Discovery Research — Interview Guide (+50 questions)

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And here we come to a classic UX research topic, that of the qualitative interview to discover and identify in the early stages of a project, the strategic phase, the needs and problems in the current experience of our audience without thinking of a specific product or service.

I do not want to write pages and pages of good practices or how to organise an interview. I will give you a list of practices to put in your head before you start simply discussing forgetting that you are doing research and being more interested in the people in front of you.

Some advice

• Start broad and then go into more precise topics. Don’t take anything for granted and even if you want to focus on a specific topic always try to explore the overall experience first without focusing on a specific tool or channel. Have a holistic approach at this stage
• Do not pay too much attention to the legal, data security and risk phase when talking to a UX researcher. Above all, do not give too much weight to the fact that as a researcher you are not there to judge what they say. If you give too much importance to this part the participants might be suspicious. What would a friend of yours say if you told him: “Listen, what you tell me I will never say, understand? It will only be between you and me and the video I’m taking will only be shown to my mum but then I’ll delete it after 90 days” and the friend will reply “OK, calm down, I just wanted to ask if you were free this evening but now I think I’ll go home alone”.
• Act like a friend and remain human. Ask how he/she is doing, if he/she had a good day and introduce yourself openly, for example by sharing something that has just happened to you or a passion you have in common. This part is very important to start asking questions without even realising that you have already begun your enquiry.
• Finally, be only 2 each time. Imagine that you are talking to your friend, who by now cannot stand you and is returning home, and that there is a person, or even worse 5 people, who are taking notes on what you are saying in a notebook. Strange, isn’t it? Don’t try to put pressure on your participant. With today’s technological solutions, there is no longer any need to take notes: Microsoft Teams, for example, has automatic transcription that works perfectly and allows you not to miss a single little word and to pick up passages easily.
• Always let the person speak ‘Think Aloud’ by letting them convey what they think and feel emotionally in every moment of your discussion
• Create a solid but open and non-rigid research protocol. What do I mean? The list of questions you have to ask will never work. You won’t have the time or opportunity to ask question number 1 first, then 2, then 3, and so on. A discussion of exploration is beautiful because it can go all ways. You have to be curious to learn new things. Do not be limited in your subjects. You can pass by a really important opportunity for your business

And here are some examples of questions

1) Introduction

1. Welcome the person and make them feel comfortable
2. Introduce yourself and define your role
3. Present the context of the study and the objective
4. Explain that there are no negative or positive answers but it is a discussion
5. Reassure about anonymity of data and registration (sign consent form beforehand if necessary)
6. Remind them of the duration of the interview
7. Introduce the interview process
8. If taking notes at the same time: Explain that notes should be taken
9. Ask if the person has any questions to ask us before we start (something that is bothering us)
10. Speak normally with the person: laugh or look for a point to talk about a common subject
11. Start the interview slowly with phase 2

2) Warm-up

1. I would like to start by getting to know you better. How old are you and what is your profession and Family situation ?
2. 3 words to describe you in private life / how can your friends describe you?
3. Tell me more about your (research topic/domain)… (Deep dive)
4. What field do you work in? In which environment do you work ?
5. For how long have you been working?
6. Do you use specific software for your job?
7. What are the 3 most important things in “subject”?
8. How often do you (job to get done)? When ?
9. What activities do you do on your laptop or PC?
10. How and with whom do you (job to get done)?
11. What do you think about it ?
12. What time of day do you do these activities?
13. If I say “words or topic” what comes to your mind?
14. Can you tell me about the last time you…?
15. At what point in your life did you say “sub-topic” to yourself?

