Building rapport is important because it upgrades the interview quality. Pick up the participant from the waiting area. If that is not possible, try to spend some time setting the tone and making your participant feel comfortable.

Insufficient Rapport-Building

Probing/asking follow-up questions is effective for uncovering the motivations and rationale behind certain behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives. E.g., “How does that make you feel?”, “Why do you think that is?”, or “Can you tell me more about that?”

The researchers may find themselves trying to extrapolate meaning from user quotes (rather than relying on a direct explanation from the participant) if they did not ask probing questions.

Not Enough "Probing" Questions

Try not to take notes and listening to the participants talk at the same time, not only because multitasking is hard, but also it takes your attention and eye contact away from the participant and erodes the rapport you’ve been struggling to build.

Taking notes may also signal that some information is more desirable or interesting than other, so the participant might alter their answering behavior.

Multitasking and Note Taking During the Interview

An observer can limit how willing your participant will be to share intimate details about their experiences. An interview is meant to be a friendly one-on-one conversation; as you add observers who can insert their own questions,  it can feel a lot more like an interrogation. The fewer observers, the more comfortable it is for the participant.

Allowing Observers to Influence the Interview

The most compromising of all facilitator mistakes is inadvertently skewing participant behavior or priming. This may reveal the intent of the research study too early, thus biasing the participant’s contributions.  

Leading the Participant

- Insufficient Rapport-Building 
- Not Enough "Probing" Questions
- Multitasking and Note Taking During the Interview
- Allowing Observers to Influence the Interview
- Leading the Participant


New York University

A research method where a researcher in a structured setting asks an individual questions about any given topic for the purpose of collecting data about that topic.  From a UX perspective, interviews are valued insofar as they solicit the real opinions and experiences that users have when interacting with any given site or system, and the information collected can help improve that system. 

User Interviews

Fessenden, T. (2021, June 6). 5 Facilitation Mistakes to Avoid During User Interviews. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/interview-facilitation-mistakes/. 

5 Facilitation Mistakes to Avoid During User Interviews

There are several components to consider ensuring a successful interview:

- Setting a Goal
- Building Rapport
- Question Preparation 

Pre-Interview Preparation

Consider these critical factors to conduct a successful interview when choosing a interview location: 

- Convenience and comfort for both user and research team. Locations should accessible to all parties
- Removing props and examples in the environment that can jog the user’s memory or misguide them
- Recognize potential bias within location which may artificially change the user's response. For example, being interviewed in a police station could affect how a person answers questions about police officers.


Interview Location

Briefly, interviews are useful for eliciting ideas and opinions from a user regarding their experience with a system while a usability test is useful for observing how a user actually interacts with a system.  Below are comparisons between the two methods:

Usability Test vs Interview

Because interviews rely on self-reported data from users, the validity of the information can be compromised in several ways:
-  Because human memory and recall ability is flawed.  
- People are generally limited in their ability to accurately retell experiences as they occurred.
-  Users can become confused by what information the interviewer is looking for, and this may affect their ability to give accurate or relevant data.  

Limitations of user interviews

Components of  User Interviews

User interviews can give insights on how they perceive a process, a product, a site, or an application. They can identify what they found notable or significant about the topic and offer ideas or suggestions for improvement. They can be used in a variety of scenarios, including:

- Before having a design/concept
- Refining a contextual inquiry study by making observations and learning how users perceive the topic
- After a usability test, to compile verbal responses in relation to the observed behaviors

Learn Before

Related

Learn After