The other side of the conversation: 3 reasons why UX researchers should take a turn as a participant

If there’s one universal truth in user research, it’s that at some point you’re going to need to find people to actually take part in your studies. Be it a large number of participants for quantitative research or a select number for in-depth, in-person user interviews. Finding the right people (and number) of people can be a hurdle.

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With the right strategy, you can source exactly the right participants for your next research project.

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We share a practical step-by-step guide on how to find participants for user experience research.

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The difficulties/challenges of user research recruiting 🏋️

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It has to be acknowledged that there are challenges when recruiting research participants. You may recognize some of these:

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• There are so many channels and methods you can use to find participants, different channels will work better for different projects.
• Repeatedly using the same channels and methods will result in diminishing returns (i.e. burning out participants).
• It’s a lengthy and complex process, and some projects don’t have the luxury of time.
• Offering the right incentives and distributing them is time-consuming.
• It’s hard to manage participants during long-term or recurring studies, such as customer research projects.

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We’ll simplify the process, talk about who the right participants are, and unpack some of the best ways to find them. Removing these blocks can be the easiest way to move forward.

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Who are the right participants for different types of research? 🤔

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1. The first step to a successful participant recruitment strategy is clarifying the goals of your user research and which methods you intend to use. Ask yourself:

• What is the purpose of our research?
• How do we plan to understand that?

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2. Define who your ideal research participant is. Who is going to have the answers to your questions?

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3. Work out your research recruitment strategy. That starts by understanding the differences between recruiting for qualitative and quantitative research.

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Recruiting for qualitative vs. quantitative research 🙋🏻

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Quantitative research recruiting is a numbers game. For your data analysis to be meaningful and statistically significant, you need a lot of data. This means you need to do a lot of research with a lot of people. When recruiting for quantitative research, you first have to define the population (the entire group you want to study). From there, you choose a sampling method that allows you to create a sample—a randomly selected subset of the population who will participate in your study.

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Qualitative recruiting involves far fewer participants, but you do need to find a selection of ‘perfect’ participants. Those that fit neatly into your specific demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral criteria relevant to your study. Recruiting quality participants for qualitative studies involves non-random sampling, screening, and plenty of communication.

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How many participants do you need? 👱🏻👩👩🏻👧🏽👧🏾

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How many participants to include in a qualitative research study is one of the most heavily discussed topics in user research circles. In most cases, you can get away with 5 people – that’s the short answer. With 5 people, you’ll uncover most of the main issues with the thing you’re testing. Depending on your research project there could be as many as 50 participants, but with each additional person, there is an additional cost (money and time).

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Quantitative research is obviously quite different. With studies like card sorts and tree tests, you need higher participant numbers to get statistically meaningful results. Anywhere from 20 - 500 participants, again coming back to the purpose of your test and your research budget. These are usually easier and quicker to implement therefore the additional cost is lower.

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User research recruitment - step by step 👟

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Let’s get into your research recruitment strategy to find the best participants for your research project. There are 5 clear steps to get you through to the research stage:

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1. Identify your ideal participants

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Who are they? What do they do? How old are they? Do they already use your product? Where do they live? These are all great questions to get you thinking about who exactly you need to answer your research questions. The demographic and geographic detail of your participants are important to the quality of your research results.

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2. Screen participants

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Screening participants will weed out those that may not be suitable for your specific project. This can be as simple as asking if the participants have used a product similar to yours. Or coming back to your key identified demographic requirements and removing anyone that doesn’t fit these criteria.

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3. Find prospective participants

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This is important and can be time-consuming. For qualitative research projects, you can look within your organization or ask over social media for willing participants. Or if you’re short on time look at a participant recruitment service, which takes your requirements and has a catalog of available persons to call on. There’s a cost involved, but the time saving can negate this. For qualitative surveys, a great option can be a live intercept on your website or app that interrupts users and asks them to complete a short questionnaire.

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4. Research incentives

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In some cases you will need to provide incentives. This could be offering a prize or discount for those who complete online qualitative surveys. Or a fixed sum for those that take part in longer format quantitative studies.

