You don't need a lab to generate data that matters. Ground Truth is Connective Truth's citizen science initiative, built on a simple premise: the most useful information about lipedema is hiding in plain sight, inside communities where nobody has ever thought to ask the right questions.
Girl Scout troops, middle school classes, high school health courses, college public health programs, faith communities, neighborhood groups -- if you have access to people, you have access to a study. We give you a starting point. Where you take it is up to you.
All findings published on this site are student-led citizen science. They are not peer-reviewed and should not be interpreted as clinical evidence. They are awareness data, and awareness data is where every serious research agenda has to start.
Where to start
The most powerful question a student researcher can ask their community is the simplest one: have you ever heard the word lipedema?
Start there. Then give them a one-sentence definition and ask if they recognize it.
What happens next is your study.
A FEW QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Teachers, professors, students, and scout leaders:
these are meant to spark your own thinking, not script it.
Have you ever heard the word lipedema?
After reading this definition, do you recognize these symptoms in yourself or someone you know?
Has anyone with these symptoms ever received a diagnosis that explained them?
Do you think most doctors would be able to identify this condition if they saw it?
Should schools include fat and lymphatic disorders in health education?
These are a sample. Contact us for the full question set and study design guidance.
What's in it for you
Ground Truth participants are eligible for micro-grants, classroom recognition, and publication credit on the Connective Truth findings page. We want to make it worth your time, and we want to hear what you need.
Every level of participation -- a single classroom survey, a semester-long research project, a troop's gold award -- contributes to something real. Your findings go into a public data set that advocates, researchers, and policymakers can actually use. Your name goes on it.
We're building the reward structure in conversation with the communities doing this work, because what matters to a fifth grade class is different from what matters to a college research team. Tell us what you're planning and we'll tell you what we can offer.
individual or small group
10+ people surveyed
school group, scout troop, or faith community
25+ people surveyed
college or university project
50+ people surveyed
organized multi-site effort
100+ people surveyed
Reach out to find out what's available for your level. We'd love to hear what you're thinking before you even start.
