How to Plan for Low-Tech Participants Without Compromising the Study

Digital trials open up new opportunities, but they also come with a risk of leaving people behind. Not everyone has the latest phone or fast internet. Not everyone is confident navigating apps, email, or browser-based forms. And yet these participants matter. They are often older, have more comorbidities, or represent underrepresented groups in research. Leaving them out compromises not only inclusivity, but data quality.

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Supporting low-tech participants doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means rethinking assumptions. It means building a study that works across a range of digital familiarity, and making sure the fallback options are just as strong as the primary ones.

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Start with access. Before assuming everyone will download an app, ask whether the most important parts of the study could also be completed via:

• SMS messages
• Phone calls
• Web links that don’t require logins
• Printed materials that supplement digital instructions

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A surprising number of participants still use flip phones or hand-me-down smartphones that struggle with modern apps. If the trial requires a device, ask whether it will work on older operating systems. If you’re using notifications, test whether they reach devices with stricter background settings. And if you’re requiring app installation, consider offering a parallel web experience for participants who get stuck.

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Then there’s language. Digital literacy is not the same as intelligence or willingness. Many participants who struggle with apps are highly motivated and attentive, but they are simply unfamiliar with certain interaction patterns. “Pinch to zoom,” “scroll horizontally,” “drag and drop” are not universal skills. Design with them in mind.

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Instructions should be specific, not clever. Instead of “Access your task in the study dashboard,” say “Tap the orange button labelled ‘Today’s Task.’” Use arrows, screenshots, or even short videos that walk through what the participant will actually see. And make these materials available outside the app, in case that’s where the issue begins.

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You’ll also want to prepare your support team differently. Low-tech support is not just tech support. It requires:

• Patience
• Clear escalation paths
• The ability to explain steps without assuming prior digital knowledge
• A tone that avoids embarrassment or blame

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Someone calling to say “I can’t find the form” may need to be talked through where to tap on the screen, what icon to look for, and whether their phone’s brightness is too low to see it. That’s not poor compliance. That’s user experience, and it’s your system being tested.

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Consider too that digital confidence often improves over time. A participant who was overwhelmed in week one may feel fully capable by week three if they had the right support early on. That early experience matters disproportionately. It sets the tone. It determines whether someone continues with the study or drops out.

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There are design choices that can help make digital trials more accessible without compromising integrity. These include:

• Letting participants preview tasks before they begin
• Including a “save and continue later” option for longer forms
• Using larger text and buttons that work across devices
• Avoiding error messages that stop progress without offering help

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And there is one key principle that underpins all of this. Respect. Participants should not feel ashamed of asking for help or unsure about what the study expects from them. If the platform makes them feel incompetent or invisible, they are more likely to disengage even if the study itself is meaningful to them.

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Planning for low-tech participants isn’t a detour from study design. It is study design. It is how you make sure the trial you’re running reflects the real world, not just the most digitally fluent slice of it.

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In the end, digital tools should serve the participants, not the other way around.

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