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Discussion on: [On-Demand Talk] Inclusive Web Development

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Dennis Tobar

mmm... sorry English isn't my mother language, I'll try to explain better.

My question is how we can reach these people and track how they work with our application?. They could be less than 5% of all traffic sites, but they have the rights to use the apps and think about how we can engage them on our websites.

To write an example, before the pandemic start many apps and some government websites in my country were designed for younger people (35 yo, with a good understanding of tech and apps). With the pandemic, many procedures have become "online", but the elderly and people with disabilities can't do simple tasks (asking for social assistance or health issues), because the websites and apps aren't properly designed for these people. The government and websites run to make some fast changes (bigger letters, better descriptions, welcome tours in apps, etc.) and try to bring these people to websites.

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cli4d profile image
Clifford Ouma

English is also my third language. So I understand
But now I can answer this well. So to get to these people, User Experience Researchers(UXRs) are better equipped for these. UXRs are responsible for conducting research for a certain product.

The research done may be primary, meaning that it was conducted by the UXRs themselves. Or it can also be secondary research, meaning that research was conducted using the information someone else had put together e.g. books, journals, articles e.t.c
Now the primary research may be done in a lot of ways including interviews(here you collect people's opinions, thoughts, and feelings), surveys(where you ask many people the same questions), or even usability studies(where you test the product on users, observe how they're interacting with it and then interview them about the experience).

All that info answers the question of how we can get their opinions and improve the product.

Now to answer the question of how we can reach them. It depends on the project budget or company size.
In smaller companies and even small team projects, there might not be a research team. In this case, I would advise one to conduct secondary research and utilize it to their advantage. Scour the web and learn as much as you can about the different types of disabilities, how different assistive technologies work, and even how various big tech companies implement accessibility for different products and people. This will help in making your product accessible.
For primary research, you might only reach out to those within your networks; family members and friends. You might also reach to them online, in their interest groups or physically in areas where you are likely to find them.

In medium/ large companies, a research team can get the help of a third-party recruiting agency to get a hold of their target users. This makes it easy for the research team to conduct their primary research.

Now, what is my advice to you? Do both primary and secondary research. If you are conducting a project and want to reach out to these people to get their views, you can reach out to those you already know and are within your networks. You can also reach out to places where you can find them. For example, if you want to know how the old folks would use your app, you can reach out to care homes to have a chance to speak to them.
But also, utilize secondary research too.

Hope this helps. If not, shoot another question.