Aglet

Triage Participant Recruitment Fit

A convenient participant is not automatically a useful participant. Triage recruitment by asking whose evidence the decision requires, which experiences qualify, and which constraints affect participation. Make gaps visible before a polished schedule creates false confidence about who the study represents.

Establish what is happening

  1. Name the evidence need

    Write the decision and the user experiences needed to inform it. Separate current users, nonusers, former users, operators, and people affected indirectly. Record access, language, timing, or privacy needs that change how a session must run.

  2. Inspect screening criteria

    Review the screener for questions that identify relevant context without coaching participants toward desired answers. Check inclusion and exclusion rules against the research question. Mark criteria that select convenience, enthusiasm, or familiarity rather than evidence fit.

  3. Bound the recruitment gap

    Compare recruited people with the intended population and note missing contexts or overrepresented groups. State which findings can be used now and what evidence requires another recruitment pass. Assign an owner for every material gap.

What to carry forward

The triage record should name the decision, required contexts, screening rules, recruited coverage, and missing evidence. Stop when reviewers can see exactly whose experience is represented. Keep findings provisional when recruitment fit is unknown or access needs were not supported.

Technical background: GOV.UK user research guidance.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

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