Interviewing Techniques

Liya,

Check out Mike Kuniavsky's book, "Observing the User Experience".

http://books.elsevier.com/us/mk/us/subindex.asp?isbn=1558609237&country=United+States&community=mk&ref=&mscssid=0192A4D46PVE8L4DX8R7B2TKB6PR8BJ6

He has some sections on interviewing and focus groups that would be
appropriate to your friend's needs.

Regards,
-Gerard

--
Gerard Torenvliet
g.torenvliet at gmail.com

For more traditional foundations of social science qualitative
research (which is where I got my background), check out:
The Ethnographic Interview - Spradley
Grounded Theory Methodology: An Overview - Strauss and Corbin

These books are about understanding cultures and frameworks without a
mention of software, but they're great for learning the art of asking
questions, building reciprocity in research relationships, and
analyzing mounds of qualitative data.

On 5/28/05, Ron Conescu <ron at conescu.com> wrote:
> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]
>
> liya zheng wrote:
> > if you know of any good resources for interviewing techniques
> > that IDs, HCI practitioners, or Usability people use, I would
> > appreciate some pointers.
>
>
> I thought this book was terrific:
>
> Contextual Design
> Hugh Beyer & Karen Holtzblatt
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1558604111/
>
> It provides specific techniques for interviewing, and a rich set of ways
> to analyze the interviews after the fact.
>
> ron
> _______________________________________________
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Also see Larry Wood's article on ethnographic interviewing techniques at
http://www.byu.edu/~woodl/paper.htm .

Ted Boren

>>> "Meara NI" <mearani at aston.ac.uk> 5/29/2005 2:23:39 PM >>>

[Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]

Liya Zheng wrote:
> ... if you know of any good resources for interviewing techniques
> that IDs, HCI practitioners, or Usability people use, I would appreciate
> some pointers.

Hi Liya,

Here's a quick list of some resources that I've found useful for improving my
face-to-face research.

Top of the list:

'The Ethnographic Interview' by James Spradley
<
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0030444969/qid=1117122513/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl/202-3878625-5409466
<https://persephone.aston.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0030444969/qid=1117122513/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl/202-3878625-5409466>
>

Excellent! Broken down into chapters that deal with specific aspects of
interviewing allowing you to steadily build your skills and confidence.

And in a similar vein, a great book on wider research methods is

'Field Projects in Anthropology' by Julia Crane and Michael Angrosino
<
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0881336858/qid=1117182818/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-3878625-5409466
<https://persephone.aston.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0881336858/qid=1117182818/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-3878625-5409466>
>

This includes a chapter on interviewing, but also covers map-making,
participant observation, personal documentation and taking photographs.

Also might be worth checking out a couple of online essays from Mike Kuniavsky

* Nondirected Interviews: How to Get More Out of Your Research Questions
< http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000041.php
<https://persephone.aston.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000041.php>
>

* Face to Face With Your Users: Running a Nondirected Interview
< http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000081.php
<https://persephone.aston.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000081.php>
>

and as Gerard mentioned there's a chapter in his book 'Observing the User
Experience' on recruiting and interviewing.

Mike's book also has some useful information on contextual inquiry, but I'd say
the definitive sources are

* 'Contextual Design' by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt
<
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558604111/qid=1117123476/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/202-3878625-5409466
<https://persephone.aston.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558604111/qid=1117123476/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/202-3878625-5409466>
>

* 'Rapid Contextual Design' by Jessamyn Wendell, Karen Holtzblatt and Shelley
Wood
<
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0123540518/qid=1117123476/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_3_2/202-3878625-5409466
<https://persephone.aston.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0123540518/qid=1117123476/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_3_2/202-3878625-5409466>
>

All of these have large bibliographies and reference sections too, so there's
plenty of scope for digging around for other useful sources.

I recently read an encouraging review of 'Understanding Your Users' by
Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter, which covers interviews, but haven't read it
myself.

<
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558609350/qid=1117397765/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-2616199-5655003
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558609350/qid=1117397765/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-2616199-5655003>
>

Cheers,

Nick.
........................................................
Nick Meara Information Systems, Aston University
Birmingham, UK

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