Feasibility of an Innovative Method to Understand the Dynamics of Choice and Create Diversity in Genomics Research among Older African Americans

PROJECT NARRATIVE In response to the continued underrepresentation of African Americans in aging research involving genetic material, this study seeks to test the feasibility of an innovative method to explore the interaction of multiple factors that influence the decision to participate in research that can be applied to representative samples of, typically underrepresented, participants. Through a gamified, card sort adaptation of a factorial survey design, we will examine a range of study ?attributes? and determine: how each attribute contributes to the decision to participate in research; the relative importance of each attribute; the ways in which attributes interact to create a final decision; the socially-constructed meaning of attributes (relative to social group); and how the concept of trustworthiness is expressed symbolically to impact the decision to participate. Our approach is designed to create: (1) a more accurate and actionable understanding of the challenges of genomics research engagement; and (2) an effective and simple, mobile-based methodology that can be used to test the feasibility/acceptability of research design attributes prior to recruitment for a wide range of studies.