Presenter:          Stephanie Rosenbaum; CEO, TecEd, Inc.; USA
Title: Recruiting the Right Participants: Methods and Challenges
Day/Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Location:  Gunston
Session Type: 60 Minute Presentation
Description: Research results are only as good as the inputs, and finding the right participants is a challenging activity that involves working closely with stakeholders, participant candidates, and the UX project team. What makes successful participation selection difficult, and how can we improve the process? This presentation describes key issues in participant selection, each with practical tips and takeaways: developing appropriate criteria, finding the target participants, screening to ensure candidates meet the selection criteria, and motivating candidates to participate. Two case histories provide examples, one of website usability testing with consumers and the other describing field research within large corporations.
Audience: UX Fundamentals/Novice practitioners
Track:  Research
Biography: Stephanie Rosenbaum is CEO of user experience consultancy TecEd, Inc., with offices in Michigan, California, and New York. A UXPA charter member, Stephanie often facilitates UXPA, CHI, and HFES conference events, including a 2011 UXPA panel on “Investing in User Research: Deciding What Research to Perform.” She also co-chaired the Usability Community for the CHI 2006 conference.  Stephanie contributed an invited chapter on 'The Future of Usability Evaluation' to 'Maturing Usability,' and a chapter on 'Making User Research Usable' in 'Software Design and Usability.' With Chauncey Wilson, she contributed a chapter on ROI to the second edition of 'Cost-Justifying Usability.'
Key Words: Participant recruiting, participants, screening or screener, target audience, honoraria