A checklist for conducting individual in-depth interviews
*being a non-native English speaker, this article may have language mistakes.
If someone asks me which is my favorite research method I would respond right away with in-depth interviews. My first interview, as an interviewer, happened in 2014, and I remember how timorous I was and, at the same time, how amazed how people are thinking — a fact that made to explore more neuroscience from the UX perspective. But, with the exercise comes the experience (even though I know I have many things to learn with each session and participant). In all these years that have come, I've learned more and more about people and about how to handle interviews for usability purposes.
“In-depth interviewing is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation.” (“Conducting in-depth interviews: A Guide for Designing and Conducting In-Depth Interviews for Evaluation Input”, Carolyn Boyce & Palena Neale).
The checklist
Here are some ideas that can ensure both you and the participant will have a pleasant session.
- Check the time for the session with the participant. Usually, offer him/her some available hours or let him/her tell you what fits with his/her schedule.
- Do not forget to add the scheduled time both in your calendar and the participants. Eventually, send a reminder via e-mail or phone, depending on the communication channel the participant prefers. In this way, you will know for sure (not 100% because may be situations in which unpredictable things can happen).
- If the interview will take place “offline”, make sure you reserve a room for the session and, at the same time, you have all the necessaries prepared (for example, bottles of water, devices, etc.). If the interview will take place “online”, double-check to see if the communication channel is working and you have a backup (for example, for those cases in which you do not have an Internet connection anymore).
- Make sure that you have some backup participants (for example, you have 5 participants that confirmed that they will be in there for the session, but it is very important to have another 2 on the list, just to be sure that if someone is missing, that person will be successfully replaced).
- Did anyone say constent form? Oh yeah, it needs to be prepared for the moment the session starts. Make sure that is included in there, also a checkbox in which the user gives you consent for recording the session.
- Do not forget to have a pencil and paper in there to write the main things that are drawing your attention during the session. You may have the session recorded, but sometimes you need to take some notes when you feel that something needs your attention.
- Do not forget to explain (before the session) the purpose of the session and to speak a few words about the product the participant will interact with.
- Do not have a “know-everything” attitude and listen to the participant. Even if you have some ideas regarding the product or part of the product you want to find more about directly from the users, hear and observe how they are interacting with it.
- Make sure that you encourage the participant to detail the improvements regarding the interaction with the product. For example, name 3 features that you like in this product, and name 3 features that you want to improve in this product.
- Do not forget to have a pleasant attitude during the session and do not be late (in case of a problem, just send an e-mail to the participant(s) and apologize for the delay and try to establish another time range).
- If the participant is asking you a question and you are not sure about the answer, do not improvise something just to give an answer, just be honest and say, “I am not sure about this, but I will find more info and come back to you”.
What other things do you do when you are conducting an in-depth interview?
If you will want to explore more on this topic, you can read some other articles related to this topic:
