{"id":316,"date":"2015-11-07T22:58:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-07T14:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/?p=316"},"modified":"2015-11-07T23:19:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-07T15:19:09","slug":"7-small-things-that-improved-my-user-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/7-small-things-that-improved-my-user-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"7 small things that improved my user interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"7-tips-better-user-interview-yu-sheng\"<\/p>\n

User interviews are tricky affairs.<\/p>\n

On top of coming up with good user interview questions<\/a>, conducting the interviews themselves often prove to be yet another mentally draining experience. And it\u2019s made worse if you\u2019re doing it without prior experience, or without anyone to guide you along.<\/p>\n

Sure, you\u2019ll get better with practice. But you\u2019ll also wanna avoid rookie mistakes and score easy wins, as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what this post is about.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve conducted over 15 interviews now (which, to be fair, isn\u2019t a lot), and I\u2019ve tried a bunch of things that are meant to improve my\u00a0user interview skills. Some of them worked well for me.<\/p>\n

They could, for you, too. Here\u2019s 7 small things that helped improve my\u00a0user interviews:<\/p>\n

\"yu-sheng-pair-up-icon\"<\/p>\n

1. Pair up with someone.<\/h2>\n

This is hands-down the best way you can improve\u00a0at\u00a0user interviews. There are 2 key benefits of pairing up:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Your partner can take notes for you, which means that you can focus on asking the questions and probing information out of your participant.<\/li>\n
  2. Your partner can also observe you as an interviewer, and give you feedback on areas of improvement. They could tell you whether you\u2019ve asked leading questions, whether your facial expressions or actions were inappropriate (like frowning when your participant didn\u2019t say what you wanted them to, or involuntarily laughing when your participant didn\u2019t understand what you said), whether the flow of the interview was too rigid, and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Your partner doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be another user researcher; they just have to be able to take down notes, and be sufficiently observant to detect awkward moments and leading questions (that\u2019s about anyone).<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"yu-sheng-map-icon\"<\/p>\n

    2. Use a topic map.<\/h2>\n

    Topic maps are mind maps that outline the various interview questions that you\u2019re going to cover.<\/p>\n

    \"topic-map-yu-sheng\"
    Here\u2019s a hand-written, fake topic map that I never really used. But you get the point.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    \"\"I know, this sounds kinda lame. I, too, was very skeptical when a senior suggested this to me.<\/p>\n

    But trust me, they\u2019re helpful.<\/p>\n

    You can keep track of all your interview questions, without needing to rummage through pieces of interview question scripts. And because you\u2019re able to quickly scan through the various topics, you can transition smoothly to questions, whenever your participant raises a related topic. This makes your interview flow a little more naturally, and makes it feel a lot less like a face-to-face online survey (which it shouldn’t).<\/p>\n

    But topic maps only serve to jog your memory of the interview questions; you\u2019ll still need to get familiar with the questions, before they\u2019re effective.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"yu-sheng-exchange-numbers-icon\"<\/p>\n

    3. Exchange contact numbers before the interview.<\/h2>\n

    This sounds trivial, but it\u2019s quite a common rookie mistake, especially if you\u2019re arranging face-to-face interviews via email. Having your participant\u2019s contact number means less time is wasted locating each other (if you\u2019re not meeting at either of your offices), and more leeway to communicate last minute changes.<\/p>\n

    My colleague once forgot to get his participant\u2019s contact number, and it was dreadful, because he arranged to meet at a cafe, and didn\u2019t know how she looked like. He had to communicate his arrival via email (which was slow and impractical), and had to run about the place to look for her, when she didn\u2019t turn up on time. The whole thing felt like a less-than-romantic blind date.<\/p>\n

    User interviews already take a bit of focus, so the last thing you want is to have to divert it to something as silly as finding the participant.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"yu-sheng-appreciate-icons\"<\/p>\n

    4. Make your participant feel appreciated \u2013 even if you realise they\u2019re not in your target group.<\/h2>\n

    Sometimes, you\u2019ll make the mistake of scheduling a interview with someone who\u2019s not in your target group. That\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019d realise this before the interview, and be able to cancel it. If you\u2019re not, then things get a little tricky. Cancelling is likely out of the question.<\/p>\n

    When that happens, try not to look disappointed or discouraged \u2013 your participants can tell (duh), and they\u2019ll in turn feel unappreciated. Wasting your time on them is bad enough; you don\u2019t have to make them feel like their time is being wasted too.<\/p>\n

    Turn on \u201cdamage control\u201d mode, and try to cut the interview short. But do so tactfully, by skipping some questions and probing less.<\/p>\n

    And always, always thank them for their valuable time and input.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"yu-sheng-microphone-icon\"<\/p>\n

    5. Record the audio of the interview.<\/h2>\n

    Having an audio file to refer back will help clear up fuzzy memory and messy shorthand notes. It also allows you to extract direct quotes from your interview, which are useful for reports, slide decks, or any other kind of research artefacts.<\/p>\n

    Do ask for permission before recording, though.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"yu-sheng-silence-icon\"<\/p>\n

    6. Realise that silence is ok.<\/h2>\n

    People need time to think and articulate themselves. Let them.<\/p>\n

    If you feel that they\u2019re silent for too long, try asking what they\u2019re thinking. As much as possible, avoid the urge to give them prompts; you don\u2019t want to skew your data.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"yu-sheng-questions-icon\"<\/p>\n

    7. Be prepared to answer questions.<\/h2>\n

    You\u2019re not the only curious person around.<\/p>\n

    At the end of an interview, your participant might want to know more about the research you\u2019re doing, or ask you about the product that your company sells. Be prepared to answer those questions.<\/p>\n

    If you don\u2019t have answers off the top of your head, you can tell them that you\u2019re not sure about the details, and will get back to them via email (just remember to really get back to them).<\/p>\n

    \n

    In summary,<\/h2>\n

    The 7 things that improved my user interviews:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Pair up with someone.<\/li>\n
    2. Use a topic map.<\/li>\n
    3. Exchange contact numbers before the interview.<\/li>\n
    4. Make your participant feel appreciated\u200a\u2014\u200aeven if you realise they\u2019re not in your target group.<\/li>\n
    5. Record the audio of the interview.<\/li>\n
    6. Realise that silence is ok.<\/li>\n
    7. Be prepared to answer questions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Let me know\u00a0if\u00a0there are other small things you’ve done\u00a0to improve the user interviews you conduct!<\/p>\n

      _____<\/p>\n

      You should follow me on twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n

      _____<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      User interviews are tricky affairs. On top of coming up with good user interview questions, conducting the interviews themselves often prove to be yet another mentally draining experience. And it\u2019s made worse if you\u2019re doing it without prior experience, or without anyone to guide you along. Sure, you\u2019ll get better with practice. But you\u2019ll also… <\/p>\n

      Read more 7 small things that improved my user interviews<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[14,16,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-user-interview","7":"tag-tips","8":"tag-user-experience","9":"tag-user-interview","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yushengteo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}