Using Interviews in Design Thinking for Innovation Classes
Principles / Purposes / Mindsets –Guidelines for bringing a user centered process
into the curriculum.
PRINCIPLES: Human Centered Design. Look to users for design inspiration.
Interviews are a means of engaging a user to gather information using
either direct or indirect questioning techniques. Direct questioning
techniques are focused on having the user speak about specific topics,
while indirect questioning techniques are focused on getting the user to
tell stories about various aspects of a topic. Both kinds of techniques are
used together for a deep exploration of ideas so that the interviewer can
develop insights about the user.
Interviews are used in the curriculum to meet several important goals:
 Interviews connect the school curriculum to the world outside of the
classroom as students interact with people around lesson ideas .
 Interviews support students in the construction of knowledge as
students can now use primary data gained in interviews as evidence
for their research claims.
 Interviews allow students to participate in verbal and textual
discourse as they interact with others through conversations about
ideas found in the curriculum.
PURPOSES: To Understand. Interviews are a technique to learn more about the user.
Interviews help support the use of the innovation framework in the
classroom because they increase the value associated with classroom
tasks. Involving students in activities that require user interviews helps
students develop empathy for user’s needs in the context of a content
lesson. Value is created when the student is able to use the interviews to
generate outcomes or solutions that are identified as successfully
meeting the needs of the user. Interviews develop value in several ways:
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To uncover latent needs. An interview can help Identify gaps between
the use, usability & meaning of an idea, object or experience for a user to
reveal unmet needs.
To find surprises. Interviews can find differences in who the people are
and what they have stated they want and what these people actually do,
and what they say they actually need.
To gain empathy for user. Interviews can help the designer discover the
emotions that guide a user’s behaviors.
To identify the type of user. Interviews can help identify if a user is
“extreme” or “mainstream”. Extreme users are people who are pushing
the system and may reveal unmet needs before the mainstream users do.
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7
MINDSETS: To Engage. Have a conversation rather than just ask questions.
Using interviews in the classroom involves more than just designing a
task where students ask people questions. In design thinking, interviews
are a tool that allows the student to engage with the user to hear about
the successes and failures in people’s everyday lives. Direct questioning
tasks do help students gain facts; however, indirect questioning practices
help students hear the stories behind these facts. Help students develop
the design thinking interview mind set by preparing them ahead of time
for how to interview and by scaffolding the process of synthesizing post
interview information. Below are talking and listening suggestions for how
to help students engage:
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Let the user do the talking:
Encourage Stories: Whether or not the stories people tell are true, they
reveal how the user thinks about the world. Stories reveal what people
find normal, acceptable and believe to be true. A good interview should
let the user elaborate on the answers similar to a conversation.
Look for inconsistencies: Sometimes what people say and what they
do are different. These inconsistencies often hide interesting insights.
Interviewers need to ask about these inconsistencies during an interview.
Follow up with why questions: Even when the interviewer thinks he or
she knows the answer, the interviewer needs to ask people why they say
or do things. The answers might surprise the interviewer.
Listen to verbal and nonverbal cues: Be aware of emotions and body
language as a way of using the interview to build empathy for the user.
The interviewer does the listening:
Don’t suggest answers: Even if someone pauses before answering,
don’t help her by suggesting an answer. This can unintentionally get a
person to say things that agree with the interviewer’s expectations.
Ask questions neutrally: “What do you think about this idea?” is a better
question than “Don’t you think this idea is great?” because the first
question doesn’t imply there is a right answer.
Don’t be afraid of silence: Interviewers often feel the need to ask
another question when there is a pause. Sometimes if you allow there to
be silence, a person will reflect on what they’ve just said and say
something deeper.
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7
PROGRESSION: To Develop skills. Novice Intermediate Advanced
Interview skills can be developed from novice to intermediate to advanced
using several different kinds of lesson activities. As a teacher you need to
make decisions on the best way to involve students in the development of
their interview skills based on your knowledge of the student’s abilities
and the curricular context. It is possible that you may mix between levels
as students may be novice for some skills but more advanced in others.
Interview skills can be broken down into four areas:
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Path: Will students follow a simple questioning path where the
beginning, middle, and end of the interview process is set by the
teacher or will the path involve more steps and techniques or be
designed by the student?
Questions: Will students use an existing set of questions or will the
questions be designed by the student?
Roles: Will students complete interviews in groups with each student
focusing on the skills needed by a different task (recorder, interviewer,
observer), or will the student work alone using several sets of skills
simultaneously?
Users: Will a predetermined set of users be interviewed (Peers,
Identified Extreme users, Expert users) or will the students be
responsible for choosing who gets interviewed and why these choices
were made?
Here are some suggestions for how to differentiate between different
levels of interview skills:
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Novice; follows a prescribed questioning path, uses questions from a
predetermined set of questions, works in teams, interviews pre-identified
users.
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Intermediate; modifies a prescribed questioning path based on
experience, uses or modifies existing questions from set, works in team,
in a pair or as an individual, chooses a user or works with pre-identified
users.
