Q: What is the best way to explain the purpose of our work to potential interviewees while preventing bias?
A: The introduction you give to potential interviewees should focus on building trust and setting a comfortable environment.
Explaining that you are conducting research to gather information and better understand a challenge in the community is usually more than enough. Stress that they are the expert and you’re simply there to learn from them. As the interview takes place you can give further details if needed. Be sensitive to any discomfort or hesitation on the part of the interviewee.
Q: How long should interviews be? What’s the best way to break the ice during an interview session?
A: Though we know longer interviews are less possible in the context of this course, one interview in a typical research phase usually lasts about one hour, more like 1.5 hours in the case that you are relying on a translator.
Making someone comfortable is crucial to the interview process. Here are a few tips:
• Hold your interviews in someone’s home, if possible, and with one interviewee at a time. You want someone to be as comfortable as
possible, and being in an unfamiliar environment can make people shy.
• To get people to open up, sharing a bit about yourself and the project is a good first step. Tell interviewees that they are the experts in the room. As designers, we are process experts, but we don’t know as much about the topic itself, we rely on them to help us understand. That subtle clarification puts people at ease.
• The less equipment you have the better. While recording can be helpful, it can make some people nervous, so try to use pen and paper
• Ask follow-up questions. Here are some examples:
- Why do you think that is? - That’s interesting...tell me more. - Where did you learn that? - Can you show me? (ask to draw it) - Is it always like that? Can it vary?
Q: I’m curious about the best methods for finding folks to interview. Are incentives usually offered, or do you find that most people are amenable to sharing their time with you?
A: Contacting people in the local community is a very good start. You’ll be surprised how happy people are to share their stories. It’s usually a good idea to bring a little something as a “thank you” and offer to keep them in the loop afterwards to share what you create.
Q & A: Tips on Interviewing
A team learning about mobile money usage in Ghana, spent time interviewing small business owners in their shops.
1The Course for Human-Centered Design
Class 2 Inspiration Phase
There are lots of nuances to learn about interviewing, it doesn’t always come easily the first time around. But with some practice and these tips and tricks, you’ll start getting a hang of what’s working for your interviewees.
There are lots of nuances to learn about interviewing, it doesn’t always come easily the first time around. But with some practice and these tips and tricks, you’ll start getting a hang of what’s working for your interviewees. 訪問有很多細節需要學習，第一次常常不怎麼容易。但是經過些許的練習以及了解下列的技巧，相信你可以對訪談更加上手，知道怎麼與受訪者互動。
The introduction you give to potential interviewees should focus on building trust and setting a comfortable environment. 給潛在受訪者的引言或介紹，應該要以建立信任感與舒適的環境為主。
Explaining that you are conducting research to gather information and better understand a challenge in the community is usually more than enough. Stress that they are the expert and you’re simply there to learn from them. As the interview takes place you can give further details if needed. Be sensitive to any discomfort or hesitation on the part of the interviewee. 通常只要跟受訪者解釋你「正在進行一項研究，試圖收集更多資訊，了解社區中的挑戰或困難是什麼。」這樣差不多就夠了。你可以把重點放在這些社區中的受訪者才是專家，你是以向他們學習的心情進行採訪的。如果他們願意受訪，你可以再視需要告知他們更多細節。受訪者有任何遲疑或不舒服，都要保持敏銳的心來注意。
Though we know longer interviews are less possible in the context of this course, one interview in a typical research phase usually lasts about one hour, more like 1.5 hours in the case that you are relying on a translator. 儘管我們知道在這堂課的脈絡下，要進行長時間的訪談是不容易的，不過一個典型的研究期的訪問通常會持續一個小時，如果有需要翻譯在旁，則可能會花上一個半小時。
Making someone comfortable is crucial to the interview process. Here are a few tips: 讓人感到自在，是訪談過程中很重要的事情。下面是一些小撇步：
Hold your interviews in someone’s home, if possible, and with one interviewee at a time. You want someone to be as comfortable as possible, and being in an unfamiliar environment can make people shy. 如果可以的話，盡量到受訪者自在的地方訪問（像是他的家）。因為在受訪者不熟悉的環境下常常會讓人害羞。
