Recruiting participants for user research

This page has guidance for teams looking to recruit participants for user research.

Participants must be:

• able to give their consent; and
• capable of making their own decisions.

Check with your department privacy lead if your study will include:

• people under 18 years of age; or
• people who are not Yukon residents.

How many people to recruit

The number of participants will vary based on:

• the size and complexity of your project; and
• the user research techniques you use.

If you are conducting usability testing, we recommend at least 2 rounds of testing on 3 to 5 people. Take what you learn from the first round and iterate the service. Then test it with new participants to make sure you have addressed the usability issues.

Guidelines for recruiting participants

Apply these guidelines to your recruitment planning.

Recruit citizens and not coworkers

During service maturity assessments, we ask about user research. The team will often report that they have tested it on their colleagues. What we are looking for, is that they have tested it with citizens. It is important to test your service with people who are not familiar with the project.

Recruit people who represent your main user groups

Try to find participants that are likely to use your service in the future. For example you might recruit:

• students or prospective students if your service is to apply for a post-secondary grant;
• business owners if you are building a business directory; or
• parents or guardians if you have a service to register for a school bus.

Recruit people with a variety of abilities

Make your research inclusive. Within your user groups, try to test your service people with a variety of abilities. For example, recruit people who:

• can't make it into a government office to access a service;
• are not comfortable with, or new to using digital services;
• might not have access to a mobile device or computer;
• might understand information better at different reading grade levels; or
• represent diverse cultures and languages.

Including a variety of user will help the project team:

• understand the barriers people with different abilities might encounter;
• refine the service design and content based on how different users experience them; and
• meet the government’s accessibility requirements.

Recruit people who help others use a service

Not all users will access a service themselves. There are instances where another person will help them use a service. For example:

• legal professionals;
• parents or guardians;
• caseworkers; or
• children or advocates for elders or seniors.

Where to find user research participants

These are examples of where project teams have looked to recruit participants.

• Contact existing clients or people from committees or working groups. For example, a team working on a website for early learning professionals, contacted people working in that field.
• Get referrals from other recruits or project team members.
• Advertise through:
  • the government’s social media channels;
  • online advertising;
  • the government intranet and discussion boards;
  • blog posts; or
  • newspaper ads.
• Trade shows or industry events.
  Teams have set up booths and displayed their website to watch and interact with people trying them out.
• Public spaces.
  Teams have set up a table and displays at locations like:
  • Yukon University;
  • Canada Games Centre;
  • visitor reception centres;
  • public libraries;
  • farmers markets; or
  • campgrounds or parks.
• First Nations or municipal governments.
  Teams have contacted colleagues in other governments so see of they, or their staff want to take part. They have offered to return the favour if or when these governments undertake similar research.
• Not-for-profit organizations.
  Teams have worked with not-for-profit organizations to test a service with a particular set up users. 

Recruitment email

When you reach out to your pool of potential participants, your email should include:

• a clear subject line;
• an introduction to yourself, your role and the project;
• how you're connected to the person who referenced the participant (if appliable);
• a short and simple description of the type of user research you're going to conduct;
• if the sessions are in person, remote or a combination;
• your estimate for the time commitment (keep it under an hour);
• available dates and time slots;
• instructions for them to pick 1-2 times that will work for them if they agree to participate.

Avoid telling potential participants too much about the digital service or website your testing. You will ask them for first impressions during the test so we want to avoid giving them too much information up front.

Example of a recruitment email

Subject line

Can you help us improve our website? OR Can you help us make it easier for people who access government services online.

Body text

Hi [Name of person]. My name is [add name] and I am the [job title] with the [program area/department or Government of Yukon].

I am working with [name of the person who referred them] to improve some pages on Yukon.ca. They suggested I reach out to you to see if you could participate in a usability test. 

A usability test is where we present participants with a series of tasks or scenarios. They use a website or digital service to look for information that helps them complete each task. We are testing our websites and digital services, not the people who participate. We do this so we can learn how people use these services and to identify ways we can improve the user experience.

I'm setting these sessions up on Teams so you would join the call on your computer or dvice via a link we’ll share with you.