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Advanced; designs a questioning path based on goal, designs questions
based on goal, works in a variety of roles or questioning scenarios, and
identifies a range of users to meet interview needs.
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7
RULES: Suggestions to guide student behavior around principles, purposes, and
mindsets
Novice: To introduce the technical and engagement skills used in interviewing.
Rationale: Novice directions should focus on supporting students with the questioning
process, engaging the user, and the technical aspects of recording information and the
social aspects of talking to strangers. As a teacher you can decide if the students are
ready to design their own questions. For a first time experience you can create
questions. However, you should make sure that the students understand the rational for
the questions and how the questions relate to the principles, purposes, and mindsets for
engaging users in a class activity or design challenge.
It is also a good idea to have students practice interviewing first on their peers as
students will already be socially comfortable talking to each other. Another good type of
user experience for novices is to involve pre-identified extreme users who have been
prepped on how to talk to novices. The extreme users can be invited to the classroom or
another space familiar to the student and interviews can be conducted in a round robin
approach to provide students with practice talking to “strangers.”
Rule #1 Talk to them following a path
Hint: Have a beginning, middle, and end
You need to introduce yourself, state your school, describe what you are doing, and ask
if you can ask some questions. If the user says yes, then you can carefully and seriously
ask your questions. Talk slow, be polite, and look the person in the eyes when speaking.
If he or she doesn’t understand you, calmly repeat your question. When you feel you
have received enough answers, ask the user if they have any questions for you. When
you are done be sure to thank the user for their time and say good bye with a smile!
Rule #2 Ask them open not closed questions
Hint: Ask for descriptions
An open ended question asks someone to provide you with a description. A closed
question can be answered with one word or a simple yes or no. For example, “Can you
remember what you ate yesterday?” can be answered with a “yes or no”. If you ask,
“Describe a meal you had yesterday…” will evoke richer information.
Rule #3 Have them tell you a story
Hint: Use follow up questions for more info
After you have asked your open ended question and your user has provided an answer,
ask a follow up question to get the user to talk more. You can ask for more information
using “say, do, think, and feel” style questions. For example, “Did you do anything
different for this meal?” or “Did anyone say anything interesting during your meal?” can
help you more about eating behaviors. To find out about emotions to you can ask “How
did you feel about the meal?” or “What did you think about the meal?” Let the user talk
as long as he or she likes and make sure you don’t talk over them or finish their
sentences. This is a chance for the user to tell his or her story.
Rule #4 One interviewer talks, the others write
Hint: Work in a team
You should work in teams so that one person asks questions, one person writes down
what is being said, and another person can observe the user’s actions, behaviors, and
personal characteristics. You need to include the date, time, and where you are doing
the interview. You should ask or guess their age, record if they are a man or woman,
and describe any other information about the person you are interviewing.
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7
Intermediate: For people who are comfortable talking to strangers and may have
prior experience interviewing. These rules focus on a developing skills as part of a
process for engaging users to gather information for the design task.
Intermediate interviewing activities should focus on the personal aspects of engaging
users, more specific practices to support engagement with a user, and using the results
of interviews to reach design or curricular goals. At this level students should be able to
design their own questions but you should make sure that the students can describe a
how the questions relate to the principles, purposes, and mindsets for engaging users
and how the questions help them achieve their design challenge goal. Students can
work with a variety of user types but should be reminded of procedures for talking to
strangers.
Rule #1 Relax and be yourself
Your goal is to engage the user in a conversation to develop empathy for their needs. Be
calm and don’t rush during an interview. Make eye contact, smile, and introduce yourself
and say where you are from. Make the experience personal by remembering names.
Adding a personal touch makes this a conversation more than a series of questions.
Rule #2 Ask questions on purpose
The process is more than just having the user talk. You need to engage in a
conversation to find out what you want to know more about. Think about the goal of the
design challenge and design a path of questions or an interview plan to help you reach
the design challenge goal. You are working with users to answer these two questions:
How can we learn from people? How can we improve their experience?
If you ask a yes or no question, follow up with an open ended question to find out more
information. In your follow-up, you can ask for more information using “say, do, think,
and feel” questions. Decide when to stop and move to another question or to end the
conversation and thank the user for his or her time.
Rule #3 Listening is everything
The process is about getting the user to tell his or her story. When they are talking you
are listening- don’t talk over people and don’t finish their sentences. Pauses are
important to allow the person to think and maybe say more.
Rule #4 Pick a range of people to interview
You can find people by asking your friends or family for suggestions or visiting places
where the kinds of people you need to question hang out. Who you interview depends
on your goals but you should pick a range of people to avoid developing a biased
viewpoint based on a limited range of ideas. Some times you want extreme users or
people who have obvious biased opinions. These extreme users can help you learn
about the different levels of people’s experiences or preferences and these people are
often comfortable expressing their opinion or ideas about the topic of interest. Don’t be
afraid to talk to extreme users who represent different sides of the same issue or who
have different needs for the same topic. For example you can interview a democrat and
a republican to learn both sides to a political issue or a vegetarian runner and a
barbecue chef to learn about different aspects for favorite meals.
