How to get more than opinionsInterview techniques and advice

Johanna Kollmann - @johannakollLean UX Machine Tel Aviv, 4 August 2011

Photo by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center http://www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/5038531149/

Photo by Bottleleaf http://www.flickr.com/photos/bottleleaf/2258627441/

UX helps you to get out of the building

(Some) research methods (yeah we have a lot)

Generative

Evaluative

Contextual inquiryMental modelsInterviewsDiary studies

Quantitative Qualitative

Adapted from figures by Janice Fraser, Nate Bolt, Christian Rohrer

Automated card sortSurveysAutomated studiesAnalyticsA/B TestingMulti-variant testing

SurveysInterviews

Usability testingModerated card sortWizard of Oz

Photo by Dave Gilbert http://www.flickr.com/photos/eye2eye/50892860/

Non-leading interviews are a conversation

Non-leading interviews

• Are generative

• Focus on people’s behaviours and goals

• Capture their way of thinking and vocabulary

• Are about listening to stories

• Can be conducted in-person or remotely

• Should be done with people who have immediate

experience

Mental Models by Indi Young

Photo by angelamaphone http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelamaphone/2663422833//

Planning the interview

Define your goals

• Who do you need to talk to?

• What do you need to observe?

• What do you hope to find out?

• What’s your hypothesis?

Also, make sure you identify your own bias and beliefs!

What topics shall the interview cover?

Buying

food

Preparing

food

Eating out

Dieting

Exercise

Busy

lifestyle

Struggles

Prompts rather than set questions

Day-in-a-life (today,

yesterday)

Decide what to eat

Last time on a diet

How active (want vs. do)

Preparing food for oneself

Preparing food for

family/friends

Have a ‘softball question’ ready

Please tell me a little bit

about your cooking this week.

Could you tell me about the

last dish you prepared

yourself?

Photo by Anders Zakrisson http://www.flickr.com/photos/anders-zakrisson/4982281184/

During the interview

Photo by Jitter Buffer http://www.flickr.com/photos/ph0t0s/5984587230/

We are so used to being interrupted that we have developed highly effective interruption defense

mechanisms. 

Photo by Ed Yourdon http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/2574628438/

Really listening lets you understand someone, or a situation, on several

different levels.

Active listening

Receive

Appreciate

Summarise

Ask

From Julian Treasure’s TED talk ‘5 ways to listen better’

Ask open questions – don’t lead

YAY

• Who

• What

• When

•

Wher

e

• Why

• How

NAY

• Did

• Have

• Are

• Were

• Will

Were you trying to do A or B?

What were you trying to do?

How to keep people talking

Help me understand betterCan you tell me the

story about that?

Tell me more…

What else can you tell

me about…

What do you mean by…

Echoing and rephrasing

This is confusing...

Confusing...

Yes, confusing. I wasn't sure whether...

Example from ‘Storytelling for User Experience’ by Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks

Echoing and rephrasing

…and so I decided to click on that link to go to the next page.

Okay, so let me get this straight: first, you saw the link, and...what, again?

I saw the link, and I thought to myself....(paraphrases self)

Example from ‘Remote Research’ by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte

Conversational disequilibrium

I wanted to download that application, but the

instructions were so confusing… (trails off and

stops talking)

The instructions were confusing?

Example from ‘Storytelling for User Experience’ by Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks

And you expected…

Confusing?...Because….

So then you…

Mmmm hmmm.

Photo by David Anderson http://www.flickr.com/photos/venndiagram/4667350842/

How to deal with difficult people

The quiet one

• So, tell me what you're trying to do here

• What are you trying to get done right now?

• How does this (part/page) compare with what you were

expecting?

• If the user falls quiet repeatedly: And by the way, if you

could just let me know what's going through your head as

you’re doing this...

Example from ‘Remote Research’ by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte

The bored one

• I noticed that you just hesitated a bit before clicking on

that button. Can you tell me why?

• Why don't we back up a bit? I was curious about what drew

your attention to the tab you just clicked on?

• Before we move on from here, I wanted to ask you about

this part a bit more. What do you think about the range of

choices they give you here? Is anything missing?

Example from ‘Remote Research’ by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte

• That's really interesting, thanks for telling me about that.

To come back to....

• Can I interrupt you? Sorry, I was actually curious if you

could...

Example from ‘Remote Research’ by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte

The chatty one

Photo by Hilde Skjølberg http://www.flickr.com/photos/hebe/3004800079/

Do’s and don’ts

DoBe the learner, not the expert

Ask naïve questions

Ask for specific stories

Allow people time to think

Listen!

Take notes or record

Take photos or collect artefacts

Photo by Tomas Hellberg http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhe/35312882/

Don’tBe an interrogator

Ask questions that sound like blame, or argumentative

Ask for solutions

Try to solve problems during the interview

Ask what features people want

Ask people to imagine theoretical situations

Photo by G Meyer http://www.flickr.com/photos/kainet/144703613/

Photo by Ed Stevenson http://www.flickr.com/photos/estevenson/2641282945/

Have fun!

Mental Models by Indi Young

Storytelling for User Experience by Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks

Remote Research by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte

Undercover User Experience by Cennydd Bowles

Designing for the Digital Age by Kim Goodwin

LUXr resources and materials by Janice Fraser (

http://www.slideshare.net/clevergirl/) and Lane Halley (

http://www.slideshare.net/LaneHalley/)

User Interview Techniques - Guidelines for Obtaining Better Results by

Michael Hawley in User Experience, Volume 8, Issue 3, 3rd Quarter 2009

How to ask ‘why’ without asking ‘why by Karl Sabino (

http://www.thinkflowinteractive.com/2009/09/01/how-to-ask-why/)

Articles on User Interface Engineering (

http://www.uie.com/browse/usability_testing/)

Resources

Janice Fraser, Lane Halley & Josh Seiden from LUXr for sharing their materials under a

CC license

Flow Interactive alumni friends for sharing their advice

Graham Uff for feedback

And big thanks to everybody who made Lean UX Machine Tel Aviv happen!

Thank you