For Working Practitioners

You know your trade better than any book about it. You have watched procedures change, tools come and go, and standards tighten while the textbooks on the subject stayed exactly as they were printed. We would like to record what you know, so that the next edition a student opens describes the work as you actually perform it.

Who We Are Looking For

We interview practitioners across the skilled trades, the health professions, technical and laboratory fields, the building trades, business and financial practice, food and hospitality, public safety, and the many licensed occupations in between. If a student somewhere is reading a chapter about what you do for a living, your experience is valuable to us.

You are a good fit if you can say yes to most of these:

You have several years of hands-on experience in your field.
You hold the licenses or credentials your trade expects.
You are still actively working, or recently were.
You can describe not just what you do, but how it has changed since you started.

What Taking Part Involves

A short screening call. We confirm your field, your experience, and your credentials. This usually takes fifteen minutes.
The interview. One of our researchers speaks with you for sixty to ninety minutes, in person or by telephone, following a set of questions tied to a specific textbook's contents. You will know the subject area in advance.
Review. Before anything is delivered, you may review how your remarks were recorded and correct anything we got wrong.

How Your Words Are Used

Your testimony becomes part of a findings report delivered to a textbook publisher. Your statements help the publisher decide what to revise. You control how you are identified: by name and title, by title alone, or anonymously. We never publish a practitioner's identity against their wishes, and we never sell your contact information to anyone.

"I figured a textbook came down from on high. It turns out a real person revises it, and they were genuinely glad to hear how we do the job now. They changed two pages because of what I told them." -- Journeyman tradesman, interviewed 2021

Compensation

Practitioners who complete a full interview receive an honorarium for their time. The amount depends on the length of the interview and is agreed before we begin. We will never ask you to pay anything, and a legitimate invitation from us will never request your bank details, your licensing passwords, or payment of any kind.

Offer Your Experience

Tell us your trade, your years in it, and your credentials. We keep a standing roster and reach out when a study matches your field.

Write to the research office »