If you've got the budget for $5 available, why not pay $5? I have done
piece contracting of this sort when I was very newly out of undergrad and
working three part-time jobs, plus doing paid unskilled usability testing
and other piecework. It may only take 5 min, but that doesn't mean they're
spending 8 hours a day doing this kind of thing. If you've judged student
time and expertise are worth $5 and have the $5, I would go by considering
how you treat the participants vs. whether you can attract enough.

Best,
Ruth

On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 9:30 AM, Josh Welker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks, Steven. That article is helpful. Funding will not be an issue for
> my university. My main concern is whether using MTurk is too cumbersome and
> whether its results are valid. I plan to limit my tasks to college-age
> people in USA, but I can't get much more granular than that. Whether that
> is a valid substitution for using actual students from our campus is a
> concern.
>
> We currently pay $5 per student for very small-scale usability testing
> in-house but have problems finding willing students. I think based on
> standard MTurk job rates I could probably pay in the $2 range for a task
> that takes 5 minutes and get a reasonable number of willing participants.
>
> Joshua Welker
> Information Technology Librarian
> James C. Kirkpatrick Library
> University of Central Missouri
> Warrensburg, MO 64093
> JCKL 2260
> 660.543.8022
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Turner, Steven <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > At my university, the biggest impediment would be funding the MTurk
> > activities, that is, getting the university to agree to pay using their
> > method.
> > Steven Turner, MLIS
> > Manager, Web Technologies and Development, Assistant Professor
> > University Libraries
> > The University of Alabama<https://www.ua.edu/>
> > 416 Gorgas Library | Box 870266, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0266
> > office 205-348-1638
> > steven.j.turner<mailto:[log in to unmask]>@ua.edu |
> > http://www.lib.ua.edu/
> >
> > [cid:[log in to unmask]]
> > <https://www.ua.edu/>
> > <https://www.ua.edu/>
> >
> > On Apr 26, 2017, at 10:51 AM, Josh Welker <[log in to unmask]<mailto:welker
> > @UCMO.EDU>> wrote:
> >
> > I'm thinking of using Amazon Mechanical Turk to do quick testing on some
> > new UIs for our library website. The testing needs to be done over summer
> > when there are few students available. Does anyone have experience using
> > MTurk for UI testing and have any pointers for what works well and what
> > doesn't? I've read a few things on Google but didn't find it very
> helpful.
> >
> > Joshua Welker
> > Information Technology Librarian
> > James C. Kirkpatrick Library
> > University of Central Missouri
> > Warrensburg, MO 64093
> > JCKL 2260
> > 660.543.8022
> >
> >
>



-- 

Ruth Kitchin Tillman

Digital Collections Librarian

Hesburgh Libraries

113 Hesburgh Library

o: 574-631-6067

e: [log in to unmask]