Be a Part of Our Research: the Communication Studies Participant Pool

Research being conducted at the University of Washington makes a positive impact in the lives of many people every day, but our faculty and students can’t do it alone. We invite you to join the Communication Studies Participant Pool so you can help researchers discover more about human communication and development.

Housed within the Psychology Department, the Communication Studies Participant Pool connects community members who want to participate in research studies with researchers who need participants, by maintaining a database of people in the Seattle metropolitan area who are interested in finding out more about participating in research studies. Our database includes infants, children, and adults of all ages. Anyone can join. We match people up with research studies based on what the study is about and what age of participants the study needs. Infant participants may be contacted approximately once a month, depending on the number and subject matter of studies taking place. Children and adult participants can expect to be contacted two or three times a year.

The purpose of the most of these studies is for researchers to understand how babies and children develop and learn to communicate. As a participant, you have the opportunity to help guide discoveries in understanding and improving how our children learn and grow. UW Psychology Professor and Participant Pool Liaison Jessica Sommervile notes, "The Participant Pool is an integral resource for a wide range of researchers at the UW, all committed to fostering early learning and social competence in infants and children. In addition, it serves as a natural connection point - uniting UW faculty, staff and students with the broader community, and providing the opportunity to disseminate important, cutting-edge research findings to those interested in both the scholarly and pragmatic value of our work". 

You can join us in making discoveries about how we learn, communicate, and grow. Feel free to contact the Participant Pool office directly by phone (206-616-9081) or email (partpool@uw.edu) with any questions. Visit the pool’s website to learn more and register to join today!