Screen and Select Participants

As we have mentioned a couple of times, you'll need to put together some type of process to determine whether the candidates you have qualify for the study. This usually takes the form of a document that contains a table of qualifications (see the sections "Define the Criteria for Each User Group," and "Choose the Number of Participants to Test," earlier in this chapter) and a set of multiple choice questions (see the previous section "Write the Screening Questionnaire"). The table lists requirements and classifiers along with a range of the number of participants you would like to possess these attributes. The multiple choice questions operationalize the selection/elimination process. The document, typically called a screcner, includes scripted language for starting a phone interview process, getting through the questions, scheduling

the participant (if qualified), and closing the interview.