While managed by the UX team at the University of Arizona Libraries, the UX participant pool can be a helpful resource for researchers on campus.
If you are a researcher from another University of Arizona department, follow these guidelines before conducting a research with the participants from the UX participant pool.
Recruiting participants from the pool
Contact Bob Liu, User Experience Strategist at the University of Arizona Libraries, to work with the library's UX team to review your research and plan for the recruitment.
Scope and criteria
The pool cannot be used for a commercial or profit-seeking product or endeavor. Your study must be:
- For the purpose of improving experiences of people using University of Arizona services or products
- For program evaluation exempt from IRB, not rigorous studies intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge
The UX team at the University of Arizona Libraries will recruit participants from the pool and share their individual contact information with you. You are responsible for keeping the participant's information confidential. Do not share any personally identifiable information, including recordings of a research session, without the participant's consent.
Incentives and reimbursement
If you ask for than 10 minutes of the participant's time, you must offer incentives. For recruiting students, gift cards and food/beverages are the best options.
Tips for success
For the best response rate, we advise you to:
- Keep the invitation to participate simple. Make it clear what is in it for them, why they should care, and if you are offering any incentives.
- Avoid long and complicated surveys. Keep surveys approachable and succinct, and make sure people can complete them within 5 minutes.
- Ask for less than 30 minutes of time, especially when inviting people to a moderated study (e.g. usability tests, interviews).
- Unmoderated research invites receive more responses. If possible, design studies that participants can complete on their own without facilitation, such as unmoderated card sorts, first-click tests, and tree tests in Optimal Workshop.
- Do not recruit for focus group studies from the pool. Use more targeted recruitment channels (department listserv, student workers) instead of the participant pool.
For more tips, read the Recruiting participants recipe from The UX Cookbook.
Examples and inspiration
Here are some sample recruitment emails that had strong participation:
Example #1: Preference testing (survey-based)
Email subject: Vote on COVID-19 library poster wording
Email body:
The library is putting up posters to understand the level of safety in our spaces.
We've narrowed it down to 3 choices. Help us decide which one is best!
[CTA button: Help us pick]
Example #2: Usability testing (moderated)
Email subject: Help test out a new UA web interface!
Email body:
[Headline: Help us improve a new training tool and receive a gift of your choice]
A new online training tool is being created for students and employees across campus. It's called EDGE Learning and we need your help to make it better!
If you are a current UA student enrolled in classes but not working for the university, we invite you to meet with us for just 15 minutes to try out the tool on Wednesday, October 21, 9-9:30 am.
You'll be joining remotely over Zoom, and we'll guide you from there. As a thank you, we'll mail you a gift of your choice: A stadium bag with a USB adapter, notebook and pen, or a tracker tile.
We appreciate you and hope you are keeping well!
[CTA button: Sign up now]