Not finding answers to your questions? Email us at designresearch@ideo.com
How can I find out about design research opportunities?
What happens after I apply for a specific project?
How likely am I to be asked to participate?
What kinds of design research can I participate in with IDEO?
What does design research with IDEO look like?
What does it look like to participate in an interview about a topic where I have deep expertise?
How many people will be in a design research interview?
Will my participation be recorded?
Do I have to provide consent to participate?
What am I agreeing to if I consent to participate?
How do you protect my privacy?
How do you protect my health information?
Can I change my mind about participating and providing consent?
Do I get paid for filling out an application survey?
Do I get paid for participating in design research? How much?
How much do I get paid if I’m sharing my expertise?
Do you have other payment options?
What should I do if my payment hasn’t arrived yet or I have a problem?
How can I find out about design research opportunities?
You can both sign up for our design research updates that are tailored to the interests and information you provide in your profile and you can follow our Facebook page where we post many of our opportunities.
What happens after I apply for a specific project?
Your responses are stored in IDEO’s secure database where they are reviewed by a small design research team. We check your responses to see if you meet the required criteria for the project and then try to choose a group of people that have a broad range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds so we can learn as many new things as possible.
If you are chosen from the list of survey application responses, you’ll receive an email invitation to schedule a research prep phone call. The goal of this conversation is to explain to you the expectations and goals of the design research including processes around scheduling, consent and confidentiality, and payment. We’ll also likely ask you a few follow-up questions to learn more about you and confirm that you’re the right person for the project since it can be hard to make decisions on surveys alone. If all works out and you’re still up for participating, we’ll either schedule the interview right away or send you a follow-up email with an update or next steps for scheduling.
How likely am I to be asked to participate?
Some projects get just a few applicants and some get hundreds, so the odds are unpredictable. We’re always looking for different kinds of people but the one thing all of the participants in IDEO design research have in common is the willingness to share their opinions, perspectives, experiences, or expertise. Every project has different learning and design goals so being asked to participate may just be about waiting for the perfect project for you!
Will my participation be recorded?
Many projects, but not all, require audio and/or video recording during research activities to later effectively synthesize the information and then communicate the learnings and insights to other stakeholders. If you have any questions about whether recording of your participation is required for a specific project you plan to participate in, please reach out to your direct IDEO contact.
What is a looking in session?
A looking in session or interview is a conversation with an internal stakeholder related to the project. If you've been invited to a looking in session you are likely being asked to provide background information to make the project as successful as possible. Looking in conversations are usually not compensated since they likely involve employees of IDEO clients or project funders who would ask you to participate as part of your work but some exceptions apply.
What kinds of design research can I participate in with IDEO?
Currently, our most common design research activities are individual and group qualitative interviews. Our interviews and groups are conducted remotely via video calls over zoom, on the phone, or in-person. When in-person, we can invite participants to visit us in one of our studios or it often helps us even more to learn from you “in-context” at your homes, workplace, or other environments where we can observe real life and work.
We also do small or large-scale quantitative design research surveys or experiments, usability studies, digital diary studies, ask for feedback on concepts or test course materials for IDEO U, or test live prototypes like voting booths, airplane cabins, or school lunches.
What does design research with IDEO look like?
While every design research experience or conversation is different, there are a few things they often have in common. Because it's helpful to understand your context: who you are, what is important to you, and what your life or day-to-day looks like, most interviews or group conversations start with getting to know you as a person.
We also might ask to visit you at home or at work to get a closer look at your world and understand the nuances of your experience up close and personal (travel and health safety guidelines permitting).
Questions about you and your context could be the bulk of a conversation, or we might dive quickly into showing you design concepts and prototypes to get feedback or ask you to participate in activities like drawing out your journey through a specific part of your life or ranking different values. You don't have to be an artist or have any design experience at all, just being open to expressing yourself and sharing your ideas goes a long way. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to working with us!
We're also working to broaden the types of experiences, engagements, and collaboration we have with others, and blurring the lines between inside and outside IDEO. Our purpose of having disproportionate, world-changing impact through design is directly connected to our ability to bring many different perspectives to the table. We not only want to invite you to the table, but we're actively listening and making changes to redesign the table by adapting to new insights and best practices.
What does it look like to participate in an interview about a topic where I have deep expertise?
