Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss McGoldrick, and welcome to our lesson on interviews.

And this is part of the unit where we investigate and research a high profile event.

So let's get started.

So our keywords for this lesson are interview.

So a structured conversation to gather information from another person.

Open-ended questions, a type of question that encourages a detailed, thoughtful response.

Closed question, a type of question that prompts a short specific response.

And relevant, closely connected to.

So a lesson outcome is, I can design and conduct effective interviews that inform designing.

Our first lesson outline is interviews.

So an interview is a structured conversation where one person, the interviewer, asks questions to gather information from another person, the interviewee.

Now, an interview is a form of primary research as the researcher is the person collecting the data or the information.

Interviews do take place usually during the research phase of a project or of the design process, but they can happen throughout, but they usually happen during the research investigation stage to gather lots and lots of information to help designers start designing.

So an interview's main purpose is to identify real problems, understand behaviours and motivations, improve designing through feedback, and to inform designing.

Our first check for understanding.

Why are interviews a form of primary research? Read the answers, pause the video, have a go.

Okay, so how did you do? So the answer is, the information is collected by the researcher.

So that is what makes it a form of primary research.

When designing, interviews help uncover people's preferences.

So preferences are the needs, wants of the people that are involved in a context.

So all of that is to help guide the design process.

Preferences reflect individual choices of the people in the context towards what they find desirable or suitable, aiding in creating effective designs.

Now, an interview can be conducted with people from all groups within a context.

And these groups do include users, stakeholders, clients, target market.

Our next check for understanding.

True or false.

An interview can be conducted with people from all groups within a context.

Pause the video, have a think.

Okay, so the answer is true.

So an interview can be conducted with people from all groups within a context.

And these groups include users, stakeholders, clients, and target market.

To support an interview being effective, it's really important to consider what information you would like to find out during the interview before you actually do it.

And it's important to identify some question topics and that will help you construct relevant interview questions.

Now, relevant interview questions are ones that directly address the context, which helps you focus on the key areas of your research and investigation.

Avoiding asking non-relevant questions is gonna lead to a more effective interview, and it will save people's time.

It'll save your time, it'll save the interviewer's time, it will make it more worthwhile.

So within the context of a high profile event, possible relevant and non-relevant topics for an interview could include these.

So relevant question topics could be things like types of high profile events, frequency of events, buying tickets, what people's experiences of actually going to the events and going through security, what personal belongings people might take to high profile events.

And, of course, a lot of high profile events are outdoors.

So are there kind of any issues with the weather? So non-relevant questions, questions that you probably would want to avoid.

Things like general interests, qualifications, social media habits, ambitions, exercise routines, where people go on holiday.

Those aren't going to generate useful data and useful information that would help me as a designer move forward in my design process after I had conducted an interview.

Another check.

For interview questions to be effective and relevant to the context, it is important to identify what? The recording of the questions? The topics of the questions? The length of the questions, or the amount of questions? Pause the video, have a little think, and we'll check it.

Okay, so the answer is the topics of the questions.

So question topics are very important when planning your questions and then conducting the interview.

Time for our task.

So we're gonna choose a high profile event that you have attended or that you are aware of.

So for example, a sporting world cup, a large music festival, or a royal event.

Part one, I would like you to identify the event and then state a user for this event.

Part two, I would like you to consider the user you have identified.

Now, if you are going to do an interview with this user about a high profile event, have a little think about what relevant question topics you could include in that interview.

And don't forget, you are investigating their preferences, needs, their challenges, and their expectations.

So task A includes part one, identify the event and state a user for this event.

Part two is consider the user and plan some question topics if you were completing an interview for this user.

Pause the video, have a go.

We'll come back for some feedback.

Feedback for that task.

So your answer could be, for part one, a high profile event could be an outdoor music festival, and a potential user could be a 14-year-old boy called Andeep.

Part two, relevant question topics that I could include if I was doing an interview with Andeep could be personal belongings and carrying them to the festival and around the festival.

Camping at the festival, if that's an option.

Navigating around the festival, because festivals are very large and there's lots of different places within them, and figuring out where everything is can be difficult.

Buying tickets, getting through security, personal safety at the festival, and food and drink options.

Two, our second lesson outline is types of questions.

There are two main types of questions that can be used in interviews, and these are open-ended questions and closed questions.

Open-ended questions are the type of question that encourages a detailed, thoughtful, and flexible response.

So these are usually the longer answers.

Closed questions are a type of question that prompts a short specific response, such as a single word or a yes and no answer.

True or false.

Closed questions allow for a detailed response.

Pause the video, have a think.

So closed questions allow for a detailed response.

Is that true or false? It is false.

Okay, but why is it false? Closed questions are often answered with a yes or a no response or with a straightforward fact or a single word answer.

So it doesn't allow for a detailed response.

Closed questions do not allow for a detailed response.

Open-ended questions are designed to prompt discussion, allowing the interviewee to share their thoughts, experiences, or opinions more freely.

Often, these types of questions can start with words like what or why or how or can you describe? So open-ended questions in an interview allow for a flexible response.

So using our context of a high profile event, Aisha and Sofia give some examples of relevant open-ended questions.

So questions to do with the context.

So Aisha says, "Can you describe a challenge you faced when attending a high profile event, like a large sporting event?" So that allows the interviewee to give a detailed response if they wish to.

And then Sofia says, "What personal belongings are most essential to you when attending a high profile event?" So this question allows the interviewee to give many kind of items of personal belongings, not just one.

Open-ended questions allow for a rigid response, a flexible response, or a concise response? Pause the video, have a think.

Okay, so open-ended questions allow for a flexible response.

Well done if you got that right.

Closed questions are used to gather clear and concise information quickly.

So these types of questions, as we've said before, are often answered with a yes or a no or with a straightforward fact or a one word answer.

So it is useful for confirming details or narrowing down choices.

So closed questions are used when you need to collect factual data, confirm details, or gather responses in surveys or questionnaires.

So closed questions are very good in questionnaires, but less effective in interviews.

So using our context again of a high profile event such as a large music festival or a sporting event, we get some examples here of relevant closed questions, so questions that are to do with the context.

So Alex says, "Name the last high profile event that you attended." So somebody would answer this with maybe the name of the event, and it would be maybe one word or maybe a couple words.

Okay, Sam says, "Can you tell me the number of high profile events you have attended in the last five years?" So once again, this will be a short specific response.

And did you travel by car to the high profile events? That is likely to be a yes or a no answer.

Closed questions are used to gather opinionated information, gather minimal information, gather detailed information, or gather clear and concise information? pause the video, have a think.

So closed questions are used to gather clear and concise information.

Some more types of questions.

A leading question is phrased in a way that suggests or guides the interviewee towards a particular answer.

These questions often include assumptions, and they should be avoided.

So a leading question is one that kind of puts words in the interviewee's mouth, you're leading them towards a answer that you would like.

And for an interview, from a research point of view, that is not genuine data.

It's not genuine information.

So Izzy gives us some examples here of leading questions.

"So how much did you love the atmosphere at this event? And isn't it great how well organised this event is compared to others?" So that first question, so Izzy is leading the interviewee to say that they did love the atmosphere at the event and they might not have.

And it's not giving them an opportunity to say that they didn't like it.

The second question, Izzy is leading the interviewee to say that they agree with Izzy's point.

And, you know, that is Izzy's opinion.

It's not the opinion of the interviewee, and it's not allowing the interviewee to give their own opinion.

Effective questions are relevant to the context, non-leading, and usually open-ended.

They are clear and they help to achieve the desired purpose of the interview.

What is the point of doing an interview if the data or the information that you get from that doesn't go on and help you further in your investigations? So questions have to be effective and they have to be relevant.

So once again, using our context of a high profile event, Lucas gives us some examples, or one example, and he also gives a non-example of an effective question.

So an example of an effective question is, what challenges did you face with accessibility or navigating the festival grounds? That question is open-ended and it's relevant to the context.

The non-example is, did you have a good time at the festival? That's more like a closed question and it doesn't really allow for the interviewee to give a detailed response.

Task.

So for the first part of task B, you are going to conduct an interview with the user that you identified in task A.

Now, with this user in mind and the event that you identified in task A as well, you're going to construct the following: two closed questions that could be asked in the interview, and two open-ended questions that could be asked in the interview the same event and the same user as in the previous task.

Part two of this task is using the success criteria below, assess your own questions, okay? Or you can peer assess, so you're either gonna assess your own questions or do some peer assessment on somebody else's questions.

And you're using that success criteria there.

So you're gonna think about how relevant the question is to the context.

You're gonna think about, is the question open-ended to allow for a flexible response? Is the question a leading question which we want to avoid? And how effective is the question in achieving the desired outcome? Pause the video, have a go at the task, we'll come back for some feedback.

Feedback for task B part one, your answer could be this.

Two closed questions that I could ask the user about an outdoor music festival are: do you have a ticket to the festival, to a festival this summer? It's probably going to be a yes/no answer.

Who is your favourite act on the festival lineup? It's probably one option to that question.

Two relevant open-ended questions that I could ask this user about an outdoor music festival ar: drawing on your experience of attending outdoor music festivals, can you describe how the weather impacts your outfit choices? And can you describe a challenge relating to eating and drinking at an outdoor festival? Part two of that task is about assessing the questions using that success criteria.

So there's the first interview question, who is your favourite artist on the festival lineup? How relevant is the question to the context? So the context is a high profile event, and specifically an outdoor music festival, which means the question is relevant.

A main focus of a music festival is the artists that perform.

