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Conducting User Interviews

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What to Avoid

1:30 with Hope Armstrong

While there's no exact way to conduct a user interview, there are definite questions and styles you should avoid so you can encourage honest and helpful answers.

What to Avoid in a User Interview

  • Don't intimidate. Standing while your interviewee is sitting is not a good idea. You're intimidating them.
  • Don't ask sensitive, personal questions. They make your participants uncomfortable.
  • Don't ask yes/no questions without asking why.
  • Don't ask long questions. By the time you finish, they forget what you asked.
  • Don't use jargon because they don't understand it.
  • Don't talk too much.
  • Don't explain your questions.
  • Don't ignore body language. While they might say one thing, their body language might be saying something else.
  • Don't ask for product feedback. You don't want feedback, you want to observe behavior.
  • Don't ask to predict the future. We talked about that.
  • Don't pitch your product. This is not a sales call. This is an interview.
  • *Don't analyze the answers in your mind. * You'll have time for that later.

Related Discussions

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    Related Discussions

    Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.

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    Don't confuse your interviewee, mess up your data, and 0:00
    result in invalid unreliable conclusions. 0:00
    Don't intimidate. 0:03
    Standing while your interviewee is sitting is not a good idea. 0:05
    You're intimidating them. 0:09
    Don't ask sensitive personal, questions, they make your participants uncomfortable. 0:11
    Don't ask yes or no questions without asking why. 0:18
    Don't ask long questions. 0:23
    By the time you finish, they forgot what you asked. 0:26

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