For starters, the incentive rate will likely be higher. And again, each project can be very different, but typically interviews focused on professional or lived expertise are similar in format to other interviews in that we come with a rough idea of questions we'd like to ask you, but we're not expecting you to lecture or present on the topic from any prepared materials. We're often looking for a deep dive into your expertise area while also looking for feedback on our design concepts, and a thought partner to imagining even better designs.
How many people will be in a design research interview?
Since our design research is part of a collaborative, multidisciplinary design process, it's rare that a project or initiative is done by just one person. Interviews are typically led by one person but with two to three team members joining to be a part of the learning process. It usually feels like a one-on-one conversation, with other designers chiming in when relevant, so most people feel comfortable participating. If it sounds like too many people, especially if the topic is very personal, let us know and we'll work with you to make sure we can limit the number of additional designers when possible.
Do I have to provide consent to participate?
Yes. All design research participants are required to provide consent, usually via a consent form. As a participant in IDEO design research, you have the right to:
What am I agreeing to by consenting to participate?
If invited to participate in an interview or group conversation, you’ll be asked to fill out a consent form that covers these topics:
How do you protect my privacy?
Beyond just following the laws, we take design research ethics very seriously at IDEO. If you submit an application survey, your personal information is stored in protected systems and not shared beyond our small design research team. We don't use your application data for our design research without your explicit consent. Any contributions you share with us, or media we collect during our design research, is kept confidential within IDEO and our partners except for cases in which you opt-in to a separate media release document to help us more broadly share the story of the design research. For more details, please read IDEO's Privacy Policy.
How do you protect my health information?
For any project where we expect to discuss health information like diagnoses, symptoms, medication, medical history, or any other protected health information, we follow HIPAA guidelines to secure the data in enterprise-level software and remove your health information from any logistics documents or communications. Notes, recordings, transcripts, or photos taken during health-related design research are anonymized or collected in a way to protect your privacy.
Can I change my mind about participating and providing consent?
Yes. You can change your mind about consenting to participate in IDEO design research at any time: before, during, or after your design research session. To cancel upcoming design research, please reach out to the design research team you spoke with directly or contact designresearch@ideo.com. If you're uncomfortable with any questions during an interview you can skip them, ask to change the subject, or decide to end the interview. To revoke consent after participating, please fill out our consent revocation form.
Do I get paid for filling out a survey?
The vast majority of our surveys are applications to participate in design research, not paid surveys. Unless explicitly stated in the introduction of the survey, you will not be paid for filling out an IDEO survey. There are some cases where a team decides that they would like to use the application data for their project and we will retroactively send anyone whose data is included in the design research output a small thank-you stipend via email.
Do I get paid for participating in design research? How much?
Yes, you will be paid for participating in our design research. The incentive rate for sharing personal perspectives and experiences is usually $100/hour while sharing your expertise usually starts at a rate of $250/hour. Some projects may require set payment rates due to relevant industry regulations such as healthcare fair market rates but those rates will be advertised in advance for consideration.
How much do I get paid if I’m sharing my expertise?
The rate for sharing professional or lived expertise is often $250/hour but can range depending on the topic area, your expertise level, the budget of the project, and your required rates. You may adjust your rate between projects and we may increase your set rate if equivalent experts require higher rates for the same initiative.
When and how will I get paid?
For most design research sessions, you will receive your payment by the end of the following business day. Depending on the project, you may have several sessions over a short period of time with one bundled payment or if you were connected to IDEO by an outside source who is compensating you directly their payment processes will determine the payment schedule.
If your design research incentive is set to be paid by IDEO, you will receive an email with instructions on how to redeem your payment the day after participating in the design research. View a live demo of our payment redemption process.
For more information on the full catalog of payment options available by currency please see our payment platform partner's list of reward options.
Do you have other payment options?
If none of our payment methods work for you, we can determine options that are more accessible. Please connect with the design research team for the project you are being considered for to customize a payment method for your needs.
What should I do if my payment hasn’t arrived yet or I have a problem?
If you have not received email instructions about your payment by two business days after participating in design research with IDEO, please contact us at designresearch@ideo.com. We also recommend searching your email for “IDEO” as a payment notification could have gone to a spam folder.
Our payment provider is happy to help you troubleshoot any technical issues you’re having with any of the payment methods provided through their platform. Please email help@tremendous.com for help with the redemption process and details on their services.
Not finding answers to your questions? Email us at designresearch@ideo.com