A great way to earn a little extra cash and shape the future of new products is by taking part in user research. Every company wants to be the best, and to do that they need to have a product that people want. These companies need users of all kinds, from the computer savvy to your grandma that can barely turn on her computer. That way they can address concerns and issues for all types of users. Income from user research will not replace the income from a full time job, but they are fun.
You can sign up to participate in Yahoo’s user research program by going to, http://promo.yahoo.com/user_research/.
Signing up is easy and only takes a minute or two. With the Yahoo program, you can get fifty dollars and up for participating, depending on the research begin done. Yahoo does many different types of research, they do field research and come to your location, and you might be invited to come to their office for usability studies, phone interviews with researchers, online focus groups, and online surveys. When you sign up you get to choose which of these you would prefer participate in, also when signing up your name and a valid phone number are required. You may not get any invites right away it can take some time. When you sign up make sure you fill out the questionnaire, because it will determine what studies you will be invited to participate in. Be honest though; do not base your answers on whether it will ‘get you into more studies’.
Not all of the research studies offer compensation, however most do and you will get to see how much (if any) the compensation is before beginning a study. When you are invited, it will be by email or phone (depending on what you signed up for). You will not get any spam from the yahoo research program; the only emails you will get from them are for research purposes, never for any other reason. Yahoo! Inc. Promises to use your information provided by you for research related purposes, if that it something that worries you read their privacy policy before signing up for their research programs.
Google also does user research; the sign up page is at https://survey.google.com/wix/p0822776.aspx. Google’s user experience research studies are similar to yahoo’s, the only major difference is with Google you must be eighteen and older to participate in their studies. Once again make sure you fill out their questionnaire as much as possible, and more complete profile will increase your chances of begin invited to participate in studies. As with the yahoo user research program, you could be doing usability studies for existing products or ones that are still begin developed, so one of the terms and conditions you agree to at sign up is a non-discloser agreements about new and developing products.
You will be paid for your time, the amount depends on the study however the typical pay is seventy-five bucks an hour, of course that is for hours spent with a Google researcher, either on the phone or in person. Compensation for online surveys and other types of studies varies depending of length and the types of product begin studied. Upon signing up you can choose which types of studies you would prefer participating in, Usability studies at the Google office (mostly in Mountain View, CA office but they have offices around the world), Remote usability studies, Field studies, or Online surveys. Even those that do not use Google products are encouraged to sign up for user research, so they can try their products out with people that are not already familiar with them.
All information provided to Google by you is kept in accordance with Google’s privacy policy, and only used for research purposes. For more details read Google’s privacy policy.
Last but not least for this list of user research programs is the one for Adobe, http://www.adobe.com/survey/. I think everyone has the program on his or her computer. If it has ever frustrated you here is your chance to tell the company that makes it. They do field research and visit you at home or work, remote research via the web and emails surveys. Field studies, phone interviews usually last one to two hours. Compensation for participation is not always money, it could be software or other kinds of gifts. You must be eighteen and older to participate in Adobe’s user studies.
