UXRs: Know the difference between Research Questions + Interview Questions

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This is one of those things that you either learn in school (or bootcamp, or whatever) and probably forget, or it’s something you learn after getting it wrong (a lot) on the job. That’s okay! UX is one of those fields where practice really does hone the craft, and UX research specifically has a lot of nuance.

Alright, onto the good stuff: many people mix up interview questions and research questions — or simply don’t realize there is a difference. However, there is a difference, and it’s pretty big. Imagine a big, beautiful tree: the research question is the trunk, and the interview questions that follow are all the branches and leaves. Just like branches and leaves growing after the trunk is formed, interview questions arise after the research question is formed. Let’s dig deeper:

What are research questions?

Research questions are (hopefully) the result of reviewing all past context and work done for a new project and identifying the main unknowns or major pain points your users are experiencing. A single research question can guide an entire user interview session. The goal of a research question is to learn about the people who are the intended or existing users of a product or system.

This IS a research question:

• How do new dog owners prepare their home for a new pet?

This is NOT a research question (it’s an interview question!):

• What type of dog food did the owner buy for the new dog?

You can create an entire bank of questions just by allowing the above research question to guide the priorities and discussion. You can also look at it this way: there should be a ton of ways to respond to the above research question, and much less to respond to the interview question.

What are Interview Questions?

Interview (or survey) questions branch off from your main research question and allow you to probe various aspects of the question. You can think of it like: what questions can we ask that will help us answer our main…