Recruitment is finding and screening the right people for a study, and incentives are what you pay them for their time. Together they decide the quality of qualitative research more than almost anything else: the right people, fairly paid, turn up, take part properly and tell you what you need to know.
This guide covers where participants come from, how to write a screener, how much to pay, how many extra people to recruit, and how to keep people taking part in studies that run for days or weeks.
Where do research participants come from?
Most qualitative studies find people in one of five ways:
- A specialist recruitment agency. Recruiters find and screen people to your brief, from their own databases or by searching from scratch. Usually the most reliable route for consumer and hard-to-find audiences.
- An online panel. Fast and good for broad consumer audiences, though panel members take part in a lot of research, so screening matters more.
- The client's own customers. Ideal when you need real users of a product or service, as long as the client has the right to contact them for research.
- A community or panel of your own. People you've recruited and profiled once, ready for the next question.
- Referrals. For very specific or hard-to-reach groups, participants can often introduce others like them.
How do you write a good screener?
A screener is the short questionnaire that checks whether someone fits the study. A good one is quick to complete and hard to game:
- Start with the exclusions. People who work in research, marketing or the client's industry, and anyone who has taken part in similar research recently, are usually screened out first.
- Ask about behaviour, not just attitudes. "Which of these have you bought in the last month?" tells you more than "Do you like the brand?"
- Don't give the answer away. Hide the qualifying option among others, so people can't guess what you're looking for.
- Include one open question. Qual depends on people who can put their thoughts into words, and a short written answer shows you who can.
- Set quotas for the mix you need, such as age, region or how often people use the product, so you don't end up with ten of the same person.
How much should you pay research participants?
There's no single rate, because it depends on the country, the audience and what you're asking. The principle is simple: pay fairly for people's time and effort. As a reference point from the US, User Interviews suggests around $60 to $100 an hour for consumers in a moderated session.
Pay more when:
- The audience is hard to reach, such as senior professionals, doctors or people with a rare condition. Business-to-business incentives are often several times the consumer rate.
- The study asks more of people, such as a diary over several weeks, filming at home or a long interview.
- The subject is sensitive or personal.
For multi-day online studies, pay for the whole study rather than by the hour, and make it clear what counts as taking part. A local recruiter will know the going rates in each market, which is the most reliable guide of all. Underpaying is a false saving: it attracts people who are only there for the money and puts off the people you actually want.
What form should incentives take?
Bank transfers, digital gift cards and charity donations are the most common. A charity donation is a useful option for professionals who can't accept payment themselves. Whatever you choose, pay quickly: being paid promptly is a big part of whether people take part again.
In the UK, the MRS Code of Conduct doesn't allow a client's own products or services, or vouchers to spend on them, to be used as incentives, because that turns research into marketing. Long-running communities often use points that members collect and redeem, alongside prize draws.
How many extra people should you recruit?
Some people won't turn up, so recruit more than you need. A Quirk's analysis treats an 80% show rate as typical for focus groups and 90% as very good. For interviews, MeasuringU recommends recruiting about 20% more people than you need.
For groups, recruiting two or three extra people per session is the usual practice. If more turn up than you need, thank the extras and pay them in full: they kept their side of the arrangement. Reminders the day before and on the day, and a simple way to join, do more for show rates than anything else.
How do you keep people taking part in longer studies?
In a diary study or a community, the challenge isn't getting people to start but keeping them going. What helps most:
- Set expectations at the start: how long the study runs, how much time each day or week it needs, and what they'll be paid.
- Reply to people. A short, human response from the moderator shows that someone is reading, and effort rises when people know it is.
- Keep tasks reasonable. A few short tasks are easier to keep up than one long one.
- Use reminders, and pay in stages or with a completion bonus for longer studies.
If you research the same people regularly, a community of your own means you recruit and profile them once, rather than starting again with every brief.
What about research with children and teens?
Research with children needs consent from a parent or guardian, and the MRS Code treats anyone under 16 as a child. Keep sessions shorter, tasks simple and the language age-appropriate, and think about where a parent should be during the session. Specialists such as LitBrains, who focus on kids and teens, build these considerations into every project.
How do you recruit professionals and B2B participants?
Professionals are busy, so make it easy: shorter sessions, flexible times and online interviews they can join from their desk. Verify that people are who they say they are, for example through a professional profile, because the incentive is attractive. And respect that some can't discuss competitors or confidential projects, which is one reason one-to-one in-depth interviews are usually a better fit than groups.
What about data protection?
Recruitment involves personal data, so collect only what you need for the study, explain how it will be used, and record consent. Delete screening data you no longer need, and if you recruit from a client's customer list, check they have a lawful basis to share it for research.
The bottom line
Good recruitment is the foundation of good qual. Use a screener that checks behaviour and articulacy, pay fairly and promptly, recruit a few extra people, and keep in touch with participants throughout. The people you recruit are the research, so the time spent getting them right always pays back.
