This smells like some type of scam. No information is given about RCG Research,
who they are, their location, credentials, background or mission. I suspect that
the people who fill in the form and email it will have served the purpose and
will never see any money at all.

I can appreciate that any of you who have never participated in market
research studies might wonder about who is RCG Research and why are we
posting here?  Let me explain.  When a pharmaceutical co. wants to
conduct a market research study of its customers, it first contacts one
of the large market research firms that have national offices.  (These
are the ones with impressive websites.) These companies in turn
contract out the work to field supervisors.  I work for such a person
who calls her company RCG Research.  We do lots of health-related
studies, and this is the second one I've done with epilepsy patients.
We are told to go find the people that match particular criteria in
order to find the right people to participate.  Most of the support
group leaders I spoke with told me that their patients were not very
functional; for this study you need to not be disabled. It just makes
sense to find on-line groups that relate to epilepsy.  We do both
in-person focus groups as well as telephone interviews.  We never
solicit anyone or ask for anything other than information pertinent to
what the client needs to know.  Many times we will call participants 6
months later or even a year later if another study comes our way for
which they would be qualified.  It is in our best interest to create a
good relationship with our participants.  At the same time, we have to
be weary of those who lie about themselves in order to be part of the
study because they simply want the money.  Some people go to great
lengths to fabricate stories.  That's why I ask you to tell me what Rx
you are taking rather than for me to tell you which ones you need to
take to qualify.  Each study is different in terms of what criteria
we're looking for, how many people are needed, and various other
distinctions.

This is my first experience with Google groups.  I frankly didn't see
anything about a profile when I joined earlier today.  I also didn't
know that my email contact info would be hidden; now I understand it's
a privacy issue (yahoo doesn't hide that information in the body of a
posting).  In the yahoo groujps I normally introduce myself to the
moderator and explain all this--asking permission to post, and once
he/she understands that this kind of study is a win-win for both the
patients and the companies making the products they are using, they are
happy to have me post.

We still need a few more people for this study. So I decided to see if
some epilepsy patients in this group might want to participate.

I guess I'm confused how it's supposed to let people contact me who are
interested if it partially blocks out my email address.  Hmmmm.  I
wonder if it's ok to post a toll-free phone number people can call if
they're interested?  Let's test the water.  If you're interested,
please call me between noon and midnight at (888) 846-7950. (I'm on the
west coast.)

I hope this answers your questions and allays your concerns.

Ruth Deutsch
Market Research Coordinator