Interview Guide
A structured set of questions anchored in past behaviour rather than in hypothetical intention.
Definition
An interview guide keeps sessions comparable without making them a script. It should be a set of areas with opening questions, not a questionnaire read aloud.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
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Opening
Purpose, duration, recording, right to stop, and that there are no wrong answers.
Establish context and get them talking about their actual work.
Core questions
Anchor every question in something that actually happened. Prefer 'tell me about the last time' to 'do you usually'.
Get a specific story with details, not a generalisation.
Ask what they do outside the tool. Spreadsheets and notes are unmet requirements.
Follow frustration. It marks real problems rather than stated preferences.
For adoption questions, ask what they considered and why they chose what they chose.
Closing
Leave room for what you did not think to ask.
Write down the leading questions you are tempted to ask, so you notice yourself asking them.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Often used with
These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.
- Confirmation BiasCognitive bias
- Contextual InquiryResearch method
- Jobs to Be DoneResearch method
- User InterviewsResearch method
- Research PlanTemplate
Nearby in the Atlas
Adjacent territory, found through shared tags rather than a stated link.