To get people to open up, sharing a bit about yourself and the project is a good first step. Tell interviewees that they are the experts in the room. As designers, we are process experts, but we don’t know as much about the topic itself, we rely on them to help us understand. That subtle clarification puts people at ease. 讓人敞開心胸，你可以分享關於你自己的事情，或是這個計畫的內容，是個不錯的開頭。告訴受訪者他們才是這個領域的專家。作為計畫團隊，我們只是比較熟悉專案的「流程」，而非專案的「內容」。我們必須依靠他們來讓我們對相關領域更加了解。這樣小小的舉動可以讓受訪者更加放鬆、敞開心胸。
The less equipment you have the better. While recording can be helpful, it can make some people nervous, so try to use pen and paper 設備帶的越少越好。錄音雖然不錯，不過也可能讓某些受訪者感到緊張，所以盡量用紙和筆紀錄。
Ask follow-up questions. Here are some examples: - Why do you think that is? - That’s interesting...tell me more. - Where did you learn that? - Can you show me? (ask to draw it) - Is it always like that? Can it vary? 問「更深入」的問題。以下是深入問題的範例：-你為什麼這麼想？-這好好玩呀...告訴我更多。-你從哪邊學來的？-你可以秀給我看嗎？（請他畫出來）-這事一直都是像這樣嗎？它可以用不同方式呈現嗎？
Contacting people in the local community is a very good start. You’ll be surprised how happy people are to share their stories. It’s usually a good idea to bring a little something as a “thank you” and offer to keep them in the loop afterwards to share what you create. 聯絡在地社區的人，會是個開始找人的好起點。相信你會對人們有多開心能夠分享自己的故事感到驚喜。帶點像是謝卡等小禮物，並且與受訪者保持聯絡讓他們知道你之後所設計的事物，上述兩個想法通常都會是不錯的點子。
Q: When targeting a group, for example low-income individuals, how would it be best to determine if they fall into that category? I wouldn’t want to ask for fear of offending the individual.
A: This can be tricky, and your best guide is reading someone’s individual comfort level. You may be surprised by how candid some interview subjects are about their personal finances, but you don’t want to say something that might make them clam up.
Ask questions that are relevant to the context and will illuminate someone’s socioeconomic status without talking money. In Tanzania, for example, knowing whether someone can afford to send their children to school, and if so, what type of school can be a good indicator. In the United States, what neighborhood they live in might narrow the field. Sometimes, it’s up to you to play detective. Even if you interview someone who isn’t the exact demographic, use what you learn as comparative to the rest of your interviewees.
Q: What are some distinctive aspects of interviews in the human-centered design approach?
A: The most important difference with the Inspiration phase is being open to letting a conversation go wherever it leads. Unlike other types of interviews, someone veering off topic might be the best way to learn about their values and day-to-day life, so don’t feel too bound by your discussion guide. Having a few ideas in mind is great to spark conversation, but you don’t want to go into the room trying to sell your ideas or concepts or they may influence the answers you get. Leave room for ambiguity!
In addition, interviews in the human-centered design process look different from traditional market research in a few ways. First, we like to conduct our interviews with one person at a time, and we spend a fair amount of time with each interviewee—
sometimes a few hours. Rather than attempting to hear from the masses, we focus on gathering deeper insights and more quality responses, one person or household at a time.
Q: In this course, carrying out multiple in-depth interviews and research, coupled with a full time job, is challenging. How can we better balance this process?
A: There are a few key things to consider. Narrow down and focus on just a couple planned longer interviews. But balance these with hearing from people on the fly. Our design teams often do a lot of short informal interviewing in parallel with their scheduled interviews (called “intercepts”). Literally getting the perspective of community members randomly, while walking around in a marketplace or a bus stop, let’s say. These give a nice balance of lots of other voices and though you’ll probably only be able to home in on one particular part of your discussion guide (you won’t have time to ask everything), it will give you a fresh perspective.
In a regular full-term project you would have a nice balance between both, but especially for the purpose of this course, concentrate on getting more of these smaller bite-sized interviews rather than trying to schedule multiple long ones.
Q: If part of your target population is difficult to meet with in person, is it appropriate to move forward without interviewing one of the groups?
A: It is not indispensable to hold an interview in person. Interviews can be carried out via telephone, video chat, or even email or text chat. Many details can be lost by carrying out a remote interview, but it’s important to interview a representative sample of your target groups.
