It’s a mistake to recruit by demographic (age, gender, ethnicity) for design and user research studies. Our goal is to understand behaviors, needs, and motivations. To do this effectively and efficiently, we first identify characteristics of representative users who share the same behaviors and attitudes as our current or prospective customers. Then we use a screener to "screen in” the right people and "screen out” the people who do not fit that predefined criteria.

The image below breaks down the differences between attitudes and behaviors. Here are some ways we may segment behaviors:

• New users, beginning users and experienced users (range of experience)

• Casual users and power users (range of experience)

• Product or service tenure (length or depth of experience)

• Employees, admins and people brand new to the product or service (type of use)

• Desktop, mobile and people who use both (type of platform)

• iOS, Android (type of platform)

• Knowledge workers, educators and government employees (type of job)

• Small, medium, large businesses (number of employees)

• Product or service frequency of use (frequency)