3) Main Body

1. Tell me about… / guide me through your ‘topic’ / e.g. the last time…
2. Can you describe the situation (how, with whom, when)
3. What were you doing at the time?
4. Why did you do it? What were your motivations? What did you want to achieve ? (Job to be done validation)
5. What was your ideal final state of the activity to achieve ?
6. What happened next?
7. Did you experience some challenges ? (Problems identifications)
8. What other solutions did you try? why?
9. What do they have in common?
10. When did you try these solutions? why did you do it now?
11. What did you like? and not?
12. If it didn’t work, what would you have done?
13. What were the consequences?
14. What would you have done if you didn’t get “your solution”?
15. If you could not use “this solution” what other solutions could you consider?
16. Can you tell me the steps you took to …?
17. Can you tell me more about the “sub-topics”?
18. Which sub-topics would have been of interest to you?
19. What was your relationship with “sub-topic”?
20. How did you experience this situation?
21. How did you feel about it?
22. Did you have a “situation”?
23. If YES: Can you describe your experience?
24. If NO: why not? What is your opinion about the “sub-topic”?
25. Tell me about the transition between X & Z ? ( emotions and experience deep dive)
26. What was your situation at that time?
27. What questions did you ask yourself? How did you feel ?
28. Are you worried or anxious about anything at the moment?
29. What bothered you during the “situation/moment”?
30. If we think about “specific moment” what were your main concerns for “sub-topic”?
31. Did you encounter them? How did you solve them?
32. Can you describe to me the “situation” of the last time / a salient situation?
33. What were the difficult moments?
34. Can you tell me what your situation was like a few years / time after your experience? What kind of changes have you seen?
35. If you had to express the difference between the situation before and the situation now in 3 words? (Analyse the words with him/her)
36. Can you describe to me your relationship to “sub-topic”?
37. How do you deal with “sub-topic”?
38. For what purpose? Why?
39. What kind of “constraints” do you have to take into account?
40. For you, what were the key steps to…?
41. What did you do to optimise…? with what tools?
42. Other people have encountered blocking points on the topic… what is your opinion? (Probe without presuming)
43. What did you do in this situation? How did you feel?
44. What would you have changed to achieve your needs?
45. What is the most frustrating part of your problem? Why or why not?
46. Tell me about the last time you …
47. What factors influenced your choices? Why or why not?
48. What were the key factors?
49. How long did you spend? What do you think?
50. How much did you pay?
51. If we meet in a me, what can you tell me again?
52. What time of day was it? (daytime/ nighttime?)
53. Was anyone else with you at the time?
54. How did you purchase the product ?
55. When did you first start looking for something to solve your problem
56. Where were you?
57. Were you with someone? What did they say?
58. What triggered you to think about this?
59. Tell me about how you looked for a product to solve your problem.
60. What kind of solutions did you try? Or not try? Why or why not?
61. What was the conversation like when you talked about purchasing the product with your <spouse/friend/parents>?
62. Before you purchased did you imagine what life would be like with the product? Where were you when you were thinking this?
63. Did you have any anxiety about the purchase? Did you hear something about the product that made you nervous? What was it? Why did it make you nervous.

4) Concept rough test (If needed — not a high data reliability)

1. What do you think of this concept? Can you describe it to me?
2. What is it used for?
3. Can you see yourself using this product? How ? Why not ?
4. Why do you think you can or cannot trust this product?
5. How do you think this product will or will not help you?
6. What would prevent people from using this product?
7. Will you be interested in trying this product in the next few weeks? (Letter of intent)
8. What are the reasons why you would not be able to use this product? What obstacles would you encounter?

5) Wrap-up

1. What advice would you give to a “profile” + topic?
2. Do you feel that “topic” has an impact on your personal life? Why or why not?
3. If you had the opportunity to solve a blocking point in “topic”, what would it be? Why or why not?
4. Looking ahead 5 years: What difference do you see compared to the current situation?
5. Before we finish our interview, I wanted to make sure that we have covered all the aspects of your experience; is there anything else you want to add?
6. Ask for availability for another interview or user/usability test*.

Your next step? Adapt these questions to your own context & hypothesis to verify and modify the content inside the questions. Ready ?

Grazie mille e ciao ciao

The Noisers Revolutions

Fredy Pascal