OBJECTIVES. Research conducted in community outpatient offices can pro
vide insight into the common experiences of patients and physicians. H
owever, recruiting physicians to participate in office-based research
is challenging and few descriptions of methods that have been used to
successfully recruit random samples of physicians are available. This
article describes recruitment strategies utilized in a project that ac
hieved high rates of participation from community-based primary care p
hysicians and surgeons. METHODS. Recruitment methods included the use
of advisory boards to identify potential barriers to participation, us
e of respected members of the medical community as recruiters, and obt
aining endorsements from physician organizations and prominent members
of the medical community. RESULTS. Overall, 81% of physicians contact
ed from a sample frame agreed to participate in the project. Participa
ting physicians most frequently reported that they participated becaus
e the project could provide them with feedback about their interviewin
g style. CONCLUSIONS. The recruitment methods described here can be ge
neralized to other types of investigations.