Do UX Interviewing Rules Apply With Children?
How to run successful user research sessions with kids.
Recently I participated in a different kind of research project than I’m normally used to. My everyday work in Pipedrive involves interviewing sales and marketing people to provide input for software decisions. As a side project, I decided to take on a challenge and conduct research with kids about their experiences in a physical space. I and a few other members of The Center for Applied Anthropology of Estonia (CAAE) conducted an analysis about kids’ accessibility for Estonian Health Museum. The goal of the research was to map the obstacles that children face in the museum environment.
Interviewing small kids (less than 7 years olds) instead of adult professionals was something completely new to me. I was eager to take on the challenge but one question remained — do user research best practices apply when participants are children?
The answer is — some do and some don’t. In this article, I will share the UX interviewing rules that worked well during the project and some that I had to alter due to the specifics of the target group.
But first things first…
Why is it important to include kids in user research?
Surely the importance of involving children in the research project depends on the industry and the product you are working on. Some services and products are meant entirely for kids, and then there are ones that are meant for diverse audiences, including children. When it comes to designing public places like museums, kids are indisputably an important segment to take into account. Families visit public places all together, with kids from different age groups. If the space is not suitable for the smallest kid, the family might start avoiding it altogether. As an outcome, you lose an entire family of customers.
When creating a product or a service that kids have difficulty with, you are putting the burden on their parents. What children can’t understand and use, parents need to explain and help them with. This way the experience is cumbersome for the entire group. Thus by considering the needs of small children you are keeping in mind the interest of an entire family.
But why talk to kids when you could talk to their parents? Involving parents into research can be helpful as they can imagine quite well what is challenging for their kids. But only talking to parents is not the same as seeing kids actually interact with a product or service. Kids can be very honest and without even knowing it, share brilliant opinions and insights about your product.
Talking to the users of your products is the best way to grow empathy towards them. For adults, it’s often difficult to understand kids and their motivations, especially if you don’t have a kid of your own. Including kids in research can help you understand their perspectives of the world. This way you can consider them more during future design processes and discussions.
In order to see the physical space through the eyes of children, we used the method of walk-along interviews. The tips included in this article are written based on this specific method, but can also be useful to keep in mind when conducting prototype testing or any other type of interviews with children.
UX rules that work well with kids
Don’t ask people what they want
One of the classic rules that UX researchers follow during user interviews is not to ask participants what they want from a product. People usually don’t know what they want and even if they think they do, what they want might just not be the best solution. I decided to test this rule with kids by asking them what else they would like to see in this museum, or if they were to create their own museum, what would be there. The truth is that kids know even less what they want, so these questions didn’t teach me anything valuable.
Be self-reflective
As with any other research project, be mindful of how you as a researcher might affect the findings. Consider your previous relationship with the participant and how it might influence a child’s behavior during the session. What I experienced, was that in addition to the museum, the kids were also very interested in the researcher as a person. This is to be expected because they didn’t know the researcher before and were visiting the museum with a new and interesting person. That type of museum visit is not natural to kids and could influence their behavior. That’s an important topic to reflect on after a session.
Also, if you are a person who changes their way of speaking when communicating with kids (like me), then keep in mind not to direct a kid’s behavior by doing so. For example, approving and encouraging vocalizations might influence what a kid is paying attention to.
What to do differently with kids?
Keep the introduction short
Pain: At the beginning of the session researcher usually informs a participant about the goal of the research and what it is that he/she is going to observe. Even when explained simply, younger kids have difficulty understanding what it is that you are doing, and why.
Tip: In my experience, kids don’t even care about all of that. So save yourself and the participant some time and cover in the introduction only what the kid really needs to know for the session to be successful. For example, if you need the kid to explore the product or space by him/herself then encourage it by noting that you are going to be in the position of a follower. As some of our participants understood the exercise as a knowledge control, it is also worth to mention that the kid is not going to be graded and judged.
One goal of the introduction is to get the kid to warm up and feel comfortable around the researcher. I found that a good and simple way for that is to ask kid some questions about him/her which might not be relevant to your research but are important for children, for example about the games they like and if they have a pet at home. As I was conducting the research before Christmas, I found it successful to ask questions like “have you received anything from Christmas elves?” or “what do you hope that Santa Claus will bring you?” Children were very excited to answer these questions and opened up to me quickly.
