Wikimedia Research/Design Research/Participant recruiting

Step 1.Initial Outreach Email invite
We send out an invite to people in our opted in participant databaes who qualify for the study at hand.

''Hello,

In the recent past, you completed a survey providing us your email and some basic information about your experience with ( Wikipedia, Media Viewer, etc, etc). I am writing you today, to ask for your participation in some upcoming research sessions we will be running on November 17th - 18th, 2014.

If you are interested in participating in this round of research, please reply with the dates and times that work best for you. Monday, Nov 17th (pacific standard time) 11:00am to 12:00pm 1:00pm to 2:00pm 2:00pm to 3:00pm Wednesday, Nov 19th (pacific standard time)) 10:30am to 11:30am 11:30am to 12:30pm 1:00pm to 2:00pm Please provide your name:

Please let us know what time zone you are in (for scheduling purposes): The research will be done remotely on Google HangOuts. Your participation will take no preparation, and all you have to do is show up on the Google hang out with your laptop ready to go. We will email you a link to click on just before your scheduled time to join the Google Hangouts chat session. There are a lot of ways to contribute to sharing the sum of human knowledge, and this is just one way. :) Thanks again, Tracy Beasley \ Design Research Participant Recruiter Wikimedia Foundation (tbeasley@wikimedia.org)''

Step 2a.  Pre-Research Notes/Confirmation Email
Once people respond that they would like to participate, and they have chosen a few dates that might work for them, we send a note to confirm the time and date of their session, and also provide information about what will happen in the research session. In this step, we also provide the release form that participants sign before participating.

''Hello _________ - Here are a few details about our research session 1.    I will send you a link to the Google Hangout just a few minutes before the time you will meet with the researcher, so we can connect. 2. If it is OK with you, we would like to record the research session. This makes it easy for us to focus on the conversation and listen to your feedback, rather than taking notes the whole time. 3. To record, I need your permission, and for you to make a decision if you are willing to share your feedback publicly, or just within Wikimedia Foundation. Please read over this release form (add link to specific person’s release form I have given you edit rights to the document, so please fill out the lines at the bottom. You won't be able to make your signature (that is for when research is in person, and we will be remote), but instead, you can type your name and the date in. 4. When we meet on the Google Hang Out, after introductions, I will ask you if you have read the release form, and if you are willing to record and to what extent you are willing to share your feedback. After this, we will start with the fun part of actually doing the research! We look forward to talking with you on [enter day]! Design Research Team''

Step 2b.   Calendar Invite ( Use the Design Research Calendar)
At the same time we send out the pre-release/confirmation email, we send a calendar invite to the participant and reserve the room that research will be held in.

''Calendar Title: Design Research with Wikimedia Foundation: Discussions [flow, media viewer, etc,] Where: Remote Video Call: Remove link Calendar: Use Design Research Calendar Description:

Hi ______,

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us, we really appreciate it. You will receive an email from ( Abbey Ripstra, Daisy Chen, etc) with a link to join a video chat using Google Hangouts just before your session time at 9:00am (PST). Notification Reminder: Add either email or pop-up''

Step 3.Update Research Notes Page
For each research session, we have a spreadsheet that contains the protocol for the research session (to ensure we cover all the content required for the research at hand) as well as some basic information about the participant. After all the research sessions are completed for the project, this spreadsheet along with the recordings of the sessions and any other resulting artifacts are used in analysis and synthesis.

''Add the following participant information to each study’s research notes spreadsheet: Participant Name

Participant Timezone

Participant Email

Release Note signed? Yes/No ( ideal to have this done before their session starts)

Share with Everyone or Only WMF

''