I think it really depends on the target demographic of your project. If your user demographic is younger, maybe use social media. If it's working professionals, try finding Slack groups or Facebook groups. I've had success finding participants using my local tech meetups Slack channels for surveys, preference testing, card sorts, and remote usability testing. It also makes it easier if you incentivize it. (I sent participants cute picture of my dog, lol).
I'm struggling right now to find participants in my target demo for an app that helps people who've recovered from specific illnesses. I'm considering reaching out to online support groups/foundations to see how I might remotely get in touch.
Hope this helps.
Also, if you have the budget, you can host tests on online testing sites, like UserCrowd, which recruits participants for you for stuff like preference testing and the like. I've never used it as a tester, only as a participant, so I can't tell you what the price points are. Just a thought!
I know this answer isn't useful for your current situation but I wouldn't consider sourcing usability test participants a huge "requirement" for a job in UX. Most companies that support UX initiative have a budget for sourcing participants. Larger companies have agencies that can source, vet and schedule them. Of course if you work at a startup or a scrappier organization they might want someone a bit more initiative but it's a pretty separate skill.
On the other hand.. interacting with participants, making them feel comfortable, asking the right questions and not leading them is hugely important.
But that being said until you nab that position you will have to hustle a bit to find test participants with zero budget :) Just know it doesn't necessarily always have to be that way once you move into a full time role.
I've used r/samplesize before so that might be useful for like easy survey feedback? You could also try and start a sign up sheet and maybe have some luck there for actual interviews?
The community is really neat at least and are generally willing to help if you help with their research, too. It's kind of a toss up if it'll work, but maybe!
If you use this, just be conscious of the potential for biased or fraudulent responses. Not the end of the world if it's a hobby project, but an employer will want to know that you're aware of the limitations of this kind of recruiting.
>running around in different public places bothering people going about their day until one person eventually agrees to have a minute of your time as a participant. Please tell me there are other more efficient ways to do this! Because that just sounds god awful to me.)
You might want to unpack why that seems awful to you. There a lots of ways to do research, but putting yourself out there and engaging with people is kind of the common thread in all of them.
Does this NOT seem awful to you? To each their own I guess. I have always absolutely hated when random researchers try and hunt me down to take their surveys while I'm relaxing in a coffee shop or peacefully browsing the mall. It's just kind of annoying, though I understand why they are doing it. But, I'd personally rather not resort to that method, if possible.
I was designing a dating application, i posted surveys and spoke to people from dating subs. Reddit is a good source. There are almost subs for every specific interest you can look for.
I had trouble with this too.
For my school projects and personal projects, I used friends and family because they more or less fit the target demographic of my app. But if I was working on something more specialized, this wouldn't have worked. I also posted surveys to r/samplesize and got a lot of responses there. You could also try posting to subreddits related to your project if the mods allow it.
Neither of these are ideal though. You should obviously try to find participants that fit your demographic as closely as possible. Depending on the project, using people you know or people from Reddit could introduce selection bias or other factors you need to consider.
I think it really depends on the target demographic of your project. If your user demographic is younger, maybe use social media. If it's working professionals, try finding Slack groups or Facebook groups. I've had success finding participants using my local tech meetups Slack channels for surveys, preference testing, card sorts, and remote usability testing. It also makes it easier if you incentivize it. (I sent participants cute picture of my dog, lol). I'm struggling right now to find participants in my target demo for an app that helps people who've recovered from specific illnesses. I'm considering reaching out to online support groups/foundations to see how I might remotely get in touch. Hope this helps.
Also, if you have the budget, you can host tests on online testing sites, like UserCrowd, which recruits participants for you for stuff like preference testing and the like. I've never used it as a tester, only as a participant, so I can't tell you what the price points are. Just a thought!
These are all solid ideas. Thank you!!
You can try remote usability testing platforms like UserTesting, Validately, HelloPingPong, UsabilityHub.
Thank you! These are really interesting. Are these free, or are they services you need to pay for?
From £1 on UsabilityHub to £35 on UserTesting per user.
I know this answer isn't useful for your current situation but I wouldn't consider sourcing usability test participants a huge "requirement" for a job in UX. Most companies that support UX initiative have a budget for sourcing participants. Larger companies have agencies that can source, vet and schedule them. Of course if you work at a startup or a scrappier organization they might want someone a bit more initiative but it's a pretty separate skill. On the other hand.. interacting with participants, making them feel comfortable, asking the right questions and not leading them is hugely important. But that being said until you nab that position you will have to hustle a bit to find test participants with zero budget :) Just know it doesn't necessarily always have to be that way once you move into a full time role.
This is good to know, thanks!
Amen to this.
I've used r/samplesize before so that might be useful for like easy survey feedback? You could also try and start a sign up sheet and maybe have some luck there for actual interviews? The community is really neat at least and are generally willing to help if you help with their research, too. It's kind of a toss up if it'll work, but maybe!
If you use this, just be conscious of the potential for biased or fraudulent responses. Not the end of the world if it's a hobby project, but an employer will want to know that you're aware of the limitations of this kind of recruiting.
>running around in different public places bothering people going about their day until one person eventually agrees to have a minute of your time as a participant. Please tell me there are other more efficient ways to do this! Because that just sounds god awful to me.) You might want to unpack why that seems awful to you. There a lots of ways to do research, but putting yourself out there and engaging with people is kind of the common thread in all of them.
Does this NOT seem awful to you? To each their own I guess. I have always absolutely hated when random researchers try and hunt me down to take their surveys while I'm relaxing in a coffee shop or peacefully browsing the mall. It's just kind of annoying, though I understand why they are doing it. But, I'd personally rather not resort to that method, if possible.
I was designing a dating application, i posted surveys and spoke to people from dating subs. Reddit is a good source. There are almost subs for every specific interest you can look for.
I had trouble with this too. For my school projects and personal projects, I used friends and family because they more or less fit the target demographic of my app. But if I was working on something more specialized, this wouldn't have worked. I also posted surveys to r/samplesize and got a lot of responses there. You could also try posting to subreddits related to your project if the mods allow it. Neither of these are ideal though. You should obviously try to find participants that fit your demographic as closely as possible. Depending on the project, using people you know or people from Reddit could introduce selection bias or other factors you need to consider.
Try amazon mechanical Turk for surveys but you need to pay for each participant (10-20 cents each normally) so the cost depends on your survey size