Screening? Isn’t that a test already? I guess so. But we don’t seem to spend enough time talking about who we’re going to get to participate in our usability tests. It should be a foundation of our tests. In fact, as I’m typing this, I am wondering how we even begin the design if we don’t know who would use our site/product/app? So really, you should have all the right questions already answered – right?
The value in recruiting the right usability study participants can’t be overstated. If you’ve conducted usability studies before, I bet you’ve experienced the “over qualified” or “never used the internet before” subject. You probably need peeps like these in certain studies, so let’s just say you’ve experienced the “not our market” type of participant. You likely just wasted your time and their time. Well, probably not their time – didn’t you give them a gift card or some cash?
Let’s just leave it at this – find the right people. It will help you get the right data. You know what this means Guerrilla UX-ers? Maybe you should spend a little time up front making sure you stop by the right people’s cubes.