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5. Scheduling with participants

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Once you have waded through the emails, options, and communication from your inquiries make a list of appropriate participants. Schedule time to do the research, either in person or remotely. Be clear about expectations and how long it will take. And what the incentive to take part is.

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Tips to avoid participant burnout 📛

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You’ve got your participants sorted and have a great pool of people to call on. If you keep hitting the same group of people time and time again, you will experience the law of diminishing returns. Constantly returning to the same pool of participants will eventually lead to fatigue. And this will impact the quality of your research because it’s based on interviewing the same people with the same views.

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There are 2 ways to avoid this problem:

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1. Use a huge database of potential participant targets.
2. Use a mixture of different recruitment strategies and channels.

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Of course, it might be unavoidable to hit the same audience repeatedly when you’re testing your product development among your customer base.

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Wrap up 🌯

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Understanding your UX research recruitment strategy is crucial to recruiting quality participants. A clear idea of your purpose, who your ideal participants are, and how to find them takes time and experience. 

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And to make life easier you can always leave your participant recruitment with us. With a huge catalog of quality participants all at your fingertips on our app, we can recruit the right people quickly.

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Check out more here.

Being able to design for different perspectives and preferences is a real skill, and it’s extremely difficult. It can become even harder when designing for neurodiverse audiences, where people are hard-wired in unique ways. However, being able to cater to neurodiverse preferences is extremely important.

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Designer Kalina Tyrkiel says between 15-20% of people around the world are neurodiverse, which is a significant proportion. Various conditions such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorders, and autism can have considerable impacts on how people interact with interfaces and platforms. By considering these implications, designers can dramatically improve the accessibility of their work and improve engagement for neurodiverse individuals. Even simple tweaks like using an actual number instead of writing it out (i.e., 1 instead of “one”) can make a huge difference. 

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Kalina explores universal tips and techniques that allow designers to cater for neurodiverse audiences.

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Kalina’s background 

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Kalina Tyrkiel is a content designer with a unique background that spans both technical UX skills and a human-centric approach to design. She primarily works as a designer for Polish healthtech company DocPlanner, connecting users with relevant health services. Her background as a trained psychologist significantly supports her work and provides a deeper understanding into how people think.  She is also a UX writing trainer and university lecturer, which further speaks to her expertise.

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Contact Details:

You can find Kalina on LinkedIn.

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Words that welcome: content design with neurodiversity in mind 📖

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Neurodiversity is often misunderstood by society at large. Neurodiverse conditions often exist on a spectrum, and solutions that work for one person don’t necessarily work for someone else. Similarly, neurodiversity often comes in batches. Kalina outlines how 60% of people with ADHD also have traits of autism. This further complicates their perspectives and needs.

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So this leaves us with a pressing question. How can designers cater for all people with such different needs? Kalina describes how designing for a neurodiverse audience is actually not much different from designing for a neurotypical audience. For example, on any given day, individuals experience varying levels of stress or relaxation which impacts their energy and attention levels. 

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What to keep in mind when designing for neurodiverse audiences 

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1. Provide clear instructions

• Use bullet points and lists for better scannability
• For different options, use if/then tables
• Reduce the probability of displaying an error message. For example, when requiring a new password, outline password requirements up front.

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2. Make the purpose clear

For example, ensure the title aligns with the content the user can expect. Misalignment can create significant confusion for neurodiverse audiences.

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3. Don’t justify text

Justifying text and varying the spacing between words makes it harder to read, particularly for dyslexic users.

4. Include different ways to access content

For example, some people may prefer voice search, others may prefer content that’s not in a video. Again, this is no different from neurotypical audiences.

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5. Keep it simple 

The simpler the interface and the simpler the copy, the better. Pay attention to consistency too - if a platform or site varies a lot, this can be confusing. 

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Why it matters 💥

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Considering neurodiverse audiences in the design process is critical in making platforms easy to use for all people. The needs of neurodiverse users can amplify problems or create critical issues out of something that’s a minor inconvenience for someone else. Again, a 15-20% audience is not insignificant, so it pays to be mindful of their needs. So how can you actually do it?

