seniors sharing the same demographic characteristics as the STAR registrants. Almost all clinical studies are on highly selected patient populations, but these studies often lead to very important results. Volunteer populations are particularly useful for studies of proof of concept or proof of principle, but they may also be directly relevant to general cohorts of elders.

STAR BOILERPLATE FOR NEW GRANT PROPOSALS

The Center On Aging encourages investigators who are writing new grants to include the STAR Registry as a resource to support their research. Identifying STAR in your grant proposal may help demonstrate capacity to successfully recruit subjects. In addition, budgeting STAR costs into new proposals ensures funding in the grant to allow investigators to utilize STAR as much as necessary. The following link allows investigators to download boilerplate text describing the STAR registry for insertion into grant proposals.

Download the STAR Boilerplate.