I expect the time commitment will be 1 hour of your time.

I'm looking schedule the sessions on Thursday, March 25 and Friday, March 26. We have time slots available for both days from:

8 to 9 a.m. 
9 to 10 a.m. 
10 to 11 a.m. 
11 a.m. to noon 

If you’re able to participate, can you let me know if 1 or 2 of those options will work for you? I’ll send you further instructions and send you a meeting invite with instructions to join the online session. 

If you aren’t able to participate, no problem at all. We appreciate you taking the time to read this email.

[Researcher's name]

Follow up email

Once you've confirmed a person will participate in the user research session you should send them a follow up email. Include the following.

• Clear subject line.
• How they can prepare for the call.
  • Give their consent to participate (Attached consent document)
  • Save documents to upload (if applicable)
  • Wear headphones for better sound.
  • Make sure they can share the screen on their device.
  • Brief orientation to the platform (screen grabs of the parts they are going to need to use)
• Description of what will happen on the call
  • Whether or not they should have their camera on (I like to give them the option)
  • A rough idea 
• 
  What will happen on the call
  Instructions about the devices they can use (anything as long as they can screen share)
  THe platform you’re using. In most cases it will be Teams and a reminder the link will be in the meeting invite.
  Recommendations to use headphones
  
  What will happen during the call
  Let them know they can reach out if they have any more questions.

Example of a follow up email to a user research participant

Subject line: Instructions for your upcoming usability test with the Government of Yukon

[Name of participant]

Thanks again for agreeing to participate in this usability test. These instructions lay out how you can access the call and what to expect. 

Before you dial in: 

I need your consent before you attend your session. I’ve attached a consent document for you to look over. This is to make sure you understand what information we’ll collect and what we do with it. If you consent to participate in the study, you can respond to this email to give your consent in the body of the email or you can sign and return the form as an attachement.

I've also attached 2 pdfs you can save to your desktop. You'll need to refer to these suring the test.

If you have any issues connecting, you can reach me at [your phone number].

Use a device of your choice to join the Teams meeting. I'll send you a meeting invite shortly. Make sure the device allows you to share your screen.

I recommend you use headphones to make sure you have good sound quality.

What will happen on the call: 

Once you've joined the [Teams] session you'll see me as I'm facilitating this session. I'll also have 2 colleagues joining so they can help me takle notes. 

You are not required to turn your camera on. We'll have our cameras on for introductions and then we'll turn them off during the test.

To start the session, I’ll read the test instructions out loud so you know what to expect. I'll and share the link and any log in information in the chat. 

Once you've access the service, I'll ask you to start a screen share. This is so we can see where you are moving the curser and what you're clicking on.

I’ll read the test scenarios one at a time and then turn it over to you to use the service to complete the tasks.

At the end of the test there will be time for questions and you can share your thoughts and feedback. 
Let me know if you have any questions before our call. 

[Your name]

What to include in the meeting invite

Book participants as soon as you hear back on their availability. 

The meeting invite for each participant will have some of the same information you included in your follow up email. Include:

• a clear name for the event;
• the link to the session at the top so it's visible;
• a reminder they:
  • can use any device they can screen share with;
  • can use headphones to improve sound quality;
  • access the service once you share the link and log in credentials with them on the call; and
• they can choose if they want to have their camera on, or not; and
• contact information in case they have a technical issue or have to cancel. 

Example of a meeting invite for a usability test

Event name: Government of Yukon usability test with [First name of participant's]

Body of the meeting invite

Hi [name of person],

Thanks again for agreeing to participate in this usability test. You can access the session using the Teams link below.

[Teams link]

Before you join the call

• make sure you can screen share on your computer or mobile device;
• set up headphones if you plan on using them; and
• save the 2 pdf attachments to your desktop.

​You can shoose whether or not you want your camera on. We'll have ours on so we can introduce ourselves and then we'll turn them off for the session.

If you have trouble connecting or you have to cancel you can reach me at [facilitator's phone number].

We look forward to meeting you,

[Name of facilitator]