Participants Needed for Paid Research Study @UMD

Do you speak any languages other than English?

How do you make language choices when communicating with others in everyday life?

Would you like to share your daily communication and information seeking experience with us?

We invite you to participate in an interview session with Yongle Zhang, the Principal Investigator of an ongoing research project (see the paragraph below for details). Yongle is a Ph.D. candidate in Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The research project aims to promote people’s access to information and resources in an English dominant environment (e.g., the United States) regardless of their language backgrounds. Through interviews and other activities with you as the participants, we hope to gain insights on technology design for quality life in a multilingual society.

Motivation
Communication and information-seeking across languages can be challenging. The current pandemic further intensifies this challenge. For example, people with limited English proficiency often find it difficult to acquire healthcare information in English. It is also not easy for them to advocate their rights when facing microaggressions or discriminations.
By learning from your daily experience, we hope to build an inclusive and connected society for people with different language backgrounds.

Who is eligible to participate?
Participants must be:
– 18 years old or above
– currently living in the United States
– with experience of using translation services or tools (e.g., language help offered by bilingual friends or family members, dictionaries, translation software, etc.)

What will you do?
You will be compensated $15/hour by attending 2 activities:
– 2-hour individual interview session
– 2-hour follow-up group brainstorming session with another participant
The payment for attending both activities is $60.
We will reimburse for up to $40 for your transportation expenses(with valid receipts).

When and where?
– Each activity will be scheduled on a separate day chosen by you.
– The activity will take place in the research group’s lab space at UMD or a public space (e.g., coffee shops) specified by the participant.

* Note: If you are not located in Washington metropolitan area, you will join the session via Zoom.

How will you receive the payment?
You will be paid through one of the following ways:
– Cash
– Tango Card

* Note: Tango is a reward program where you can redeem e-gift cards from 100+ popular vendors (e.g., Amazon, Macy’s and Starbucks; click the link here to view the full list). The cash payment is only available to participants who join in-person research sessions.

How will you sign up?
Click the link here or scan the QR code to access the sign-up survey. It will take you 2-5 minutes to complete this survey.

Sign-up QR Code

What will happen after you sign up?
We will email qualified survey respondents via email to schedule a time for the interview session.

Safety Measures for Covid-19
We will strictly follow the university’s guidelines (https://research.umd.edu/irb) when conducting any research activities. Face masks and hand sanitizers will be provided on-site. Masks should be worn by all participants and researchers.

For any questions you would like to ask before signing up, please reach out to Yongle Zhang at yongle[at]umd[dot]edu.