Exploring Stakeholder Challenges in Recruitment for Human-Centric Computing Research

Recruiting participants for human-centric computing (HCC) research studies is crucial for understanding user needs and behavior, evaluating usability, and providing real-world insights to design effective technology solutions. However, this process presents various challenges, from reaching target demographics to managing recruitment communication techniques. This paper investigates HCC research recruitment strategies, challenges, and solutions through 12 focus groups comprising of two different stakeholders in HCC research: researchers and research study participants, with a total of 26 participants. By examining the experiences and challenges faced by these groups, we aim to identify effective strategies to improve participant recruitment. The findings highlight common obstacles and offer recommendations for enhancing recruitment practices in HCC research, ultimately contributing to more robust experiments that promote user-centered technology development and solutions.