- Introduce yourself and ask participants about their day. 
- Speak calmly and slowly and try not to talk more than the participant. Give participants time to think about their responses. Let them talk for 80% of the time.
- Avoid the word “interview” in your interactions with the participant; refer to the interview as a “chat” instead, to make it seem less judgmental. 


Building Rapport with Participants

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.

New York University

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


5 Facilitation Mistakes to Avoid During 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/. 

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.  

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