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How to Recruit Tech Pros for Qualitative Research
Recruiting professionals for qualitative research can be challenging.
There are many sources and platforms available on the market for recruiting qualitative research participants. And recently we’ve seen a rise in the number of “source-it-yourself” platforms that companies are using to self-recruit.
However, this approach can be risky. A recent interaction with a potential client raised a pertinent question: How do we verify the authenticity of participants and ensure that their answers are genuine and have relevant experience for the study at hand?
In this article, you will find some effective tips for recruiting quality technologists for qualitative research.
The challenges of recruiting for evolving technical roles
Recruitment challenges in technology-related research extend beyond the increasing popularity of source-it-yourself platforms.
Technology professionals are constantly evolving and their roles and responsibilities are becoming increasingly complex. This creates “hybrid” roles that combine functions between IT and business, which often presents a challenge when recruiting.
An example is the creation of “Citizen Developer”. Asking citizen developers whether they are more IT or business oriented can result in a “well, it depends” response, making sourcing and recruiting even more complicated.
Due to the ever-evolving nature of the technology industry, traditional recruiting methods may not always be sufficient to ensure high quality, highly qualified participants. Although professional boards and recruiting firms pre-qualify and review applicants’ profiles, it is the screener criteria that determine the most important qualification criteria. However, even the most expert screener may require additional follow-up and due diligence.
Effective tactics for qualitative screening of research candidates
Finding the most suitable candidates to study can be challenging, but it is not impossible. To re-qualify the prequalified, implement the following approaches.
1. Search online
Check the candidate’s online presence, company website, and social media to get a better idea of them before scheduling an appointment or interview with them.
2. Self-assessment
Use competency questions (e.g. skills, expertise), responsibility assignments (e.g. percentage of time spent on a specific task), and scales such as “more IT or business” or “more strategic or tactical” to evaluate candidates, those that don’t fit well into traditional categories.
3. Role description
Job titles are a good place to start when targeting potential candidates. However, titles do not necessarily describe job functions and can vary by company and industry.
In addition to asking candidates about their title, ask what they do. For example, provide a list of tasks and ask them to choose their main tasks (or even the top three).
4. Articulation questions
Ask questions that require candidates to articulate their answers. For example, instead of just asking, “Do you have experience creating widgets?” Also ask, “Describe your most recent or most memorable experience creating widgets. Please be as detailed as possible.”
Articulation questions can also be asked individually or independently, e.g. B. “What do you think is the best technological innovation of all time and why?” The goal of such questions is to assess potential candidates’ enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and ability and openness to engage in detailed discussions.
5. Questions about personality
Personality questions are designed to assess mindset (e.g. open/closed) and attitude (e.g. light/dark) and are also useful for creating good, balanced dynamics in a focus group environment.
Take an advertising testing study for example: you definitely don’t want to recruit a room full of participants who think all advertising is meaningless. Or you don’t want to recruit people who aren’t comfortable with ambiguity in a concept test.
Personality questions can be general (e.g., “Do you see what is right in front of you or what can be imagined more often?”) or specific (e.g., “I am always looking for new or unique technologies to “To improve things or things that I like.” to stick to proven technologies.”)
6. Red herrings
Inserting a random and off-topic question is useful for quality reasons. These questions are generally easy to answer, for example: “Choose the color green from the list below.”
Red herrings can also be used as a counter-check by asking the same question at the beginning and end of the screener: e.g. B. “What industry is your company in?” Candidates are assumed to know the industry they work in, no matter how many times they are asked.
Additional tips
1. Follow up
Once you have selected candidates for scheduling, contact them with details on how to participate. Communication should include a summary of the research purpose, time commitment, fee (if applicable) and other online-related elements:
- Application (Zoom, Teams, etc.) for the research session
- Restrictions such as “Must be on a desktop/laptop; no mobile or tablet devices”
- Technical requirements, such as installing plugins or obtaining permissions to access apps or platforms (sometimes IT approval is required on company devices)
2. Over-recruitment
Always have a long list of pre-qualified candidates ready for review, comparison, selection and elimination. This is useful for identifying potential gaps in screening criteria and preconceived characteristics of the target audience when targeting a specific participant profile.
And it’s always good to have a few candidates on hand to back up in case of cancellations, no-shows, or technical issues (because it’s more cost-effective than having to restart recruiting).
Although additional screening steps are time-consuming, they ultimately ensure the selection of high-quality participants, resulting in higher quality research results.
More resources for conducting qualitative research
Recruiting executives and industry experts for qualitative research
Qualitative research: Even more important in the age of big data
Market Research for B2B Marketing Success: Jim Longo on Marketing Smarts (Podcast)