2The Course for Human-Centered Design
*The smallest variation has been spaced specifically for legibitlity
This can be tricky, and your best guide is reading someone’s individual comfort level. You may be surprised by how candid some interview subjects are about their personal finances, but you don’t want to say something that might make them clam up. 這問題不容易，你最好去觀察每個不同受訪者的自在程度。你可能會在過程中，幸運的遇到有些訪問中，人們很願意開誠佈公的分享自己的個人財務。如果是這樣的話，盡量不要說些會讓他們不想繼續講的話。
Ask questions that are relevant to the context and will illuminate someone’s socioeconomic status without talking money. In Tanzania, for example, knowing whether someone can afford to send their children to school, and if so, what type of school can be a good indicator. In the United States, what neighborhood they live in might narrow the field. Sometimes, it’s up to you to play detective. Even if you interview someone who isn’t the exact demographic, use what you learn as comparative to the rest of your interviewees. 有時候不去提錢，旁敲側擊的問問跟受訪者生活上的相關問題，也可以揭露出他的社經地位。比方說，在坦尚尼亞，只要問問看某人能否負擔他的孩子上學的費用（如果可以負擔，他的孩子上哪種類型的學校），這個答案就是個不錯的個人收入指標。在美國，問問他住在哪個社區通常也可以篩選出一些收入條件。有時候，你得自己試著扮演偵探。即使你訪談的人並不是你想要的特定對象，你可以跟其他受訪者來做個對照比較。
The most important difference with the Inspiration phase is being open to letting a conversation go wherever it leads. Unlike other types of interviews, someone veering off topic might be the best way to learn about their values and day-to-day life, so don’t feel too bound by your discussion guide. Having a few ideas in mind is great to spark conversation, but you don’t want to go into the room trying to sell your ideas or concepts or they may influence the answers you get. Leave room for ambiguity! 靈感激發期裡頭，最重要的差別是讓對話盡量的開放，不去設限目的。不同於其他類別的訪問，有岔題的時候常常是你可以學到新東西的最佳時機，像是他們的價值觀、或是日常生活中的細節，所以不要覺得你的討論太廣或太歪。你可以先準備一些引導話題的對話，但是不要去硬推銷你自己的想法或是觀點來影響受訪者給你的答案。留點模糊的可能！
In addition, interviews in the human- centered design process look different from traditional market research in a few ways. First, we like to conduct our interviews with one person at a time, and we spend a fair amount of time with each interviewee— sometimes a few hours. Rather than attempting to hear from the masses, we focus on gathering deeper insights and more quality responses, one person or household at a time. 除此之外，在以人為本的設計流程中的訪問，跟傳統的行銷研究也有幾點差異。首先，我們喜歡一次訪問一個人，而且在每個受訪者我們都會花上相當的時間——有時也許會花上幾個小時。與其嘗試聆聽大量受訪者的意見，我們聚焦在更深入的觀察以及更高品質的回應，一次只要一個人或一戶家庭即可。
There are a few key things to consider. Narrow down and focus on just a couple planned longer interviews. But balance these with hearing from people on the fly. Our design teams often do a lot of short informal interviewing in parallel with their scheduled interviews (called “intercepts”). Literally getting the perspective of community members randomly, while walking around in a marketplace or a bus stop, let’s say. These give a nice balance of lots of other voices and though you’ll probably only be able to home in on one particular part of your discussion guide (you won’t have time to ask everything), it will give you a fresh perspective. 有幾點主要事情要考量。限縮、聚焦到少數幾位你打算進行長時間的訪問。但同時也以你在忙碌生活中能夠達成的情況來考量。我們設計團隊的人常常會再進行預約訪問的同時，也做許多時間較短、較不正式的訪問（這類訪問叫攔截式訪問(intercepts)）。如同「攔截」的字義，這類訪談可以直接隨機的在社區中抓人，像是在市集中遊走或是在公車站等候的人群。儘管這樣的訪問也許只能夠得到訪綱中部分的答案（你不可能全部問完的），這樣的短訪也能夠為你帶來新鮮的觀點。
In a regular full-term project you would have a nice balance between both, but especially for the purpose of this course, concentrate on getting more of these smaller bite-sized interviews rather than trying to schedule multiple long ones. 在一個完整的專案中，請盡量平衡進行上述兩種訪問，但這堂課程中，與其進行事先約的長時間訪問，請以小而短的訪問為優先，
It is not indispensable to hold an interview in person. Interviews can be carried out via telephone, video chat, or even email or text chat. Many details can be lost by carrying out a remote interview, but it’s important to interview a representative sample of your target groups. 我們不一定得面對面才能進行訪問。訪問可以透過電話、視訊聊天、甚至是電子郵件或是簡訊溝通。也許這樣的遠端訪問會無法獲得許多細節，但訪問代表目標族群的樣本人物是很重要的。