Do what you never should — ask leading questions
Pain: One of the main rules of interviewing is to avoid leading questions. But it gets tricky with kids and so I recommend not to stick too tight with this one. When asking too vague questions there is a good chance that you won’t get any answer as a kid is having a hard time understanding you.
Tip: Sometimes leading questions are needed to get the kid talking and sharing opinions. I found out that with kids there is less of a chance to lead them to say something they don’t agree with. Children are usually genuine and honest and that is something that user researchers highly appreciate about participants. Kids are not telling you that they liked something if they actually didn’t. This can often happen when interviewing adults as they might want to make you happy by keeping negative feedback to themselves.
Don’t be just a researcher, be a friend
Pain: UX researchers often express that the goal of the research session is not to become a friend with a participant but to learn from them. Of course, it’s always a crucial part of interviewing to make the participant feel comfortable, but with children, you need to take an extra step. If a kid is not feeling relaxed, he/she might not collaborate with you.
Tip: With children, it’s necessary to not seem like a researcher while doing the research but more as a companion. Relax and be ready to join them in their games 😊
In general, the question about the position of a researcher is more tricky with kids. One of the dilemmas that comes up when doing research with children is how much you should help the kid? This happens especially if the research is about a physical setting. When seeing a kid struggling to reach something due to their length, the first reaction as an adult is to rush to help. But as a researcher, this can be a valuable moment to record to later share with stakeholders.
Also, kids usually have a lot of questions. As researchers, we are not there to answer the questions of participants but rather the other way around. Then again these questions can give insights into if and how a kid understands the object under discussion. I will tell in a moment how to go about such questions.
Additional tips
Let the kid be a teacher
Pain: UX research is about finding out if people are able to use and understand what you are showing them. It’s tough enough for adult participants to acknowledge and verbalize if something is easy to use and clear, not to mention children. The verbalization part is something that makes it challenging to involve young kids in user research. One of the best practices of user research is to ask participants to talk out loud and describe what they are seeing and experiencing during the session. But for children, it’s challenging to understand what it is that you expect from them. Also, they lack the skill of putting their feelings and confusion into words. And often, it’s not enough to observe from aside.
Tip: To get kids expressing themselves I found it fruitful to ask them to explain things to me. For that, I told them that I’m not sure how something works or what it means. So I said things like:
“I don’t know what this is. What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know how to play this game. Can you help me to figure it out?”
That can also be applied to a situation when a kid asks a question from the researcher. Instead of answering, you can express that you are also having difficulties with understanding. Children want to prove that they are helpful and smart, so it motivates them to try and figure things out by themselves and then explain it to the researcher. This way, you get the kid to talk out loud, which helps you see how a child understands the object, game, etc. Based on my experience, by asking these questions multiple times, kids got used to it, and by the end of the session, they already explained out loud what they see, without me asking.
Listen carefully, even to what seems irrelevant
Pain: What I experienced during the walk-along sessions is that in addition to engaging with the museum objects, kids also wanted to share about themselves, their family, and everyday life. There were moments when a kid stopped being interested in the exhibition and wanted to cover other topics instead.
Tip: If this happens, instead of seeing it as a meaningless chit-chat, listen carefully and consider, why is it that the kid is telling this to you in this specific context? I discovered that these stories give a lot of insight into how the kid understands the subject of the session and how it connects with his/her previous experiences.
I recommend planning extra time in the session for giving kids the chance to express themselves even if it’s not directly related to the subject of the session. Keep in mind that the research session should be a pleasant experience for both parties.
Use video instead of taking notes
Pain: There is a lot to note down during a research session. All this can be difficult to write down, especially with kids, who tend to move around fast and might jump to a next object or topic without a warning.
Tip: In these circumstances I recommend recording the session on a video, to be sure to not lose any insights. Kids don’t let themselves to be bothered by the camera but they do notice you continuously writing. And they become curious about what you are writing, which might affect the flow of the session. Also, sometimes kids interpret the note-taking as they are being evaluated or that the writings will be shared with their parents.
When recording the session on the video, keep in mind the privacy of the kid, for example, it might be a good idea to avoid recording faces.
Have you done user research with kids, or planning to do it in the future? If you have any opinions on the topic, let’s discuss it in the comments!
