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→Interviews
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A very useful tool for doing research are interviews. They are not difficult to do, very versatile and you will get a lot of insight. | A very useful tool for doing research are interviews. They are not difficult to do, very versatile and you will get a lot of insight. | ||
You want to interview potential users of your product, so you need to see who could use your product. Than you try to get these people to an interview. | You want to '''interview potential users of your product''', so you need to see who could use your product. Than you try to get these people to an interview. | ||
You can use a couple of ways to contact these potential users: Use your universities Mailing List, ask friends of friends. As you can do the interviews via skype as well, you can state that you search for interviewees on your twitter-page or blog. (Remember: you don't search for everybody, so state for which people you are looking for) | You can use a couple of ways to contact these potential users: Use your universities Mailing List, ask friends of friends. As you can do the interviews via skype as well, you can state that you search for interviewees on your twitter-page or blog. (Remember: you don't search for everybody, so state for which people you are looking for) State what you are going to do and what it is for. As a student you have probably mo money you can offer as compensation. So at least you should offer some coffee and cookies to your interviewees! | ||
As a student you have probably mo money you can offer as compensation. So at least you should offer some coffee and cookies to your interviewees! | |||
The important | |||
Before you start brief tell again what the interviews are for. Some people may feel kind of "tested" on computer literacy or something like that. Thell them they dont need to worry and that hearing about problems will help you as much as anything else. | |||
The interview should be pleasent for the interviewee, so don't strech it too long. Being a attentively and a good listener will help as well. | |||
The important thing about the interview is that you ''don't'' ask specific and direct questions but open ones. So the answers you should aming for are not "yes" or "no" but e.g. the ones the user can tell you experiences or explaines you something. Often it will be usefull to follow up something the user said. Asking why a decision was made in a specific way or how something works can reveal important facts. | |||
Here are some open Questions as an example | Here are some open Questions as an example | ||
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#'''The Interviewee demands a specific feature'''<br>Interviewee answer: '''"Well... You just need to put a red button here!"''' <br>Users don't know what would make a design that is good to use for everybody. We dont know either for sure, so we do research!<br>Solution:''"How would the red button help you?"''<br><br> | #'''The Interviewee demands a specific feature'''<br>Interviewee answer: '''"Well... You just need to put a red button here!"''' <br>Users don't know what would make a design that is good to use for everybody. We dont know either for sure, so we do research!<br>Solution:''"How would the red button help you?"''<br><br> | ||
#'''You want to know if a feature you have in mind would be good'''<br>You: '''"Would it help you to have a green lever that does [whatsoever]?"'''<br>This is similar to the situation above. What the user understands will be just "...help you?" or "...feature..." so help and features are considered as good so the answer will be ''"yes"''!<br>Solution:Don't ask this question! It would be more useful to gather informations about the user and his/her context that could reveal if the user needs the feature that you have in mind. | #'''You want to know if a feature you have in mind would be good'''<br>You: '''"Would it help you to have a green lever that does [whatsoever]?"'''<br>This is similar to the situation above. What the user understands will be just "...help you?" or "...feature..." so help and features are considered as good so the answer will be ''"yes"''!<br>Solution:Don't ask this question! It would be more useful to gather informations about the user and his/her context that could reveal if the user needs the feature that you have in mind. | ||
During the interview you '''take notes or record the audio''' (Ask for permission if you do the latter) So you will be able to review the interviews. | |||
Take some time to do the review and gather all you notes or recordings. Read or listen through them. Remember, whe want to find out about user goals and existing problems. Write what you consider as important down. Now you should get an overview by grouping the findings. Some will occur more often or add up to a kind of problem field. | |||
After doing so you should try to put your key findings in a few short sentences. An example is: ''"The goals of our potential users are to improve their CVs and to get known.'' | |||
Write down common problems as well so you knwo which traps to avoid and where new solutions are needed. | |||
These key findings will guide you when you creat your designs, because you now know what you need to concentrate on. | |||
==Conducting Interviews== | ==Conducting Interviews== | ||