Why you should pay your participants

Offering an incentive to research participants shows that you value the time and energy they’re putting into the testing.

It’s also important to acknowledge that participants may have to:

• travel to take part
• take time off work or use their lunch break
• arrange childcare.

What you should give participants

The incentive is usually a physical or digital gift card such as a supermarket voucher.

Ask your participants how they want to receive the gift card, so it’s easy for them to use. Some people might like to have it posted to them, others may prefer email.

When doing workshops or focus groups, it’s important to offer kai (food) to participants. Sharing food helps create a welcoming, relaxed environment where participants feel valued.

Further guidance to support you:

• Paying incentives for user research — Australian Government
• Compensation — Government of Ontario

Who should receive an incentive

• Members of the public and their whanau.
• Government workers participating in a personal capacity.

Incentives for government employees

You cannot give individual incentives to government employees when you interview them about their work. To encourage them to take part, you can offer a chance to win a voucher in a prize draw.

Exception: You can give individual incentives to those who volunteer their time in a personal capacity outside their official role.

Government employees include people from:

• central government
• crown entities
• local government.

Working with the disability community

Disabled people are often asked by government to provide expert feedback and guidance on accessible digital services, tools and products.

As well as paying these participants, it’s important to provide any reasonable accommodations. For example, a meeting assistant or an New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) interpreter.

If you do not have the knowledge or resources to do user research with disabled users, consider using an external agency. Make sure you allocate funding for this in your budget at the planning stage of the user research.

What is a reasonable accommodation? — Ministry of Social Development

Recommended rates for incentives

These are general guidelines for how much you should give for different kinds of tests. Rates may change depending on what you’re testing and how you’re testing it.

Budgeting for incentives

When you plan your project, set aside money for incentives from the start. Make sure you know what you need to pay participants fairly.

Do not forget to budget for:

• postage for mailing vouchers
• food for workshops or focus groups
• reasonable accommodations
• travel costs for participants.