Researching the researchers: using a snowballing technique.

In this paper, Rosemarie Streeton, Mary Cooke and Jackie Campbell focus on an aspect of the needs and obligations of the UK Research Governance Framework (DoH 2001). In particular, they discuss the snowballing recruitment technique and how this relates to the demands of research governance. The discussion is supported by examples from the literature and from the authors' own experiences in identifying research activity and skills across health and social care within a single health authority in the UK.