Is There Life On Mars?

Booklet for Project Exploring Interactions ID4250 TU Delft
Version September 10
Life on Mars
Is there life on Mars?
This booklet is made for students in the DfI project Exploring Interactions (ID4250) at IDE/TU Delft. The project involves exploratory research in a specified setting. This booklet provides support in planning a semi-structured interview in the setting.
Life on Mars
Life on Mars
Welcome to life on Mars

What might a day in life on Mars be like? And how would you find out about it? This booklet offers resources, with an emphasis on interviewing techniques. Most indepth interviews take ca. 45 mins to 1 1/2 hours. Being a good listener means trying to put yourself in the shoes of those you research: being empathic. Being a good researcher means being thorough about your data and insights. In addition to talking and listening, observe and take notes. Make notes of your insights at the end of each research day. Dont be afraid to take photographs and/or film (but ask for permission and stop when asked to). You need not stick to the format of a 1 or 2 hour interview. Be creative with your research methods, adapt them to what you want to know. You might include generative techniques with your interviews. You might spend time with or as people, half a day or a whole day. You might follow up on interviewing by acting out life as someone, and using that to illustrate your research results. Aim for evocative research results that inspire you.
Spending time as someone.
Spending time with someone.
Life on Mars
Preparation
Check your research goal and questions
How will you explore fully the phenomena that interest you?
Prepare a topic guide for structure

Make a list of questions you will use in the interview. Printed in large letters so you can glance at it quickly. One or two pages. See the exercise later in this booklet.
Interview structure
- Factual opening question - Main questions with cues - Ending question
Main questions:
like a funnel
from general
to specific
Factual opening question

Should be easy to answer, to get into talking. When did you last ...? Who is involved in ...? What do you usually do here ...?
Main questions...
Should be open and start general. Can you tell me about the last time you...? What did you think of (...the event...)? Where do you get information about ...? How do you feel about ...?
... and cues

Follow each main question with (more specific) cues. These are focusing questions. They can be your prepared cues, or follow on from a participants answers. This serves to deepen information about situations. (See Doing Interviews for types of cues).
Ending question
Ive asked everything I wanted to. Have we missed anything?
Life on Mars
Recruiting participants
Extreme or expert users, a variety of people. To cover different aspects of one topic. By convenience (people you know), or by snowballing (people they know). When recruiting and before interviewing, ensure that your participant is useful to you, e.g. that they have the experience youre asking about. Ask him/her that directly or enquire about it indirectly, depending on the sensitivity of your topic. You can recruit in advance or on the spot. Identify yourself, say youre a student. Mention recording. An interview can be held anywhere you can have some quiet.
Pilot
Test your interview with someone just like those you want to research, not with someone who is very different. If this is difficult to do, at least ask someone who doesnt know about your design project and research topic. In any case, do a pilot.
Recording
Take recording equipment with you. And a note pad. A video camera is useful because it captures image and sound. Alternative: voice recorder + photo camera. See further on in this booklet, Interview processing on technicalities.
Team work... or not?

There are several reasons to work as a team of two to do an interview. One is that one of you can take notes. That saves time in the analysis. Another reason is that one person can focus on the equipment and the other can concentrate fully on the interview. However, in some situations it is better to be alone. For example, if the participant might be intimidated by two people, or if it creates a crowded situation.
Interviewing...
... in public/ semi-public situations
Say youre a student. Take a participant aside, put them in a comfortable position (e.g. sitting), agree on the time it will take before you start.
... at home or in a pre-arranged place

Make an appointment. Say in advance how long you will be there for and what you want to do.
Last but certainly not least: Ethics

Guarantee anonymity. Stop if asked to stop. Make sure they got who you are and why you asked. Avoid leaving behind scorched earth. Always exit gracefully.
Life on Mars
Doing an interview
Begin with information Using the topic guide
(...like a conversation...)
Give participants consistent and sufficient information (why are you asking, who wants to know, how will results be used?) Give a card or slip of paper with your purpose and contact details. Assure participants of anonymity.
You should know most questions by heart. Only glance at the topic guide if needed. Be flexible: it should feel like a conversation. Use the topic guide when you dont know what to ask next and at the end to check that you have asked everything.
Cueing
Follow up your main questions with cues, probing further into what people tell you. These can be prepared cues you have put in your topic guide, or cues you think of spontaneously because of something your interviewee said. Cues can be ... ...verbal cues: you can help interviewees put themselves back into an experienced situation by evoking events, situations, environments. Tip: use past tense. ... and what was that like? So you went to the bar? (e.g. location, people involved, facilities, ....) ... behaviour cues: e.g. encourage participants to speak by pausing for at least 3 seconds, not looking at them (or only casually). Note: do let silences fall during the interview. They give people time to think.
Mirroring
Repeat and use participants own words when asking the next questions. Act empathic with the feelings they express. Mirror their non-verbal behaviour too.
Useful phrases in talking (some, also as cues)

If I understand correctly then what youre saying is ... If I may try to summarize this in my own words, .... Could you say a bit more about this... I havent quite understood yet what you meant about ... Hm ... Coming back to what you just said about .... Is it o.k. with you if we return to the topic of ... I think I havent said this very well, what I mean is ... I guess this question is difficult to answer ...
Life on Mars
What to avoid
Multidimensional questions
Do you find the seating useful and comfortable?
Amplifying questions
Whats the most important to you, so what should be done first?
Dichotomous questions
Questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no.
Why? questions
Why did you go to the zoo? Can be answered in terms of
Influence: Because my kids wanted to go. Attribute: Because I wanted to see the lions.
Instead of Why? questions, use these:

