# Recruitment ## expand\_more ## **Participant Pool** The Harvard Library Student Feedback list is available to recruit Harvard students for usability testing and online activities. All non-Harvard Library departments must provide the payment or raffle incentive items for participants. The list consists of over 1400 students, with both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard. If you are interested in recruiting participants from the email list, please contact ****. ### **Email recruitment** Emailing is the easiest way to recruit participants for your study, but you'll need to make sure to craft your message and subject line carefully in order to entice people to participate in your study. #### **Guidelines for student recruitment emails & examples** - Make the message is friendly and not too formal. - Explain, specifically, why their feedback is important for the initiative. - Make it as easy as possible for them to sign-up. - Provide simple explanations about what the study is, why it is happening, and when it will take place. - Organize the message using bolded text headings and bullet points. - Avoid large blocks of text. #### **Example survey recruitment email message** **Subject:** Help the library for a chance to win a $30 Amazon card **Body:** “We know that many Harvard students have had to change how they do research because of the pandemic. The libraries at Harvard want to know more about how the pandemic has impacted your experience working with library materials. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. Complete the survey for your chance to win a $30 Amazon gift card! (Link or button linking to survey in Qualtrics) Thank you." #### **Example tweet or call-to-action on an email newsletter** “The library wants to hear from students about your experience using materials for your research during the pandemic. Take this survey and be entered to win a $30 Amazon gift card.” #### **Guidelines for faculty recruitment emails** - Consider the school associations of the faculty you're recruiting for the study and customize your email message accordingly. - Decide which individual would be better to send the email. It may carry more weight coming from someone that faculty are familiar with. - Be professional and brief. ### **In-person sign-ups at service desks** Have a sign and sign-up sheet at a service desk to recruit study participants. ### **Mailchimp** [**MailChimp**](https://mailchimp.com/) is a website that allows you to design and distribute emails to large groups of people and lets you track statistics about how many times these emails are opened, forwarded, etc. MailChimp also has a mobile app for iOS and Android called[ **MailChimp Subscribe**](https://mailchimp.com/features/mailchimp-mobile/) which is great for email list signups on tablets or mobile devices at service desks and events to notify users of future events. ### **Calendly time slot sign-up tool** [**Calendly**](https://calendly.com/) is an online tool that allows you to create time slots, manage the sign-up process for potential participants, and send reminders to participants. This is great for recruiting remote participants for testing. It offers integrations for Outlook or Google Calendars, Zoom, and more. ### **On-the-spot testing locations and events** There are several locations in libraries, dining halls, cafes, and other popular foot traffic areas on campus where you can table for on-the-spot testing for usability tests, online activities, and surveys.