When Computer Science MSc student Ridwan Oladipupo was looking for visually impaired participants for one of his recent research studies, he spent seven months trying to recruit people.
Ridwan is working on creating an accessible 3D printing for multi-level building navigation for visually impaired folks and needed people to share their lived experience.
鈥淚 tried the CNIB [Canadian National Institute for the Blind], I printed some posters and banners and shared them in different university buildings. We spent money on Spotify Ads. I didn't get any response,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚t was a frustrating and time-consuming experience that significantly delayed my study.鈥澨�
Ridwan spoke with other researchers and found the problem was common across disciplines, levels of study, and locations.
To streamline the process from start to finish, Ridwan created , an intelligent agent that helps researchers recruit, manage, and pay participants.
The pitch
Finding and hiring the right participants for academic research is often one of the most difficult and time-consuming parts of the process. Researchers often have no choice but to use outdated and unreliable methods, like putting up posters and flyers, emailing listservs, and sending social media posts into the void to spread the word about their studies.
As a result, response rates are low and inconsistent, and Ridwan says researchers spend a lot of time vetting and filtering applications to find participants who satisfy their study parameters.
鈥淭here are so many emails that slip through the cracks because we just don鈥檛 see them or can鈥檛 keep up with them,鈥� he explains.
People often complain about poor compensation, unclear communication, and long delays in receiving payment.
Then, at the conclusion of the study, the process of paying participants for their time can be equally frustrating. Sometimes the issue is speed, sometimes the requirements are unclear or have recently changed or other administrative red tape that adds to the complexity.
And it鈥檚 not just the researchers and admin who are struggling. Ridwan says from the participants鈥� side, the experience is often underwhelming: 鈥淧eople often complain about poor compensation, unclear communication, and long delays in receiving payment,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese issues reduce trust and motivation in participants, especially among underrepresented groups, and that in turn makes it harder for researchers to gather meaningful, diverse data.鈥�
Ridwan thought: wouldn鈥檛 it be great if there was a platform for researchers to find, manage, and pay study participants all in one place?
And so, computer scientist that he is, with more than eight years of industry experience as a software engineer, he set out to create one together with his team.
Participation meets payment, via AI
Ridwan鈥檚 invention is called ArticiPay 鈥� a portmanteau of participate and pay. It鈥檚 a platform that simplifies participant recruitment and management using AI. It automates communication, scheduling, and provides a secure, transparent payment system.
In essence, people interested in participating in research studies download the app from the and , create profiles with their credentials and demographic information, browse available studies, get matched based on their profile, apply to participate, and connect directly with researchers.
For Ridwan, making the platform easy to use for both participants and researchers was key. For instance, paying participants typically involves emails and third parties, submitting payment information and waiting for cheques to be written and mailed. With ArticiPay, researchers select the number of participants they need, the rate of pay, and then they pay the platform. Once a participant completes a study, the research recruiter activates the 鈥渃omplete鈥� action on the session. After the researcher clicks 鈥渃omplete,鈥� the platform releases the funds and pay the participant immediately.
The future of the platform
Given the multidisciplinary scope of ArticiPay, Ridwan is hopeful that 激情伊人麻豆久久综合 will serve as a test bed for the product, and then, ultimately, other U-15 institutions will adopt it.
鈥淚 really feel that I'm doing the right thing by helping myself and helping other researchers to recruit seamlessly and focus on what truly matters in their research,鈥� Ridwan says.