User Participant Group

A user participant group is a collection of people who mirror the persona found in the simulation of your customer story. Use your user participant group to validate the simulation of your customer story and validate your early ideas.

User Participant Group

After creating your digital story organize a user participant group. A user participant group is a collection of people who mirror the persona found in your digital story. Use your user participant group to validate or invalidate your digital story.

Group Size: 4-10

Materials Needed: Print User Participant Group page, Pens, - Markers and Post-its

Duration: 30-60mins

User Participant Group

Reflect on your research and observation. Organize a group of user who mirror the person found in your digital story.

  • Validate your digital story

    Verify your Persona and their problem

    Validate your solution

    Test your solution's effectiveness

  • Work in 4- 10 team member groups to develop a recruitment strategy to organize a user participant group. Collaborate to determine who you will ask. Where you will find your likely participants and how you will recruit them to your user participant group.

  • Step 1. Collaborate with your team to develop a recruitment strategy to attract individuals who align with the persona found in your digital story. Collect relevant information to segment your cohort.

    Who: Define who you need to ask to be in your user participant group.

    Where: Where can you find your persona?

    How: How will you convince or what incentives will you provide to recruit people into your user participant group?

    Step 2. Determine the critical ethnographic information you need to collect. Information that may serve as a variable for the problem or solution. Ex: Job Title, Income, Age, Location, Industry.

    Step 3. Assign roles and responsibilities to team members.

  • Clearly state research goals for gathering specific insights.

    Choose participants who match your target audience.

    Use various methods to find suitable participants.

    Explain research purpose, activities, and rights to participants.

    Plan date, time, and location, accommodating participant availability.

    Create structured research materials aligned with objectives.

    If needed, prepare for group discussions and assign roles.

    Ensure a comfortable and accessible research environment.

    Select appropriate tools and test them.

    Use techniques to encourage participants to share openly.

    Assure confidentiality and data protection.

    Provide participants with feedback or a debriefing session.

    Analyze collected data systematically.

    Continuously improve the process based on feedback.

    Adhere to ethical guidelines and seek approval when necessary.

Organize a User Participant Group

Organizing a user participant group involves various tasks, from recruitment and scheduling to data analysis and communication. There are several tools available to help streamline and manage these tasks. Here are some tools you can use for different aspects of organizing a user participant group:

Recruitment and Screening:

  • SurveyMonkey: You can create surveys and questionnaires to pre-screen potential participants.

  • Typeform: It's a user-friendly platform for creating forms and surveys to gather participant information.

  • Scheduling:

    • Doodle: It helps you schedule meetings, interviews, or group activities by allowing participants to indicate their availability.

    • Calendly: An online scheduling tool that integrates with your calendar and lets participants book appointments based on your availability.

  • Communication:

    • Email and Calendar Apps: Tools like Gmail, Outlook, and Google Calendar can be used to send invitations, reminders, and communicate with participants.

    • Slack: Create channels for communication with your team and participants, and share files and updates easily.

    • Data Collection and Analysis:

      • Google Forms: Collect data through surveys and forms, and export responses to Google Sheets for analysis.

      • Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets: Use spreadsheets to organize and analyze data collected during user research or feedback sessions.

      • Qualtrics: A comprehensive research platform for creating and analyzing surveys, interviews, and feedback data.

    • Project Management:

      • Trello: Organize tasks and project workflows, assign responsibilities, and track progress.

      • Asana: Manage project timelines, tasks, and team collaboration for user research and participant engagement.

    • Video Conferencing and Screen Sharing:

      • Zoom: Host remote interviews, user testing sessions, or virtual focus groups.

      • Microsoft Teams: Conduct video meetings and share screens to engage participants virtually.

File Sharing and Collaboration:

  • Google Drive/Microsoft OneDrive: Store and share research documents, reports, and other project files with team members and participants.

  • Dropbox: Share large files and collaborate on documents and presentations.

  1. Participant Incentives:

    • PayPal: Send monetary incentives to participants for their involvement.

    • Gift Card Platforms: Use services like GiftRocket or Tango Card to provide gift card incentives to participants.

  2. Ethical Considerations:

    • Consent Form Templates: Create and store consent forms for participants, ensuring legal and ethical compliance.

  3. Analytics and User Research Tools:

    • UserTesting: Conduct remote user testing and collect valuable insights from participants.

    • Hotjar: Analyze user behavior on websites and gather feedback through surveys and session recordings.

  4. Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing:

    • Notion: Create wikis, documentation, and knowledge bases for organizing research findings and insights.

    • Confluence: A collaboration and documentation platform for keeping project information and research findings organized.

  5. Community and User Engagement:

    • Discourse: Create online communities or forums for ongoing user engagement and feedback.