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Hire for diversity 🌍

Having diverse teams can bring a broad array of perspectives to the design process. Just remember that not all neurodiverse people think the same. Dr Stephen Shore said “when you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism”.  Think about diversity as creating preferences, rather than labels. Ask respectfully about someone’s preferences and don’t judge them (or others) based on their condition.

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Tools and techniques 🛠️

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• In videos, use closed captions, not just subtitles - they can be much more user-friendly. Keep them to 40 characters per line, and up to two lines of similar length. 

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Interestingly, closed captions and subtitles are also being more and more preferred by younger generations. 

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• Kalina recommends Hemingway as a tool to keep language simple and consistent.
  
• Neurodiversity.design is a website that enables designers to get insights about fonts, typography, interfaces and other general design elements with an eye to neurodiverse audiences.

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As product managers, we all know the struggle of truly understanding our users. It's the cornerstone of everything we do, yet the path to those valuable insights can often feel like navigating a maze. The endless back-and-forth emails, the constant asking for favors from other teams, and the sheer time spent trying to find the right people to talk to, sound familiar? For years, this was our reality. But there’s a better way, Optimal's participant recruitment is a game-changer, transforming your approach to user research and freeing you to focus on what truly matters: understanding our users.

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The Challenge We All Faced

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User research processes often hit a significant bottleneck: finding participants. Like many, you may rely heavily on sales and support teams to connect you with users. While they were always incredibly helpful, this approach has its limitations. It creates internal dependencies, slows down timelines, and often means you are limited to a specific segment of our user base. You frequently find ourselves asking, "Does anyone know someone who fits this profile?" which inevitably leads to delays and sometimes, missed crucial feedback opportunities.

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A Game-Changing Solution: Optimal's Participant Recruitment

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Enter Optimal's participant recruitment. This service fundamentally shifts how you approach user research, offering a hugely increased level of efficiency and insight. Here’s how it can level up your research process:

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• Diverse Participant Pool: Gone are the days of repeatedly reaching out to the same familiar faces. Optimal Workshop provides access to a global pool of participants who genuinely represent our target audience. The fresh perspectives and varied experiences gained can be truly eye-opening, uncovering insights you might have otherwise missed.
• Time-Saving Independence: The constant "Does anyone know someone who...?" emails are a thing of the past. You now have the autonomy to independently recruit participants for a wide range of research activities, from quick prototype tests to more in-depth user interviews and usability studies. This newfound independence dramatically accelerates your research timeline, allowing you to gather feedback much faster.
• Faster Learning Cycles: When a critical question arises, or you need to quickly validate a new concept, you can now launch research and recruit participants almost immediately. This quick turnaround means you’re making informed decisions based on real user feedback at a much faster pace than ever before. This agility is invaluable in today's fast-paced product development environment.
• Reduced Bias: By accessing external participants who have no prior relationship with your company, you're receiving more honest and unfiltered feedback. This unbiased perspective is crucial for making confident, user-driven decisions and avoiding the pitfalls of internal assumptions.

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Beyond Just Recruitment: A Seamless Research Ecosystem

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The participant recruitment service integrates with the Optimal platform. Whether you're conducting tree testing to evaluate information architecture, running card sorting exercises to understand user mental models, or performing first-click tests to assess navigation, everything is available within one intuitive platform. It really can become your one-stop shop for all things user research.

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Building a Research-First Culture

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Perhaps the most unexpected and significant benefit of streamlined participant recruitment comes from the positive shift in your team's culture. With research becoming so accessible and efficient, you're naturally more inclined to validate our assumptions and explore user needs before making key product decisions. Every product decision is now more deeply grounded in real user insights, fostering a truly user-centric approach throughout your development process.

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The Bottom Line

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If you're still wrestling with the time-consuming and often frustrating process of participant recruitment for your user research, why not give Optimal Workshop a try. It can transform what is a significant bottleneck in your workflow into a streamlined and efficient process that empowers you to build truly user-centric products. It's not just about saving time; it's about gaining deeper, more diverse insights that ultimately lead to better products and happier users. Give it a shot, you might be surprised at the difference it makes.

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