OPEN ROOMS
Research should give something back.
For decades, research has asked people to share their time, experiences, and perspectives.
In return, participants often receive a gift card, a payment, or a thank you.
There is nothing wrong with that.
We simply believe it can be more.
At Whole Room Research, every Open Room is designed to create value for everyone involved.
Because your time deserves more than a transaction.
Open Rooms Available
August 2026
Our first batch of room experiences will be ready and posted early August. Excited to have you in the room!
More than a study.
Every Open Room begins with curiosity. Some explore how we learn. Some explore how we play. Some examine families, creativity, work, health, technology, education, or everyday life.
Some last minutes. Others unfold over days or weeks.
Every room is different. But every room is built around one simple idea:
Understanding people more completely.
Every room offers something different.
Every room gives something back. Sometimes that is financial compensation. Sometimes it is early access to products or ideas.
Sometimes it is practical tools, new habits, meaningful reflection, or skills you can carry into everyday life. Sometimes it is simply the opportunity to help shape something before it reaches the world.
Because participation should create value, not just collect it.
Closed and partnership studies may carry their own compensation and benefits, set by the commissioning organization. Some studies also highlight a participant's perspective in the findings: we select those voices as part of the research, so it is never something to opt into or a condition of taking part.
Payment and products
Many rooms are compensated. Depending on the study, that can mean payment, gift cards, discounts, or a sample of the product itself.
Tools and early access
PLAYSTRUCK studies send participants cognitive tools built to strengthen thinking for you and the people you care for, plus first look at new products and upcoming studies.
Insight and influence
You learn something about yourself and the people around you, you meet communities and makers you did not know existed, and where a study allows it we tell you what changed because of what the room said.
How we run a room, and what we will not do in one.
Research on people carries responsibility. These are our standing commitments in every study, open or closed.
Children, tweens, and teens
Anyone under 18 participates only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. For younger children, a parent or guardian takes part alongside them. Guardians can see the questions in advance, stay present throughout, and withdraw their child at any point without explanation.
Age-appropriate by design
Questions for young participants are written for their age and reviewed before fielding. We never ask a child for identifying details, and we never market to a child inside a study.
Informed and voluntary
You know who is asking, what the study is for, roughly how long it takes, and what participation includes before you begin. Skip any question. Stop at any point. Nothing is contingent on finishing.
No pressure, no tricks
We do not use research as a sales channel, disguise marketing as a study, or design questions to steer you toward an answer. A study that flatters our client is worthless to them and to you.
Informed and voluntary
What we ask of everyone in the room.
Whole Room Rules
A room works when everyone in it knows how it runs. These apply whether you are with us in person, online, or somewhere in between, and whether you are on your own or with a group.
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Be yourself. One person, one seat. Answer as you, not on behalf of someone else, and not with answers generated by someone or something else.
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Honest beats helpful. There are no right answers and no answers we are hoping for. Telling us what you think we want to hear makes the study worthless.
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Show up or release your seat. If you cannot make a scheduled session, let us know so someone else can take it.
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What is shared in a study stays in the study. No recording, screenshots, photos, or reposting of materials, questions, or other participants.
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Treat everyone in the room with respect. Harassment, hate, or targeting another participant ends participation immediately.
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Tell us what you need. Accessibility needs, timing, format, or language: ask in advance and we will accommodate wherever we can.
Why participate?
Because the future is not built only by the people creating products.
It is built by the people willing to share their experiences.
Every perspective expands the room.
Every room helps us understand people a little more completely.
And every study contributes to building experiences that better reflect the complexity of real life.
Invited to a client project? Discover Closed Rooms
Next: How closed rooms work.