Participant recruitment

When you are thinking about recruiting users, the first thing you need to do is define who you want to do research with. This will depend on what you want to find out.

For example, you might need to speak to:

• a specific demographic, for example 25 to 34 year olds
• a specific target group, for example local authority staff or landlords
• people who have had a particular experience, for example those who have recently applied for a passport
• people who have experienced a problematic situation, for example those who have lost an important document
• people with access needs, for example someone who uses a screen reader

It is good practice to get a spread of people across different demographics including:

• age
• gender
• ethnicity
• disability
• socio-economic background

What a recruitment brief should include

As a minimum, your recruitment brief should include:

• number of participants you need to conduct research with
• any demographic information about the people you need to speak to
• when and where your research will take place
• brief information about the research project and what it hopes to achieve
• incentives you plan to offer
• contact information for the lead researcher where participants can ask questions (preferably a gov.uk email address)

The brief should be enough information to make people interested in signing up, without giving too much information that will bias your research.

Number of participants

The number of participants will depend on the type of research method you have chosen. For example, you would typically have 5 participants for usability testing.
You should also include at least one person with an access need in each round of research. The Nielson Norman Group have written guidance on how many test participants to recruit for a usability study.

Pressure to participate

In some cases, particularly in internal (staff) research, users may feel pressured to take part. This may occur if the request for research comes from a line manager or other senior stakeholder.
Make sure you explain to users that participation in research is completely voluntary. If you need any further guidance, visit the UCD community hub on the intranet.

Inviting and supporting external participants  

If you are testing with external participants, you will need to complete a Home Office security visitors’ form. Contact the UCD Ops team for more details.   

All participants will need to be escorted and must bring valid ID (passport, driving licence, NHS card, ID card or birth certificate). Security will not allow a digital version of IDs. 

It’s important that you make people feel comfortable when they come to visit you for research. You want them to have a good impression, so they will be more likely to get involved in research in the future.

To help make people feel comfortable, you should try the following:

• meet people at the front door of the building and escort them to the room
• give them plenty of time to settle in
• tell them that they can end the session at any time or take a break if they need to
• leave enough time between sessions
• make sure there is a seat for a helper or interpreter
• reassure people that there are no right or wrong answers and that if something is not working, it is not their fault
• make sure that any colleagues who are attending know how to be a considerate observer and give them a copy of the GDS user researcher tips