A2. Interview Guidelines

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Interview Guidelines

1. Ask user where you should sit. When setting up equipment (i.e. voice recorders, prototypes, etc), make sure that you don't interfere with anything in the participant's space.
2. Review the interview plan
   1. Some background about yourself
   2. A brief description of the interview goals, the stages in the interview, recording and ethical issues, and comments about prompting and also cutting short some discussions to ensure that there is good coverage
   3. How he or she was selected
   4. Assurances that the data will be treated as confidential, and any data in reports will be anonymous. Describe what you will be doing with the data and (if you plan to send anything back to the participants) how they can get a summary of the results. If you do not plan to let the participants (or the managers who arrange the interview) see any data, be very careful what you say about the results
   5. The amount of time that is allocated to the interview
   6. What you will do if the person has to answer the phone or leave momentarily (e.g., shut off all recording equipment and offer to step away)
   7. The fact that there are no right or wrong answers in the interview
   8. A statement that the participant can interrupt at any time and ask questions about the topic or line of questioning
3. Begin the interview with some warm-up questions that are easy, nonthreatening, and relevant. These questions are good for gathering some understanding the context in which they are using the product or service
4. During the interview, explore topics or questions from the interview guide and new topics that are judged relevant to the goals.
   1. Listen for inconsistencies to clarify misunderstanding, understand conflicting beliefs, or gain new information
   2. Not necessary to get answers to every question at each interview, probe some topics more deeply
   3. Use neutral probes to keep the conversation going:
      1. Neutral prompts such as "uh-huh," "yes, that's interesting," and "I see what you mean."
      2. Paraphrase participants' words in a nonjudgmental way to check your interpretations of their experience. It requires a tone of voice and expression that indicates your interest in knowing more about the topic while keeping a reasonable level of neutrality
      3. Probes for getting more details, such as "Tell me more about..." and "What happened then?"
      4. Ways to clarify information and terminology, and validate interpretation. Important to separate what the person actually says from your interpretation of what he or she said.
5. Near the end, consider "cool off" period where you ask a few final questions that are relatively easy. Always ask if there is any other information the user would like to share before completely closing the discussion.
6. Signal a clear end to the conversation by thanking the participant, putting away note-taking materials, and turning off any recording devices. If you have promised any payment or other compensation, give it to the participant. Ask if it's okay to contact the participant if any questions occur during data analysis and interpretation.