People will buy tickets depending on who is performing and users have more preferred acts than others.

Is the question open-ended to allow for a flexible response? The question is a closed question, so it doesn't allow for a flexible response, but this question could be followed up with more detail from the interview if prompted by the interviewer.

Okay, is the question a leading question? No, so there are no suggestions or guiding of the interviewee in how to answer this question.

How effective is the question in achieving its desired outcome? Although the question is relevant, it doesn't really achieve much.

It doesn't really discover any kind of challenges that the user might experience at the festival.

It's asking a closed question where there's usually going to be one answer and there's not much flexible kind of outcome in that answer.

So in terms of it being effective and getting some useful information out of that question, not so much.

Our third lesson outline is structure and interview.

Planning an interview requires remembering what you have learned about the user and the context already.

And planning the topics and the types of questions that you will ask before you do the interview is really important.

So having a structure to your interview will ensure that you get the most effective information that you can to help you when you start designing.

Having a structure to an interview ensures you get the most detailed information to inform designing, the most information to inform designing, or the most effective information to inform designing? Pause the video, have a go.

So the answer is the most effective information to inform designing.

An interview structure could look like this.

So we're gonna split it up into five different sections.

We're going to have an introduction, then we're gonna talk about question topics, then we're gonna ask the questions.

So what do we mean when we talk about introduction? So we mean explaining the context and the project to the interviewee, why you're doing the interview, and how it's gonna help you with your project, how it's gonna help you move forward.

Question topics.

So it's a helpful little exercise to state what topics of questions you're going to cover in the interview.

The interviewee will feel more prepared to answer the questions, and it's kind of letting them in a bit more with your intentions in the interview.

Asking questions.

So this part will take the most time.

You've got to create all of those questions and a range of questions.

Usually use closed questions towards the start of the interview, if needed at all, and then use more open-ended questions as the interview goes on, and be mindful of those leading questions.

You're gonna listen and record, hopefully, the interview, and then you will do a recap and thank you.

So listen and record.

You're gonna ask permission at the start if you can record the interview.

That's really important.

And if you can, you can use your phone to record it or a voice recorder of some kind.

So that means that you are concentrating in the interview instead of trying to take notes at the same time.

You can play it back after the interview.

You can produce a transcript, which is where you write all of the interview down, and you can listen better to the answers in the interview.

So at the end of the interview, you're gonna thank the interviewee for their time, and it's nice to provide a brief kind of summary or recap of the information that you heard throughout the interview.

Okay, so put the interview structure in the correct order.

Pause the video and have a go.

The correct order is: number one, introduction; number two, question topics; number three, ask questions; number four, listen and record; and number five, recap and thank you.

Well done if you got that in the right order.

Task C for this lesson.

I want you to imagine that you are going to conduct a whole interview with the user and the high profile event that you have identified in the previous tasks in this lesson.

I would like you to plan and write a simple script for that interview.

So don't write absolutely everything you're going to say in the interview out.

We want a simple script, something called a micro script that's used as a way to prompt kind of the things that you're going to say.

So plan and write a simple script for this interview.

And we're gonna use the structure that we've just learned about.

So we're gonna write, for example, introduction, and we're gonna write underneath introduction, the things that we would potentially say on that part of the interview.

Then move on to explaining the question topics that you would cover in the interview.

Provide some examples of questions that you would ask in that interview.

For that third section, ask questions.

Say that you've recorded the interview, okay, and then provide a recap and a thank you.

So you're planning and writing a simple script for an interview that you would conduct with a user of the high profile event that you have identified in tasks A and B of this lesson.

Pause the video, have a go.

The feedback for this task, your answer could look like.

So in the introduction part, the beginning part of the script, maybe you're introducing yourself.

So hello, my name is, and then the context, you're gonna explain it.

It's a high profile event, and I would like to ask you some questions about outdoor music festivals.

Is it okay if I record this interview? Then you're gonna move on to talk about the question topics.

So my question topics throughout this interview will include things like personal belongings and carrying them around the festival, the weather, camping, personal safety, and food and drink.

Then you're gonna write down some examples of questions that you might ask during the interview.

So an example of an open-ended question I will ask is, what features on your personal belongings are important to you when attending an outdoor festival? So for section four, the listen and record part, thank you for allowing me to record this interview.

I can send you a copy of my transcript if you would like.

And then recap and thank you.

Thank you so much for your time in letting me interview you, and it has given me information and some ideas to move forward with.

The summary for this lesson.

So an interview is a structured conversation to gather information.

Identifying question topics will really help you construct effective interview questions.

And effective questions are the ones that are relevant to the context.

They're non-leading, they're open-ended, they're clear, and they help achieve the desired purpose of the interview.

And planning a script and a structure to your interview will ensure you get the most effective feedback from the interview and will most likely make you feel a little bit more comfortable and confident throughout that interview.

Thank you very much.