(This article is about handy tips. If you need a step-by-step guide to doing qualitative user research, you can find everything here.)
If you’ve stumbled upon this piece of writing because you identified with “introvert” in the title, welcome, my fellow social-energy-deficient UXers. I feel you. I am a classic introvert, but also a UX designer/researcher so I get to interview people frequently. I have picked up a few tricks to help me through it and I hope some of the tips below can help you too.
So without further ado, let’s get straight into it.
Space out your sessions according to your social battery (if possible) Your social battery (ie. how much time/energy you can spend interacting with people) expands as you practice, so start at a comfortable schedule and work your way up. For instance, in my first user testing sprint, I had 1–2 sessions daily, and by the end of the day I was completely overwhelmed. It’s been a few months since that and I recently finished a 3-day sprint with 4 sessions daily, and only at the end of the third day did I feel overwhelmed. It is a process. Don’t beat yourself up. It gets better with practice, just like everything else. Study, learn, improve.
Keep a read-along script ready It can feel silly to write the exact words that you want to be speaking, but it is better to have a template that you follow. Whether or not you follow it exactly is irrelevant, but having something to fall back on in case your brain freezes at the moment is helpful. It is better to have and not need than to need and not have. At the very least, have the starting and the ending down. The way you start sets the tone for the session and if that goes well, it helps you stay comfortable and focused. The end is pretty much the same so it just saves precious brain juice. For instance, — (start) “Hi (user), thank you for joining the session. I’m (your name) from (company) and I’m a UX designer/researcher. Today we’ll be looking at (your agenda) in this session. Today’s session will be in 3 parts. In the first part, I have a few questions for you, just to get to know you better. In the second part, I’ll ask you to do a few tasks. For this part, you’ll also need to share your screen. Let me know if you need any help with that. And part three is for any doubts, feedback, questions, or anything that you might want to say to me. This is not a test, there are no right or wrong answers, so don’t worry about being correct or helpful in any way. Just do whatever comes naturally. Any questions so far? (yes — answer the query; no — “okay then we can start the recording if that’s alright with you” ) Alright, then the first question I have for you is…” (end) “thank you so much for your time. It was great talking to you. Bye bye! Have a good day.”
Do a pilot test (or two) No script or guide is ever perfect in the first draft. It is always helpful to have 1–2 people from your team or friends to test your script with. If you’re pressed for time, just go over the script as you would in the session and see if there are any abrupt changes in the flow. Try to make it as smooth as possible, because then it won’t get awkward later on. And we don’t like awkward situations, do we?
Have a very simplified flow of the script in sight As the session goes on, the pressure and instinct to just end the call keep increasing. That means that I’d be more likely to ask follow-up questions in the first half of the session than in the second half. I like to keep a kind of flowchart/mindmap on my desk, so I don’t skip over items or get too far away from the agenda of the test. We can’t lose out on the data we need, so having a quick checklist of things I need to cover is a reliable way of making sure we get all that we set out for.
Keep your list of hypotheses handy Every research starts with a hypotheses, and that acts as the north star for the particular study. Just like the flowchart (point 4), having a refresher list of the goals, premise, and hypothesis of my study around can help. Go over the list whenever you feel like your brain is overwhelmed by all the data you’ve been collecting, and it will set you right back up. It could also help you avoid jumping to conclusions because the hypothesis is written from a point of curiosity and that is a big reset button.
Narrow down a few general catchphrases User tests should be as unbiased as possible. Leading questions or unintentional positive/negative feedback can “contaminate” the data. It’s good to have a few phrases that are neutral, can work in different situations, and most importantly, you’re comfortable saying. This way the chances of introducing unintentional bias into the study get reduced, and also the awkwardness. Here are some of my favourites: Mhmm What do you think? I’m not allowed to help you with this, but please go on. Can we try to explore this a little more? How would you do this if you were by yourself? Can you explain to me what you understand from this? What do you see?
“Act” like a neutral interface You don’t want to scare or confuse the user (because their behaviour could change under pressure), and yet you don’t want them to be too comfortable that they consciously change their behaviour to make you happy (positive bias). Be congenial yet formal. Stick to the script yet don’t sound robotic. Take off the pressure yet don’t. Real simple. It is a tricky situation in general, but for introverts, it becomes even more difficult. People-pleasing is a habit introverts can easily pick up, just to avoid confrontation. It helps to think that you will be actively harming your study if you try to be very “friendly” with the participants. As long as you’re not rude, it’s all cool. Nobody will be offended. Really. I used to watch nng videos and then act like I’m Therese Fessenden or Sarah Gibbons or Kate Moran (I’m a fan if you couldn’t already tell) in the session. I still do that whenever I’m not feeling confident as myself, and it always helps.
Transcribe your sessions afterwards An hour-long interaction could easily be exhausting. It makes sense then to just focus all your energy on the session and transcribe the recording later. Of course, by now we know that multitasking is not a great way to work either. Write down any observations you make at the moment in short but it’s better to not divide your attention during the session.
And that was it for now. I hope this makes sense and can help my introverted UX brethren even a little bit. What are some of your hacks for it? I’d love to know.
Happy researching!
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