User Interviews by Megan Frankosky

This was a lightning talk presented on August, 28 2017 as part of the “Tools n Techniques” series. The event theme was Discovery and featured 3 talks and a lab from local UX practitioners on their favorite UX tool or technique used to streamline their process, communicate more effectively, and help understand our users better during the Discovery process. For more details on the event, check out the recap:

Megan Frankosky from Citrix presented an overview of how to use exploratory user research to generate conversations with users.

Each month, we'll be hosting Tools n Technique evenings based around focused and broad themes (e.g., the Sketch app, user research, etc.) If you're in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina) area, come join us (http://www.meetup.com/exploreUX-raleigh)! We're also looking for people to present and share their favorite UX tool or technique.

If you can't join us in person, join us online. We'll be posting event recaps as well as additional articles on tools and techniques on our Medium publication (http://www.medium.com/exploreux). We’d love to hear your thoughts and let us know if you’d like to contribute an article on your favorite tool or technique!

Transcript

1. User Interviews Megan Frankosky, User Researcher at Citrix megan.frankosky@citrix.com
2. USER INTERVIEWS
 Practical Knowledge & Food for Thought 2 The next five minutes of your life…
3. Qualitative – 
 Knowledge elicitation technique 3 User Interviews • Thoughts • Attitudes • Workflows & processes • Recall of critical incidents • Impressions about concrete interactions Type of technique: Good for discovering: Goal: Uncovering the why and how of human behavior
4. Evaluative How do they fit into the bigger picture? 4 Generative
5. Thinking about thinking • There is an emotional dimension to almost every thought and decision we make 5
6. Thinking about thinking • There is an emotional dimension to almost every thought and decision we make • Mental shortcuts we take influence our thoughts, perceptions, and actions 6
7. Good research starts with good research questions 7
8. Good research starts with good research questions 8
9. Formulating Questions 1. Think about what you need to know “What could be done to improve our product?” 2. Reframe what you need to know into several questions “Why do people use the product?” “What makes the product valuable for users? 3. Organize your questions based on topic • Consider how long it will take to answer each grouping of question • Flag main questions and follow-up questions 9
10. Formulating Questions Goal of formulating questions: expand your thinking about the problem, not to solve it 
 A few strategies: • Broaden or narrow the focus of your questions • Turn the question on its head (ask the opposite) • Continually ask “why” of your question to help you restate that question in a different way or get to the root of what you need to know 10
11. The Structure of a Question • When you conducting a site evaluation, how do you decide which landmarks to document? • How do you determine if you have documented the landmark the way you want to? • Do you do this check in the field or when you are back in the office? 11 The setup / context Area of inquiry Laddering – deeper inquiry Segue to next question or section
12. Who to interview? 12 *Image created by freepik.com
13. Before the interview… a few prerequisites • Curiosity • Empathy • Objectivity • Neutrality • Rigor 13 ?
14. The Session 1. The setup 2. Building rapport 3. Asking questions 4. Active listening 5. Non-verbal / cues 6. Ending the session Make sure to set the right tone “I’m here to make your job easier by understanding how you approach work”
 
 
 Make sure you give them context “Your input will help us understand what works and what doesn’t work for you – that way we can design a better experience” Ask if they have questions
 
 

15. The Session 1. The setup 2. Building rapport 3. Asking questions 4. Active listening 5. Non-verbal / cues 6. Ending the session
16. The Session 1. The setup 2. Building rapport 3. Asking questions 4. Active listening 5. Non-verbal / cues 6. Ending the session Build to complexity Strategically choose when to follow up on something that was brought up and when to ask the user to hold that thought Work on neutral tone and delivery of questions and non-judgmental responses to answers (perfect practice makes perfect)

17. The Session 1. The setup 2. Building rapport 3. Asking questions 4. Active listening 5. Non-verbal / cues 6. Ending the session Multi- task : You need to be prepared for the next question you will ask, but you also need to actively listen to what participants are saying Be ready to adjust where you go next based on where you are now in the conversation
18. The Session 1. The setup 2. Building rapport 3. Asking questions 4. Active listening 5. Non-verbal / cues 6. Ending the session If in person: Non-verbally communicate to your participant to let them know you are active listening (nodding, etc.)
 
 Listen to your participants cues (non- verbal or otherwise) to get a sense for when they have given all the info they have and when you might be able to dig deeper
19. The Session 1. The setup 2. Building rapport 3. Asking questions 4. Active listening 5. Non-verbal / cues 6. Ending the session Ask participants if they have any additional thoughts that you may not have got to during the discussion Thank them for their time!
20. Analyzing data
 
 Analyzing a problem is not the same as discussing it
 20 DO summarize comments and answers
 
 DO go beyond this – uncover underlying themes, make connections between and across users (affinity diagramming, grounded theory)
 
 Use interview data as inputs to other methods (Story Mapping, Personas)
21. #1: Have the right mindset 
 be curious, have empathy, stay objective
 
 #2: Formulate and refine your research questions keep biases and natural human tendencies in mind
 
 #3: Actively listen and be ready to improvise
 Part science, part art, part fun 21 BEST PRACTICES
22. The best interviews can feel like a (very intentional) conversation with your users 22