Medical, psychological, and other human research is only going to improve in quality if we can extend samples to greater than college students, which is the primary pool from which researchers draw. Data is skewed and conclusions are being reached that do not apply to the entire human population or the American population. College students tend to be more wealthy, white, better educated, and younger than the population at large. Not only that, but they also have certain psychological profiles that got them into college for one reason or another. A more diverse set of people must be reached to obtain more exact data.
My proposal is to create a research social network that connects researchers from institutions, universities, and other research organizations with all citizens who are willing to participate in experiments or studies to further our scientific understanding.
Citizens will create profiles of themselves with as much description (personal and medical information) as they choose to be public to research institutions. Research organizations that are looking for people can screen by region, gender, age, and any number of factors that people put on their profile (having a gluten allergy, for instance) so as to easily gather similar or differing samples. The research organizations will contact each person they choose to include in their study/experiment, with a description of the study/experiment, compensation for participating, etc. People who have been contacted will then decide whether to participate in the study.
I would be happy to create a profile on such a social network. It will be for those who wish to further our scientific understanding of humans, or to help provide research for cures to your particular ailment, hopefully catalyzing the process towards a solution.
