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Whether you're a researcher or participant, Alethios makes health research effortless and impactful.
High-burden studies lead to dropouts, noisy data, and frustrated participants. Learn practical ways to create human-centered study designs that boost engagement, data quality, and participant experience — without sacrificing rigor.
If you’ve ever designed or run a study, whether it’s a clinical or a marketing study, chances are you’ve thought about recruitment, eligibility, data quality - all the nitty gritty details to ensure compliance and data integrity. But how much have you truly thought about participant burden?
We’re talking about the actual burden of participating in your study – what a human being has to do, remember, log in to, upload, wait for, or give up to participate in your study.
At Alethios, we work across real-world, remote, and hybrid trials. And here’s the hard truth:
Most study designs are still created for researchers – not for participants.
And when that happens, dropout goes up. Data gets noisy. People feel confused, frustrated, or simply ignored.
Not because your science is wrong, but because your flow wasn’t designed for actual people.
It’s time to fix that.
Participant burden isn’t just about time or effort. It’s the cognitive, emotional, and logistical load placed on someone who’s trying to participate in your study, regardless of their motivations. They’re often doing it in between Zoom calls, parenting, chronic symptoms, or everyday life - that’s what makes the data captured real-world data.
These are real people, not research subjects on paper. If you want good data, you have to respect their experience. A participant-centric study isn’t about making everything shiny and flashy (in fact, “flashy” or overly intrusive can create bias), but there is a bare minimum of usability that every modern study should hit.
Signs Your Study Has a Burden Problem
The truth is, if you wouldn’t do it yourself without frustration… don’t ask someone else to.
So what does “smart” actually look like?
Here are practical, evidence-backed ways to reduce participant burden without compromising your data integrity:
You don’t need to gamify everything.
But every interaction – every screen, every request should be:
Good UX = better compliance.
People learn differently. Leverage different mediums to teach differently.
This isn’t about “bells and whistles.” It’s about clarity and inclusiveness.
Quizzes aren’t punitive – they’re educational.
A quick 2-question check before a multi-step protocol helps participants anchor what they’ve read and correct misunderstandings early.
It’s a win-win: better experience, better data.
This is where most studies fall apart.
No one likes being ghosted – especially when they’re investing their time in your study.
This might be the most important tip:
Go through your entire study as a participant. Every screen. Every step. Every form.
How long did it take? Where did it get confusing? How would you feel as a participant?
If you’re frustrated after 30 minutes… imagine how someone with brain fog or joint pain feels.
Remote and hybrid trials aren’t just convenient – they’re a smarter option for many interventions that require rich real-world data for validation.
Every task completed at home, on a participant’s schedule, reduces burden and reflects real-world use. That’s a win for both validity and enrollment.
It also dramatically increases diversity – especially for those with mobility, work, or caregiver limitations.
Reducing participant burden isn’t a “nice-to-have.” It’s a data-quality imperative.
High-burden studies lead to:
If you want clean data and high compliance, you have to start thinking like a human-centered designer.
At Alethios, This Is Our Default
Our study design process starts with human behavior:
And we make sure researchers walk through it all themselves before anything launches.
Because empathy isn’t just ethical. It’s effective.
Being “participant-centric” isn’t a buzzword; it’s a design principle.
And the researchers, founders, and operators who take it seriously aren’t just doing right by their communities.
They’re also building better studies, with better data, and better brand outcomes.
So here’s your checklist:
✅ Clear, multimedia instructions
✅ Transparent gating & communication
✅ Minimal, meaningful survey touchpoints
✅ At-home participation wherever possible
✅ Firsthand empathy by walking the participant path
Want help building a smarter, more human research experience?
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Whether you're a researcher or participant, Alethios makes health research effortless and impactful.
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