In this article, we explore the process of user research interviews, the self-reflection they inspire, and reference Steve Portigal's insightful presentation on the Art and Craft of Interviewing, discussing its main points and valuable tips.
I recently wrapped up a project for a client that combined a fairly standard usability test with a set of in-depth interviews. User Research interviews are a method I particularly enjoy, and I am glad when questions clients are looking to better understand call for it.
For me, the experience always prompts a great deal of self-reflection, more so than with other methods. I think it is because there is rarely much mediating the interaction with the interviewee, like tasks or tracking time, and so much depends on the interpersonal interaction. It is a situation where sincerity and openness are beneficial but it is also a self-conscious performance, since even very small things, like word choice or the inflection with which a question is delivered, can affect the interaction. No amount of preparation can make up for things that happen in the moment on an interpersonal level.
Working to be a better interviewer can start to feel very Zen, (or Jedi, depending on your persuasion). After this latest project I encountered a nice presentation on The Art and Craft of Interviewing by Steve Portigal (recorded at this year’s SXSW) which is kind of like a qualitative interviewing 101 in 42 slides. He illustrates a selection of good reminders and tips and tricks for interviewing with stories and transcribed examples.
His main points come down to a few tactics: use natural (to the interviewee) language, ask questions without giving answers, and leave room for them to talk (and then leave some more room), and some basic principles of qualitative research. At first blush the content may seem remedial, but because interviewing takes an interaction that is familiar to most of us, talking to someone else, and makes it strange by introducing behaviors we may find uncomfortable, with open-ended questions, long, potentially awkward, pauses and an abandonment of our own egoic perspective, my feeling is that no matter how many times I do this, I can always benefit from hearing about how other people think about the basic “deceptively simple” foundations.
Also Steve has good stories. For example, I have yet to be peed on in an interview. Listen to the presentation to find out how to avoid that happening to you in your own research.
* for a more detailed read on this topic, I also recommend the great book “Learning from Strangers” by Robert Weiss.
