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Structure the interview 

Plan your interview structure ahead of time and create a discussion guide to help you and other interviewers stay on track. This will help you and other interviews collect comparable information. Don't follow the discussion guide word for word, instead use it as a guide to stay on topic.

The discussion guide should include:

• introduction script, this tells the participant who you are, introduces the observer or note taker and explains the purpose of your research  
• consent prompt, this reminds you to ask the participant for consent to talk to them and record 
• planning checklists, this makes sure you have all the equipment and facilities you need on the day 
• sort your questions by topic 
• follow-up questions to learn more.

When you’ve created your discussion guide, test your questions and structure by practicing with a colleague, friend or family member. Revise any questions that aren’t clear and re-order your topics if the practice interview doesn’t flow well.

Write the questions  

Work on questions with your team. Open ended questions encourage a full and detailed answer rather than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

It can be good to start out with a few simple questions to get the participant talking and build rapport. For example, 'Tell us about you and your work?'

Avoid confirmation bias

When writing your questions avoid confirmation bias. Confirmation bias happens when a question directs a participant toward a response that aligns to your pre-existing ideas, opinions or assumptions.

Good starter questions may include:

• 'How do you …' 
• 'What are the different ways you …' 
• 'What do you think about …' 

Plan follow up questions  

Make sure you understand what the participant has said. Use follow up questions if you’re unsure or would like more detail.  

Follow up questions can include:

• ‘You said … when/why/who was that?’ 
• ‘Can you tell me more about …?’ 
• ‘In what way …?’ 
• ‘Could you elaborate on … to help me understand …?’ 

Get the most out of the interview 

During the interview make sure you really listen and show the participant your interest in what they’re saying. To get the most out of the interview: 

• get there early and don’t leave the room during the session
• be mindful of video and audio recordings and what you say during, before and after a session
• keep your main questions in mind and let the conversation develop naturally by digging into new and interesting issues
• take time to adjust to the participants conversation pace and style, don’t change the flow of the interview
• be comfortable with silence
• focus on stories and real examples, avoid generalities and talking about how things ‘should’ happen

Take notes 

Think about the specific things that the team needs to understand, including the goals or objectives of the research.

Write down anything interesting or relevant that you see or hear during the session, incude:

• direct quotes, use quotation marks to show that this is what they said, not your interpretation 
• behaviours and patterns, write ‘appear to’ or ‘seems’ so you know this is your observation 
• design problems or pain points
• ideas and suggestions or gains.

Use a single note for each observation and write exactly what you see or hear not what you think it means. This way, the notes will be unbiased and can represent the voice of the user. If you have recordings, make them available so people can confirm their observations and get verbatim quotes. 

Completing the interview

 Once you’ve finished the interview, it’s a good idea to:  

• thank the participant 
• reconfirm consent 
• make sure any personal information you’ve collected is stored securely, on paper or in recordings
• use your planning checklist and pack away your equipment.

Pay incentives to participants  

Check your agency’s policy on paying people for research participation. Make sure that the incentive is appropriate to the participant’s background and personal circumstances. For example, offer a voucher or gift card for a store that the participant can travel to easily or that they can use online. 

Pay incentives through a recruitment agency  

When you use an agency to recruit participants, the incentive is typically cash or a voucher. The value will depend on the cohort that you are trying to reach and the length of the research session. You can ask recruitment agencies for advice on how much you should give.  

The agency can transfer the incentive to the participants for a fee once the research is complete. Avoid handling cash incentives yourself.

You can ask the agency to hire a venue that has a host who can manage your participants and hand over the cash incentive on your behalf. For example, if your target group is seniors, they may feel more comfortable with a senior host. There is usually an additional cost for this, which you should factor into your research budget.