Interviewing Participants for Qualitative Research

Facilitating Temperament

• Personable
• Be Patient
• A combination of sociability and self-awareness

Facilitating Skills

• Warm the participant up with small talk
• Then dispassionately observe the participant use the design with no idea what to do next
• Self control not to intervene to help the participant with the task or lead them during the test
• Explaining each scenario and task clearly to participants

When the Facilitator is the Designer, Product Manager, Developer, Product Owner or Stakeholder of the design being tested.

Be aware of whether the facilitator is:

• able to sit there idly when the participant has trouble accomplishing a task or can’t accomplish it at all
• able to not give small hints and leading questions to the participant during the session
• able to avoid leading the participant
• able to not help them when they get lost or stuck
• able to embrace uncomfortable silences
• able to listen to their own interview recording and give themselves constructive feedback
• able to have other facilitators listen to their interview recordings and receive constructive feedback from them