Interviews and Questionnaires a.k.a. How to talk to your users

Agenda Questions Interviewing techniques Questionnaire design Evaluation Plan discussions

First: a little exercise Interview each other about instant messaging use – 4 or 5 questions, 3 minutes Person 1: the silent type Person 2: the going off track type

Today’s focus is asking people about stuff… Interviews Questionnaires Assessment of that data

Interviews & Questionnaires Subjective view of participants Quantitative – very structured – Questionnaires often quantitative, but not entirely – Structured Interviews Strict set of questions, deviation would compromise study Qualitative – less or no structure – Semi-structured interviews Some deviation encouraged – Unstructured interviews i.e. the ethnographic interview Little guide, very explorative

Interviews Potentially lots of detail can vary questions as needed Inexpensive Time consuming to perform and analyze Some interpretation required Subject to interviewer biases

Questionnaires Expensive to create …but cheap to administer Easier to get quantifiable results Can gather info from many more people Protects participant identity Only as good as the questions asked

Structured Interviews More similar to questionnaires Require a lot of training for any hope at inter- interviewer reliability But that means that they tend to give much more repeatable results

Unstructured Interviews Have a plan, but keep interview open to different directions Get participant to open up and express themselves in their terms and at own pace Create interpretations with users – Be sure to use their terminology Take lots of time, but learn a lot as well

Semi-Structured Interviews Predetermine data of interest - know why you are asking questions - don’t waste time Plan for effective question types How do you perform task x? Why do you perform task x? Under what conditions do you perform task x? What do you do before you perform…? What information do you need to…? Whom do you need to communicate with to …? What do you use to…? What happens after you…? – See Gordon & Gill, 1992; Graesser, Lang, & Elofson, 1987

Asking Questions Understand your goals Consider the ordering of the questions Avoid complex/long/multiple questions Avoid jargon; talk in participant’s language Be careful of stereotypes, biases

Clarity is important Questions must be clear, succinct, and unambiguous How much time have you spent reading news on the Web recently?  Some  A lot  Every day  Rarely  Etc.  None  0 to 5 hours  6 to 10 hours  11 to 20 hours  More than 20 hours

Avoid question bias Leading questions unnecessarily force certain answers. Do you think parking on campus can be made easier? What is your overall impression of… 1.Superb 2.Excellent 3.Great 4.Not so Great

Be aware of connotations Do you agree with the NFL owner’s decision to oppose the referee’s pay request? Do you agree with the NFL owner’s decision in regards to the referee’s pay demand? Do you agree with the NFL owner’s decision in regards to the referee’s suggested pay?

Leading questions People want to do well, give you what you are looking for Be aware of your own expectations before creating questions and while interviewing Use value neutral terms What do you like about this system? Vs. Tell me what you thought about this system.

Avoid hypotheticals Avoid gathering information on uninformed opinions Subjects should not be asked to consider something they’ve never thought about (or know or understand) Would a device aimed to make cooking easier help you?

Handle personal info carefully Ask questions subjects would not mind answering honestly. – What is your age? – What is your waist size? If subjects are uncomfortable, you will lose their trust Ask only what you really need to know

What’s wrong with this picture? How much easier is it to use this client than Outlook? I see you choose to use your keyboard shortcuts more than the mouse. Is that faster for you? Your choice of red is different than any other user we saw. Why did you do that?

Planning your interview: Introduction Warmup Main session Cool-off Closing Record everything exactly in your participants’ languages (don’t forget to test your recording equipment)

The warmup or “grand tour” question The first question helps set the tone for the interview – Familiarize the participant to talking – Encourage the participant that their true opinion does matter Question should be – Easy to answer – But not answered easily More than just a “yes” or “no” response Examples: – Tell me about the work you do? – What made you buy the computer?

Prompts “Nudge” a participant in a direction, or to get additional response – Silent: remain silent until they say more – Echo: repeat back and then ask “then what happens” etc. – Make agreeing sounds: you say “uh huh” and the other person continues – Tell Me More: could you tell me more about that? – Clarifying: summarize and ask for confirmation or clarification, often leads to new discussion

Contents of a survey General/Background info – Demographic data – Also functions as a “warm up” – Correlate responses between groups Objective questions Open-ended/subjective

Background examples Demographic data: – Age, gender – Task expertise i.e. Have you ever worked in a restaurant? – Motivation – Frequency of use How often do you… – Education/literacy What training have you had in …?

Closed Format Advantages – Clarify alternatives – Easily quantifiable – Eliminate useless answer Disadvantages – Must cover whole range – All should be equally likely – Don’t get interesting, “different” reactions Restricting set of choices Quantifiable

Many forms of response Dichotomous Multiple Choice Multiple Response Rank/Match Likert Rating

Questionnaire Styles LaTeX FrameMaker WordPerfect Word Rank from 1 - Very helpful 2 - Ambivalent 3 - Not helpful 0 - Unused ___ Tutorial ___ On-line help ___ Documentation Which word processing systems do you use?

Likert-type scale Typical scale uses 5, 7 or 9 choices Above that is hard to discern Doing an odd number gives the neutral choice in the middle You may not want to give a neutral option Characters on screen were: hard to read easy to read

1. What is your age? _______________ 2. How long have you used the internet? <1 year 1-3 years 3-5 years >5 years 3. How do you get information about courses? Web site Flyers Registration booklet Advisor Other students 4. How useful is the Internet in getting information about courses? ___________________________________________________________ What’s wrong with this picture?

On line questionnaires or internet Change checkboxes into dropdowns, etc Take advantage of the technology – check input Ensure its as accessible as paper (browser and client compatibility) Ensure confidentiality – how is this different from paper?

Free Web Survey Tools Survey Monkey – Survey Share – phpESP – – Open Source surveys using PHP.

Analyzing your quantitative data “Code” open ended responses or interview questions to make quantitative – Categorize all responses Look for trends in the data – Count, average, tabulate – Make charts, etc – Run statistical analysis – Use lo-fi methods (post-its, affinity diagrams, etc)

Analyzing qualitative data Find interesting cases, responses Look for patterns of responses – Use post-its, affinity diagrams, etc. Look for any useful suggestions, improvements, explanations that help you improve your design Gather illustrative quotes from users that demonstrate your conclusions

Evaluation discussion Someone else should be able to pick up your plan and execute it. Be as SPECIFIC as possible – What criteria are important? – What tasks EXACTLY? – What data? How will you record? – What questions will you ask?