(Influence:) What made you go to the zoo? (Attribute:) What do you like at the zoo?
Frequent mistakes
Overly direct questions (it becomes a question-answer game) Conversation is too closed Not listening, not following up enough Interviewer arguing (Yes, but ....). Instead, say Yes, and... Interviewer giving own opinion (but do: share something of your own life) Letting slip control over the conversation, never chipping in (yay-saying) Judgmental comments on participants statements Last, but certainly not least: Going too fast. Give people time.
Life on Mars
Exercise for three: My mini interview

Heres an exercise you can try with three people to get a feel for interviewing. Each of the three prepares a mini interview using the schematic topic guide below. Start here with one opening question and two main questions for some practice. The interview should take about ten minutes. A full interview of about an hour might have five to seven main questions. Dont worry too much about finding exactly the questions you need for your own research for this exercise just use this as some practice and experience in how questions work for you. But its useful to make the questions relevant to your research alreeds. Choose them so that your mini-interview exercise interviewee can answer them roughly or fictionele even though they may not have had this exact experience. One persoon interviews, the seconde is interviewed, the third observeer (next page). Then switch.
Factual opening question
First main question
(from general)
Cues
Second main question (change of topic)
(to specific)
Cues
Ending question Ive asked everything I wanted to. Have we missed anything?
Life on Mars
Observing the interview

Quickly assess how the interviewer is mastering the points below. For example, note good or mistakes being made.
Dos:
- Questions open:
Factual opening question (open?) First main question (open?) Second question (open?)
- Mirroring:
Uh-huhs, repeating the participants words Nodding, open physical attitude, eye contact, reflecting feelings
- Structuring:
Summarizing the participants statements Steering the conversation: making structuring remarks, interrupting digressions Listening and following up on participants statements
Silence of at least 3 seconds
Donts:
Suggestive / judgmental remarks or questions Multidimensional / complicated questions
Life on Mars
Combining techniques
There is a variety of techniques that you can combine very well with interviews. For example:
Contextmapping
Cultural probes, sensitizing tools, generative techniques can be used in addition to or as part of an interview. Please note: think not only in terms of workbooks, but also e.g. in terms of a collage made during an interview, or other generative techniques that might fit your research goal.
Shadows, Traces, Closets, Prototypes

Ask participants to give you a guided tour of their spaces, things and activities. It helps people recall intentions, ways of doing and values. Ask to accompany them on something they do (shadowing). Consider making prototypes early and using them as part of your research by introducing them into the intended situation.
Observation
Of course, when youre in a location or situation, dont hesitate to make observations of what you see. You can observe and photograph or film the things in peoples environment, and also what the people are doing in their environment, how they interact with things. Sometimes their actions can contradict their words. Note down your observations immediately after the research visit and note for yourself clearly that they are your own observations, to avoid confusing them with what participants said.
Life on Mars
Interview processing
Count on at least 4 (beginners: normally 7+) hours processing per 1 hour recorded interview if you transcribe fully. Advice: dont do it in this project. Free download software that makes transcription a little easier: Express Scribe (Mac/PC), www.nch.com.au/scribe. For that, you need to transfer your recording to a computer and (if its film) extract a sound file. Alternative: have an interview assistant take notes. Note: make sure you have some direct quotes in the participants own words. Good compromise: sound/video recording + assistant notes. After the interview, spend time together with the assistant recalling everything. Then go through video/sound material again to extract words/still/film.
Towards analysis
Already during the research: look for key concepts or themes. You can use participants language and images to give names to your themes and to illustrate them. Allow for the themes to change during your research. See also Context and Conceptualization. Include starting points for design in your theme analysis. For example feelings you share, the potential for enhancement of an activity, or the resolution of bottlenecks. Present your data to yourself visually as you work. E.g. by collecting them on a wall or in a folder. You might choose to further present your data in the form of stories that happened to a fictionalized character, based on your research. You can reenact and photograph actions of people in your data, or draw or write about them. Communicate about your research with others. Showing it and talking about it can help clarify your ideas.
Reenacting research results
Presenting data as stories
Life on Mars
Further reference
Questionnaires, Focus Groups and much more on qualitative research: Reader Customer Research in New Product Development course (ID 4320). Analysing and Communicating Research, generative techniques, cultural probes, sensitizing tools, workbooks Context and Conceptualization course Stories, Scenarios, Personas as Analysis and Communication tools: www.wqusability.com/handouts/storytelling.pdf Tips on observation, video, interview: www.edlglobal.net. Also includes clips from ethnographic video research, albeit fairly brand oriented. Questionnaire making resources (please note: questionnaires are not really advisable for the exploratory research you do in this project, only as a small supplement to other, more indepth research techniques) Questionnaire design, tips, examples and further links www.leeds.ac.uk/iss/documentation/top/top2.pdf Free online resource to make, post and evaluate online questionnaires: http://my3q.com, www.vovici.com, surveymonkey.com
All images with round corners are taken from the IDEO Methods Cards box. Available to look at from S. Boess.
This workshop and workbook

was made by Stella Boess, with contributions from Marille Creusen and Agnes Tan, 2004-2010. Contact s.u.boess@tudelft.nl

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Booklet for Project Exploring Interactions ID4250 TU Delft