💬 Tips on asking:

• Create comfort: Read the situation and the person. Be adaptive. Nuance your demeanour and communication style to create an interpersonal dynamic that encourages individuals to express themselves. Silence is golden. Often, the person volunteers more information after natural pauses in conversation.

• Listen: Real listening is at the heart of interviewing. When someone knows they are truly being listened to, the interview becomes a collaborative discovery process. Deep, concentrated listening–combined with open-ended, targeted follow-up questions–triggers personal reflection and storytelling. Stories often reveal much more than “answers.” Be deliberate about what you share and interject. Sometimes it makes sense to share your own experiences and ideas, sometimes it doesn’t. 

• Follow the rule of ‘5 Why’s?’ Feel free to ask several follow-up “Why?” questions after your interviewee’s response to a question. This will help you get at the underlying meaning of what the person is saying and allow them to think out loud and explain their reasoning. 

• Show > tell: When possible, ask “Can you show/give me an example?” This will surface both rich details and get to behaviors that participants may not even have known how to describe.

• Lead and follow: Great interviews are like jazz improvisation—creative exploration within a structure. Balance letting the interaction guide you with guiding the interaction. The dialogue will take you to places you didn’t anticipate; this is how discovery happens. However, it’s still your job to make the interaction purposeful and targeted.
  
  

🗒️ Tips on note-taking:

During the session, it is important to document as much as one can. The Lead Researcher will be focused on facilitating the session, so other researchers should adopt a note-taking role.

• A few tips on how to take helpful notes:

• Write in the voice of the participant and try to capture direct quotes.

• Stay in the moment. Try not to start synthesizing or analyzing during the visit.

• Notice context. Capture what you’re seeing, hearing, and whatever is happening around you in the space.

• Pay attention to posture. Through the participants’ body language, try to capture what isn’t being said–look for workarounds.
  
  

👀 Tips on looking:

A human-centered approach emphasizes first-hand observation of people in context. Understanding people’s behaviours, perceptions and needs is key to inspiring new design solutions. Here are some tips on looking.

• Workarounds: When a system is failing the people within it, it doesn’t usually shut down. Most often people adapt the system to make it work. What is the adaptation saying about their need? 

• Pauses in action: If people hesitate or stop while they are going through a process, it usually means they are confused, put-off or in need of something. 

• Body language: People smile when they’re delighted and frown when they are confused. Interpreting people’s non-verbal language is a great way to gauge people’s responses to their environment. 

• What they care about: People convey a lot about their own identity in the stories that they tell and the things that they surround themselves with. Watch for things that are fundamentally important to them and you can catch a glimpse of how they interpret their world. 

📷 Tips on taking photos/videos:

Make sure you have permission before taking photos.  It is helpful when asking for permission to show the participants what you are using to document sessions.  

• The camera should not be distracting. Take photos discreetly without audible beeps or ashes.

• Avoid distracting the participants. Try to take shots from a side angel so that the participants isn’t staring down the camera.

• Take photos of what the participants show us and any relevant content.