Filed under: Usability
Getting participants for website research can be difficult, but a few simple steps can help make the process go much more smoothly.
This article outlines steps modelled on the approach taken to recruiting users for a recent website redevelopment project for a tertiary education institution. The research activities included interviews, focus groups and usability testing.
Gather available information
As outlined in the previous article Start user research by talking with staff, an ideal place to start is with a series of staff interviews. These can provide an excellent initial picture of website users and some of the relevant issues. Staff are also able to suggest users who might participate (in our case, students).
Your marketing or customer service department may very well have lists of clients (and other groups of users) that you can make use of. For instance, there may be a regular newsletter on which you can piggyback a message.
There may also be less well known channels to your audience, for example through student clubs, industry associations or partnerships.
[CM Briefing 2007-11 written by Patrick Kennedy, read the full article]