College of Biological Sciences

Applications due March 3, 2017

University of Minnesota faculty, research staff and students are invited to take advantage of this unique opportunity to quickly and efficiently recruit research participants for on-site human-subjects research at the Minnesota State Fair. A brief online application to reserve research space in the Driven to Discover Research Facility (‘D2D’) for the 2017 fair is due March 3, 2017. For more information, go to: http://d2d.umn.edu. 

The primary mission of D2D is to increase the pace, efficiency, and diversity of enrollment in new or ongoing human subjects research at the University, by bringing projects and researchers into closer contact with the Minnesota community. D2D provides access to approximately 1.9 million fairgoers each year. Many attendees return to the fair year after year, making longitudinal studies possible. Further, the fair attracts individuals from across Minnesota and so offers an efficient means of enrolling a more diverse group of participants from outside the metropolitan area. 

Since the D2D facility was established in 2014, numerous researchers have benefited from the opportunity to bring their research to the fair: 

• Total studies conducted on-site: 102 
• Total subjects enrolled for on-site studies: 37,400 
• Total number of fairgoers estimated to have passed through the building: over 100,000 
• Average enrollment in on-site studies per hour, per study: 16 (range 3-46) 

D2D researchers surveyed indicate high levels of satisfaction with conducting research at the Fair, with most expressing interest in future participation. In summary, bringing your study to the Minnesota State Fair affords you the potential to reach a large, diverse, untapped population of potential research subjects, facilitating rapid and high enrollment. 

Read the full Request for Applications here.