Define your research criteria

Before starting recruitment, be clear about who you need to speak to and why. Think about:

• user groups (citizens, professionals, internal NHSBSA staff)
• experiences (for example: recently used service, offline user)
• demographics (age, region, digital confidence)

Questions to consider:

• What gaps exist in your current research?
• Are there underrepresented groups you need to include?
• How will you make sure your sample is representative?

Around 20% of the UK population has a disability or health condition that may affect the way the interact with our services. You need to think about how you’ll actively include users:

• with accessibility needs
• who use assistive technologies
• with lower digital confidence
• with limited access to digital services

Recruitment routes

There’s no single preferred recruitment method. It’s best to use a mix of approaches to reach a broader and more representative range of users.

Choose the methods that best fit your users, research goals, and constraints, while ensuring recruitment is:

• ethical
• inclusive
• compliant with Information Governance (IG)

Where possible, recruitment should prioritise users who have actively consented to being contacted about research opportunities.

Research panels

A research panel is a group of people who have opted in and given consent to be contacted about user research opportunities.

There are 2 NHSBSA research panels:

Citizens: members of the public who have used NHSBSA services in a personal capacity

Professionals: people who use NHSBSA systems or services as part of their job

People who join the panel have voluntarily signed up using our sign up form and consented to be contacted for research. They provide demographic and service-use information, which helps us determine whether they meet criteria for specific research.

To get an extract from the research panel, submit a request using the Participant recruitment tracker.

If you need more information or support using the recruitment tracker or the panel does not include a suitable question for your project, you can contact ResearchOperations@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

Service touchpoints

Think about where users already interact with your service and how these can support recruitment. This might include:

• NHSBSA website or services
• NHSBSA operational teams (for example, teams handling queries by phone, email, letters, or application processing)
• CSAT surveys
• newsletters

Recruiting from live service data

This approach involves recruiting participants from people who we already know have used the service, based on live usage data or service interactions. It should only be used where there is a clear and appropriate basis for contacting users.

You should only recruit from live service data if your privacy notice allows research contact and you meet IG requirements.

You must:

• minimise data collection
• only collect what is needed to contact and screen participants
• provide a clear way to opt-out
• store data securely and restrict access
• delete data when it’s no longer needed

Internal NHSBSA teams

Colleagues within the NHSBSA can support with external participant recruitment. Including colleagues from the:

• Colleague Experience & Social Impact team (NHSBSA Intranet)
• Partnerships and Opportunities team (NHSBSA Intranet)
• Stakeholder Engagement team (NHSBSA Intranet)

NHSBSA Communications and Marketing team

Our Communications and Marketing team (Comms) can support participant recruitment where broader reach or awareness is needed. This is particularly useful when recruiting large numbers of users, reaching underrepresented groups, or promoting research opportunities beyond existing panels or service touchpoints.

Comms can support with:

• promoting research opportunities via NHSBSA social media channels
• creating flyers and leaflets
• including recruitment messages in newsletters or other communications
• advising on appropriate wording, tone, and accessibility of content

Your project may have a dedicated communications lead, if you’re not sure who this is you can check with your project team or email communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

Charities and organisations

This route is useful for recruiting users from hard-to-reach or underrepresented groups. It’s good practice to build relationships early, as this can take time, and to be clear about what you are asking from the organisation and from participants.

You should discuss the most appropriate way to support recruitment and research. Some organisations may suggest that it is best to visit them and conduct research on-site with the people they support, as this can provide a familiar environment and help build trust. Others may prefer to share research opportunities through their own channels, such as social media or newsletters.

Pop-up recruitment

You can recruit participants by going to where your users are. This may involve attending events or public places and running research sessions in real environments.

Before you start, agree access with the organisation or venue, confirm expectations and responsibilities and assess risks (for you, your team, and participants). You can find further information about this in our guidance for conducting in-person research, located in the playbook.

You should prepare any relevant materials, including:

• flyers or information sheets
• consent information
• NHSBSA branding (for example, banners)
• any equipment needed (securely managed)

When approaching participants:

• introduce yourself clearly
• explain why you are there
• explain what participation involves
• check they meet your recruitment criteria
• give people the choice to take part - avoid pressure

Cross-government networks

Use Slack and cross-government communities to get advice on recruiting particular user groups. People in these networks may have experience recruiting similar users and can share practical tips or approaches.

Snowball sampling

Ask participants to share research opportunities with others. This can be particularly useful for reaching professionals or specialist groups. Be aware that this can introduce sampling bias, so it should not be your only recruitment method and should always be balanced with other recruitment routes.

Third party recruitment agencies

Only use recruitment agencies when:

• users are very hard to reach
• when all other recruitment routes are not sufficient
• when project timelines cannot be met through internal or alternative recruitment approaches

Recruiting internal NHSBSA staff

Internal user research involves speaking to NHSBSA colleagues when designing or improving systems, tools or processes used by NHSBSA staff. It helps us understand their processes, needs, and pain points so we can design better services.

To identify the relevant internal NHSBSA staff you need to speak with, contact the Service Delivery Manager (SDM) for your service. They can point you to the right team or contact to help coordinate suitable participants.

