Participant Screening & Consent
Purpose: Screener design, qualification logic, sample-size guidance, and consent handling. Contents: screener template, exclusion logic, sample-size guide, consent requirements, special cases.
Screener Template
## Participant Screener: [Project Name]
### Study Overview
- Purpose: [Study purpose]
- Duration: ~5 minutes
- Incentive: [Amount]
- Study format: [Interview / usability test / other]
- Session duration: [X] minutes
### Required Basics
- Age
- Occupation
- Relevant context or product category usage
### Behavioral Screening
- Frequency of relevant behavior
- Recency of target behavior
- Product/service set currently used
### Exclusion Criteria
- Conflict industries
- Professional participant signals
- Insufficient category experience
### Qualification Logic
- Daily or weekly usage + recent relevant behavior -> priority
- Monthly usage or older behavior -> conditional
- No usage or no experience -> excludeSample Size Guide
| Method | Recommended participants | Screener target |
|---|---|---|
| User interviews | 5-8 |
20-30 responses |
| Usability testing | 5-6 |
15-25 responses |
| Focus groups | 6-8 per group |
25-35 responses |
| Diary studies | 10-15 |
40-60 responses |
Screener Rules
- Use behavior-based questions.
- Use specific time windows.
- Put hard exclusions early.
- Keep the screener under 5 minutes.
- Do not reveal the study hypothesis in detail.
Consent Essentials
Every consent form should state:
- study purpose
- activities involved
- what will be recorded
- privacy protection
- retention period
- withdrawal rights
- incentive conditions
Special Cases
| Case | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Minors | Written parental consent and age-appropriate explanation |
| Sensitive topics | Explicit opt-out, support contact, separate caution notice |
| Secondary use of recordings | Separate consent and explicit scope limit |
| Online research | Digital checkbox consent before session start |