End-Users vs Software Practitioners: Recruitment Challenges and Strategies in Software Engineering Research
This paper shares insights from our first-hand experience with key recruitment challenges encountered in software engineering research, focusing on two distinct participant groups: end-users and software practitioners. By conducting a reflective analysis, we emphasise the particular challenges we faced when engaging these groups during empirical study recruitment phases. Significant challenges we faced in recruiting end-users include ensuring authenticity, maintaining engagement, achieving demographic diversity, and addressing privacy concerns. By detailing the strategies we employed to address these challenges, this paper contributes practical knowledge to enhance the efficacy and inclusiveness of research practices, ultimately fostering more robust software engineering research outcomes.
Presented at the VLHCC workshop, 2024.
Project Lead
Wei Wang (PhD candidate), Dr Dulaji Hidellaarachchi
Project Team
Prof John Grundy, Dr Hourieh Khalajzadeh, Dr Humphrey Obie, Dr Anuradha Madugalla