Asking better questions 24 February, 2006
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s ‘How not to…’ post, Christina points to an interviewing masterclass on MetaFilter.
There’s only one thing I would clarify:
‘…when you follow-up on a question, resist the temptation to put it in good, quotable language. (”So you would say that was the moment you fell in love with writing?”) The response will often be, ‘Yeah,’ rather than a revealing, and very quotable sentence.’
If you’re doing user research rather than professional writing, I think it is acceptable to re-present or rephrase what you’ve learnt back to your informant. It helps guide the enquiry and acts as a prompt for more detail.
A phrase like, ‘So you’re saying that reading e-mail’s the main thing you do with your computer?’ will often lead your interviewee to re-examine what they’ve said and help uncover tacit behaviour. ‘Yes, that’s right … e-mail and shopping.’