Participation is voluntary. Colleagues must take part only if they choose to. They may withdraw at any time, and participation must not affect performance or workload conversations

Internal staff as proxy users:

If your internal NHSBSA system has a small user base and you have been unable to carry out accessibility testing with real users - for example, when no one in that team has an access need or uses assistive technology - it is often not appropriate or possible to involve external users.

In these cases, NHSBSA colleagues from other departments may act as proxy users, as long as the research remains ethical and suitable for the system being tested.

Using internal proxy users can help identify major accessibility issues early in design and development. However, this does not replace full accessibility or user testing with real users whenever they are available.

You can post your research request on Yammer:

• Clearly state the purpose of the research
• Explain what type of accessibility needs or technologies you’re looking for
• Confirm participation is voluntary and confidential

Contacting and booking participants

When contacting or managing participants, do not use personal email addresses, personal phone numbers, or personal social media accounts.

Use a project shared mailbox where possible, as this helps keep track of recruitment activity and maintains continuity if team members change or leave the project. If you do not have access to a shared mailbox, speak to ResearchOperations@nhsbsa.nhs.uk to check whether one already exists or to support setting one up.

Informed consent

Participation must always be voluntary and informed. Participants must understand what they are taking part in, know how their data will be used and be able to decline or withdraw at any time. We need to provide support where needed (for example, translators) to ensure participation is inclusive and accessible.

Before the session:

• The User Researcher is responsible for adapting the information sheet and consent form to meet the project and participant needs
• UR or ReOps to share these documents with the participant in advance so participants can make an informed decision

During the session:

• UR to review consent with the participant before starting, begin recording and invite observers only after consent is confirmed
• Get verbal consent and sign on behalf of participant if consent form was not completed before the session

After the session:

• Upload the consent form to the Data Library as soon as possible

Incentives

An incentive is a contribution given to an individual who provides us with their time, knowledge and expertise on a voluntary basis. This is most commonly used as a token of gratitude for participation in research activities. However, there are certain eligibility requirements.

Some projects might not use incentives. This is a discussion that will be had within your project.

Who is eligible for an incentive?

Most citizens are entitled to an incentive for participating in User Research, as long as the below conditions are met:

• They attend the research session
• They are not employed by the NHSBSA
• They live in the UK

Employees of the NHS are entitled to an incentive only if they attend a session outside of their working hours, as they cannot be paid by the NHS and receive an incentive for the time they spend during the session.

Are the vouchers digital or physical?

We can offer digital or paper vouchers to participants. While most incentives are in digital format in-line with remote research, some participants with lower digital literacy skills or with limited access to the internet may prefer a paper voucher.

How much can I give a participant as an incentive?

The flat rate for incentives depends on the amount of time that they are required to give for their research session. Time is normally rounded up. This is fixed at:

• £5 for 15 minutes
• £10 for 30 minutes
• £15 for 45 minutes
• £20 for 60 minutes

Occasionally targeting a group of participants that represent seldom heard voices or to meet a shorter deadline for research sessions requires a higher incentive to be offered to meet recruitment needs. This is something that needs to be discussed and approved by the project team.

How do I give a participant an incentive?

A member of the Research Operations team will send incentives. If you have a dedicated ReOps on your project they will do so. If not, send an email to the ReOps mailbox including the details of the participants who require an incentive. A member of the team will pick this up and let you know once they have been sent.

Adding funds to GiftPay:

A member of the ReOps team will let you know when project funds are running low. A Purchase Order form must be sent to DDATBusinessOperations@nhsbsa.nhs.uk with approval from the project DM.

Sending an incentive with GiftPay:

• Log on to GiftPay
• Select your project
• Chose a card
• Enter amount for incentive
• Include a thank you message
• Enter participant emails
• Send email to participants to confirm you have sent the incentive

How to get paper vouchers:

GiftPay:

• You may need to create a separate account to do this. You will have the option to order paper vouchers
• Select Manual activation
• Download vouchers and print them
• If participants are unable to activate vouchers themselves (lack of access to technology) then you will have to activate the vouchers and select the shop yourself

Love2Shop:

• Request goes to DigiAdmin
• Raise Purchase Order for it in project
• The minimum purchase is £100
• Participants can use paper voucher in stores
• Vouchers will get sent to Stella House, but can get reception to send directly to UR or ReOps

NHSBSA-Research-Incentives-Policy-v1.1.docx

Storing participant data

Only collect and store personal data that is necessary for the research, restrict access appropriately, and delete data when it is no longer needed.

Maintaining a demographic log is important to evidence who has taken part in user research and ensure a representative sample of participants. This log records key information about participants, such as relevant characteristics, accessibility needs, or use of assistive technology, alongside details of the research they contributed to (for example, which prototype or part of the service was tested). No identifying information should be captured within this document – participants must be referenced using a participant number or ID.

Keeping this information helps teams track whether they are hearing from a diverse and balanced range of users and identify any gaps or underrepresented groups that may need to be included in future research. It also supports transparency and accountability - for example, during a GDS assessment - by clearly showing how many participants took part across different user groups.

Demographics logs must be stored in the Insights Library so the UCD team, current and future, can determine which characteristics have been covered by research so far and what needs to be considered moving forward.

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