• Introduction
• Thesis   
  • Personal Design Research definition
  • Human Centered Design Research
  • Thesis goals
  • Work completed
• Project and Methods   
  • Introduction
  • Pre-research   
    • Bounding terms
    • Exploration of terms
  • Recruiting  
    • Overview
    • Process
    • Screening for ambivalence
  • Probes  
    • Overview
    • Evocative probes
    • Blank probes
    • Cameras
    • Distribution
  • Interviews  
    • Overview
    • Teams
    • Spaces
    • Photography
  • Analysis  
    • Approaches
    • Content based
    • Reflections
  • Findings  
    • Overview
    • Reflections
  • Outcomes
• Conclusion

Project and
Methods:
Interview:
Teams:

Interviewer, note-taker, videographer

When conducting interviews it is best to send a team of thee people or, for specific reasons, more. The team should be composed of an interviewer who asks the questions as well as acting as the contact person with the participant, orchestrating the interview and related activities. Their responsibility is to ensure the participant is engaged and the research goals are being met. There should be a note taker who has a copy of the questions, is taking detailed notes, is keeping track of the time, and monitoring any audio equipment used. The note taker is responsible for creating notes that can be used in lieu of a transcription or while one is being made, also for monitoring the time and helping the interviewer pace is session. This person should also be noting body language, interesting answers, and possible follow up questions for later. The third person is responsible for video recording the entire visit. While it is necessary to record the interview on video it is also desirable to record the more candid periods before and after. The videographer's only responsibility should be ensuring the highest quality record of the interview is captured. It is tempting to think of the video recording as just setting up the camera and letting it run, and therefore tempting to not bring a third person dedicated to doing it. However, setting up the equipment well is hard to begin with, and audio conditions change, lighting conditions change, people move, equipment malfunctions, and batteries wear down.

In Women Who Play, six of the nine interviews where conducted without a dedicated video team member. Those recordings are all of much lower quality then the three that had a dedicated camera operator. The six interviews without an operator were also made harder by the interviewer or note taker having to step out of their roles to set up the camera. It may be tempting to not video record the interview or to not be concerned with the quality of the recording. Especially if the research has no intention to use interview material in a filmic way. There are three reasons for recording the interviews well. You will always respond to the video differently than the transcript, so both are necessary. You never know what you may wish to do the video at a later time, so having the best quality video is good insurance. Finally, producing a good interview video is within the purview of design, as such it should be done as well as possible.

In Blux, four member teams were sent to each home. The fourth member interviewed the child's parent while the other three interviewed their son. In the current Super Studio year a fourth member of the team took still photographs or ran a second video camera  during the interviews. If the fourth team member has a specific task they can be a welcome addition, otherwise the team should be kept small so as to not become to overwhelming to the participants.

<<previous next>>