Institution sponsoring the study: University of Maryland (approved by IRB)
Principal Investigator (PI): Jonathan Lazar, (301) 405-2825, jlazar@umd.edu
Co-Investigator: Brian Wentz, (717) 514-9891, bwentz@ship.edu
This research is being conducted by a team at the Trace Center, part of the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, led by Professor Jonathan Lazar. The project is researching the time impact of web accessibility barriers on Blind users. The knowledge that will be gained from this study can help managers and decision makers. Understanding the impact of accessibility barriers can help convince people of the importance of this topic. As a part of this research, we are recruiting legally Blind users with no residual vision, 18 years and older, who are screen reader users (minimum of 5 years of experience with any screen reader), Zoom users, and not able to use screen magnification.
For participants: If you participate in this study, we will meet with you at a scheduled time via Zoom software, and we will ask you to use your computer to perform a series of tasks on websites that we have selected. For instance, when using a University website, a participant may be asked to find a specific date, such as the first day of classes, on an academic calendar. We will observe, time, and record your screen as you complete the tasks. You may take a break at any time during the session. If the break is during a task, the task will be restarted. At the end of each user session, we will ask participants questions related to the project. We expect that it will take approximately one-two hours of your time. You will not need to enter any usernames, passwords, or other personally identifying information in order to complete these tasks.
Compensation details: You will receive a $75 Amazon gift card for your participation in this study. You will be responsible for any taxes assessed on the compensation.
If interested, participants can reach out to the following investigator:
Graduate Investigator
Meagan Griffith
(443) 852-6623
