HS328 Interview Experts and Users
TECH
Low-tech
CHALLENGE
Simple
TIME
1 session (half-day)
TEAM SIZE
1 or 2
About
You can learn about your design topic by interviewing an expert or a user by telephone. An expert is someone with deep knowledge or experience of a subject. They may have studied the subject at university or other institute, or they may have many years of experience on the subject. A user is a person who uses the product or service that you are designing. A user does not have as much knowledge and experience as an expert, but their opinions are important because they can tell you what it is like to use the thing that you are designing. First, you must find an expert or user for your design topic. It should be easier to find users than experts. For example, you can easily find someone who goes camping, if you are designing a camping utensils set. Or, you can find a gamer without difficulty, if you are designing a gaming station. But, it will be harder to find experts. Maybe someone that you know is an expert on the design topic, or you might find an expert working at a company, it depends on the design topic. It may be quite difficult to find an expert if you are designing a planetary rover, for example, because that is a specialised scientific topic.
What you need
- A telephone.
- A notepad and pen.
- A computer that is connected to the internet.
- One day or more to find and arrange an interview with an expert or a user.
How it’s done
- First, do Desk Research (III) to learn as much as you can about your design topic.
- Decide which questions that you have, that are suitable for an expert, and which questions are for a user.
- Ask your teacher, family, and friends for advice about where to find experts and users on the design topic.
- When you find an expert or user, ask them politely for a chance to interview them by telephone.
- Some people may refuse if they don’t have the time to be interviewed for a school project, or for some other reason. Don’t be disheartened, you can find someone else to interview instead.
- Before interviewing an expert or user, ask your teacher. Interview experts and users by telephone only.
- Interviewing an expert:
- Ask an expert, specific or technical questions that a normal user would not know the answer to.
- Interviewing a user:
- Ask the user questions about their experience using the design topic.
Tips
- Be respectful, take notes, and politely ask the user to explain anything that you don’t understand.
- Ask a user general questions about the design topic.
- What is their experience like using the product or service?
- Why do they use it?
- What do they think of it?
- What problems do they have when using it? And so forth.
- You may ask an open question like: “What is important for this design topic?” That way, the expert or user may talk freely about the topic, and you can learn a lot.
More handouts for students of Level III…
Read the next handout for Level III students (12 to 14 years old).