Some general tips for the interviews

Interviews Data collection method used to discover opinions held by users Works better for qualitative research than quantitative Usually one interviewer speaking to one informant at a time Sub methods like focus group interviews

Interviews Ranging from very specific questions to open discussion What do we want to find out? How many interviewees/interviewers? –Max 2 interviewers per interviewee; one should lead and the other focus on making notes, observations and ask any extra questions that come to mind Which persons or groups to interview? –Map the stakeholders, cover all relevant, consider who are the most important or likely to have most information What is the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee?

Interviews 1. Planning Prepare an interview plan and schedule Decide set of topics that you need to obtain information Interview documentation If timetable allows, make trial run of the interview 2. Executing the interview Typical phases of the interview situation 1.The introduction phase 2.The warm-up phase 3.The main part of the interview 4.The wrap-up phase 3. Reporting and analyzing The largest danger is the unstructured nature of the resulting data  Leads easily to misinterpretations Analysis is usually done by breaking the data in manageable parts

Interviews Strengths Mistakes and misunderstandings can be quickly identified and cleared up Good for measuring attitudes Allows probing and posing of follow-up questions Can provide in-depth information Can provide information about participants’ internal meanings and ways of thinking Sometimes can be done quickly (via telephone) Moderately high measurement validity for well constructed and tested interview protocols Relatively high response rates Useful for exploration as well as confirmation Weaknesses In-person interviews are usually expensive and time consuming Interviewees may try to show only what is socially desirable Interviewer may effect to the data Interviewees may not recall important information Anonymity of the respondents may be low Data analysis can be time consuming Measures need validation

Preparation Who to interview and why? The noisiest are not necessarily representative of the majority Properly prepared list of questions/themes Get somebody else to read the questions before doing the interviews Do a pilot interview and reserve time for adjustments before the main bulk of the interviews Semi-structured usually good (flexibility) Space and equipment Make sure you have a sufficiently quiet space without disturbances Notepad, pen (pen and paper also for the interviewee), recorder, camera if the interview is on-site

Preparation - questions The questions should not be leading the interviewee to any direction Do not present your own opinions – stay objective No assumptions or answers within questions Interviewing an expert (e.g. person who knows the users) Opinions and views can be useful Interviewing a user Asking for views and opinions (abstract level) is not likely to give a good or truthful result, people tend to rationalize their actions Ask about concrete and real use situations “When did you last…”. “What did you do then…”, “Tell me about when you could not…”

Interview situation Does not normally proceed in a linear fashion -> mark down when you have covered a theme Always record if possible - Ask for permission, tell about anonymity, who will use the recording and how - During session, if you feel something is important, mark down the time so its easier to find it on the recording Provide a possibility to draw / sketch / mindmap In the beginning recap the purpose of the interview and check that the time you have is still what was agreed (so you can focus on the most important questions if you have less time than expected)