Day 48 - Usability Testing - Getting Participants for Your Research

How would you go about finding people to interview for your research and usability testing of your prototype?

1. Have a tight deadline.  Lock the calendar date of when your user interviews will take place.
2. Create a screener questionnaire by defining your criteria, writing the questions and creating a Google Form. Also see Google Venture's worksheet for writing a screener.
3. Create a Craigslist Ad with a link to your form.
4. Offer payment or reward for participants.
5. Choose your interviewees carefully. Your ad and questionnaire should be used to vigorously filter out and disqualify candidates that don't meet your target user criteria.
6. Get NDA signed - Get their permission/signature to record the interviews. Also, "The ideas that come out of this, I own that".

Day 13 - Be Prepared for Usability Testing

1. Know what you're testing for when you design your tests
2. Recruit participants
1. Define recruitment criteria
2. Recruit on Craigslist
3. Paid recruitment https://ethn.io/pricing 
4. Create Google Forms to screen and qualify candidates
5. Survey Monkey
3. Have all testing materials ready and practice before your testing dates
1. Prototype/s
2. Location
3. Questions
4. Schedule
5. Participants
4. Schedule the selected participants
5. Conducting usability interviews
1. Set proper expectations
2. Shut up and listen.
3. Avoid bias.  If UX designers conduct interviews on their own designs bias is very likely.
4. Record the interviews.
5. Follow up answers. Make participants feel comfortable, be genuinely inquisitive and probe deep to gain insight.
6. Provide a reward upon conclusion - gift card, voucher, or cash.