The Importance of
How and Why in a Design Research Interview
Getting insight from interviews starts with the way you ask questions
There are some simple tricks to structuring your design research interviews to get the most valuable answers. Often in an interview you have limited time and so paying attention to the way you ask questions helps get the most out of them.
The most important question to ask
How…
Which, when, where and who all have their place. But when you ask ‘how’ you will reveal much more about a user’s behaviour. I’ll give you three examples of questions, think about how a user would answer each:
Question 1: Did you pick a red car?
Question 2: Which colour of car did you choose?
Question 3: How did you choose the colour for your car?
You’ll notice that the ‘how’ question gives you the answer to the two questions and above and it tells you about the context of the decision.
There are common structures for how questions that you can try in your next interview:
Tell me how the decision affects you?
How would you imagine the app working?
How do you feel when you hear that?
The second most important question to ask
Why…
A question that can be answered with a single word answer is called a closed question. It tells you one fact, and a ratio of one fact to one question is not a good rate of return. Aim for open ended questions, questions that let the reader explain something.
If you do ask a closed question, why is the best next question to ask. Again, here’s an example:
Interviewer: Have you ever forgotten to take your medication?
Participant: Yes
Interviewer: Why is that?
Participant: Well, there’s a funny thing about my medicine…
Asking why will help you in a tough situation, but it can be a frustrating situation for a participant if you’re constantly asking why why why. So make sure you aim for an open ended question to begin with.
The third, fourth and fifth questions to ask
Why. Why. Why
This slightly contradicts my previous point about asking why too many times, but there’s a useful technique to keep in mind. 5 Whys is a trick to dig deeper into a response and get towards root problems.
The trick here is asking why several times to go deeper and encourage your participant to reflect on something. It’s not always easy, and isn’t a very conversational way to talk to people, but used in the right way it can unlock hidden feelings and perceptions. An example:
Interviewer: How do you read the news?
Participant: I have the BBC and Sky news apps on my phone
Interviewer: Why those apps in particular?
Participant: They are usually the quickest to break news stories
Interviewer: Why is breaking news important?
Participant: I like to feel like i’m up to speed with the world
Interviewer: Why do you think it’s important to be up to speed?
Participant: I don’t like being the last in my friendship group to hear about things
Interviewer: And why is being last in the group a bad thing?
Participant: I wouldn’t want to miss out on conversations
Interviewer: Why is conversation important?
Participant: You’ve got to maintain your friendships…
From the BBC News app to the fear of loosing your friends.
How would that ‘fear of loosing friends’ affect your design process when building a news app? It’s certainly not something you’d have considered if you only look at the way the BBC app works today.
Remember that it’s not easy for most people to reflect on their decisions; it’s not a very natural thing to dig into your own behaviour. When interviewing people you will encounter moments when people start to think more deeply about a situation, be patient and give people the space to reply.
Keep these points in mind when planning your next interview, I hope they might help you to get more insight from the people you meet.
- Ask how.
- Ask why.
- Keep asking why.