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7
Advanced: For people who are experienced with interviews and need more
support with designing questions to engage the user.
Advanced interviewing activities should focus on detailed and specific practices for
engaging users in depth to reach specific design or curricular goals. At this level
students should be able to design their own questions to meet specific goals using the
principles, purposes, and mindsets for engaging users. Students should be able to
choose a range of user types to interview, and they should be comfortable learning how
to adapt the process based on how the interview progresses.
Engagement Rules:
1st RULE: You do not say ‘usually’ when asking a question.
Students often ask subjects about what they USUALLY do. This is a bad habit that will
lead to general answers rather than the rich and descriptive answers of what they did
yesterday or the day before. Specifics = juicy details. If your original question is “ When
do you usually eat snacks?” you could make this a better question by asking, “Tell me
about the last time you ate a snack.”
2nd RULE: If someone says “I think” or states a belief or seems to prefer one
thing over another, then the conversation is NOT over. Ask why that’s important.
One of the mistakes that interviewers most often make is not identifying when the
subject states a belief and missing a potentially ‘juicy’ area to dig into. Be aware of
‘beliefs’ floating out there. They can lead to powerful stories and/or rationale of why the
user behaves a certain why. For example, when your user says “Fast food has this
connotation that it’s not healthy,’ it is important that you follow up with WHY. “Why does
that matter to you?”
3rd RULE: Only 10 words to a question.
The longer the question is, the more likely that a subject will either not be able to follow,
or will be swayed into responding a certain way. What if you asked your user: “Because
of the rising price of oil, airlines are doing everything possible to lower their expenses,
and passenger meals is an area in which they see opportunity; therefore, they have
been experimenting with giving passenger’s french fries as their in-flight meal…what do
you think about this?” In this particular example, you have set up a scenario that may or
may not be familiar to your user. Maybe he or she hasn’t experienced this—then how
can he or she comment or say how he or she feels? Maybe there are other travel
scenarios that your user has in mind when he or she thinks “fries+travel,” but by
mentioning planes you have now swayed your user into thinking solely about this form of
travel. You could rephrase the question more precise and end it with the golden nugget
“why”? by asking “You mentioned fries as being the most un-ideal travel food—why?
4th RULE: Break big questions into small pieces.
It can be very tempting for designers to simply ask the user the same broad prompt that
was given to them as their project. Avoid this because the question is too big, and the
user probably won’t have anything specific to say about this overall idea. Instead, break
the problem down into smaller pieces. Starting with a way to get the story about the last
time the user experienced this subject - i.e. instead of “How would you redesign the
snack experience?” try “Tell me about the last time you ate a snack?”
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7
5th RULE: No binary questions, no leading questions.
Notice that this rule is a binary rule- these are two rules combined into one- to get the
point across. First of all, don’t ask yes/no questions. If you do ask a yes/no question,
don’t forget to ask WHY. Also, don’t lead the user by inserting your own opinion into the
question. For example, describing French fries as a heavy snack, probably sways the
subject into responding that it is better to eat them for dinner. Instead of asking when do
you usually eat fries, or when should fries be eaten, find out specifically about the last
time they ate fries. Follow up with what they ate before and after, and what they might
call those meals. This gets away from the language of strictly ‘breakfast, lunch and
dinner’ and could lead to interesting responses where you learn more about your user!
6th RULE: A conversation starts with one question and goes on as long as
needed.
It is a good idea to have a question path which you can make beforehand and take time
to think about thoughtful questions.
• Introduction: Who are you? “Hi, I’m a HFA student studying coffee. I’m interested
in hearing about your experience with coffee. There are no right or wrong answers, I
just want to hear what you have to say.”
• Kick-off: Get the conversation started! “Do you drink coffee?”
• Build rapport: Make friends based on the user’s emotions. “Did you have a
coffee today? How was it? Do you have a favorite coffee?”
• Grand Tour: Follow your rules of engagement. “Can you describe your most
memorable coffee experience? Why was it so unique? What happened?”
• Reflection: What do they think of the idea? “If you could add any thing to a coffee
shop based on your best coffee experience what would you add and why?”
However, don’t think of this question path as a checklist. Think of it more as a guide to
what subjects you want to talk about, and how you might talk about them. You probably
won’t get to everything. Be sure to listen to the user and ask follow-up questions.
7th RULE: If you’re the only one interviewing, then you HAVE to use a voice
recorder to capture what happens…
This goes back to the mindset of ‘Engage’ rather than ‘interview.’ Think of your
engagements as conversations, not a survey. Therefore, you might want to experiment
with different ways to record the responses that you are hearing to make the
experiences more casual and less official.
Summer 2009 - Henry Ford Learning Institute
adapted from work done at Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford
page 1 of 7