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From hearing to understanding: unveiling the secrets of active listening in user interviews
Elevate your user interviews from surface-level conversations to deep understanding through active listening.
A few months ago, I had the privilege of attending Teresa Torres’ enlightening course on Continuous Interviewing, where we had to participate in mock user interviews on a weekly basis as listeners. The course taught me precious lessons on active listening. As a UX Manager, conducting user interviews is an essential practice for gaining valuable insights. While crafting thoughtful questions is crucial, the true art lies in active listening. In this article, we will explore how active listening enhances the effectiveness of user interviews.
- What is active listening?
- Why is active listening important in User Interviews?
- Why are we bad at active listening?
- How can you improve your active listening?
- How to prepare your next user interview?
1) What is active listening
Active listening is a fundamental skill for UX designers, enabling them to delve deeper into user interviews and uncover valuable insights. It goes beyond simply hearing what participants say and involves paying close attention to their verbal and nonverbal cues (Robertson, 2005). By engaging in active listening, designers can ask clarifying questions and summarize the speaker’s message to ensure a comprehensive understanding.
2. Why is active listening important in User Interviews?
Active listening plays a vital role in generating insights during interviews and capturing the interviewee’s intended meaning. By actively listening and comprehending their words, nuances, and emotions, we unlock transformative insights that go beyond surface-level understanding. Active listening creates an environment of openness, empathy, and valuable revelations that drive impactful research (Brooks,2010).
