Newspaper Advertisements

If you have plenty of lead time and want to specifically recruit people who are less technology savvy, advertise in your local newspaper either in a display ad area or the classified ad section for "participants needed for research study."

(Response rates are likely to be higher for display ads than for classifieds.) You might also try online versions of the same newspaper; some newspapers offer special rates for advertising in both the print and online editions. 

In the advertisement, be vague. (Let's be precise about what we mean by vague. Just refer to market research or product testing without providing precise details about what the person will be doing.) Only state the qualifications necessary and the approximate amount of money you are willing to pay for qualified participants. You can have interested candidates either communicate to a web site address or respond by phone.

Responding by phone is much more labor-intensive on your part, especially if you get many more interested people than you have slots for, but it is faster if you are working against a deadline. If you can, use a phone line with an explanatory message on voice mail or a standard answering machine. That way you can return calls at your leisure.

Including a link in the ad to a web site with an online questionnaire not only allows you greater control over the process but also controls the number of responses. Either way, people have to be quite motivated to take part because they have one extra step to go through to respond to the ad. Make it clear in your ad that people must qualify to participate. Of course, this assumes that your participants are computer and Internet users.