Interviews

What Is It

An interview is a structured but flexible conversation designed to understand how people think, feel, and make sense of their experiences. Unlike a survey, it doesn't force answers into pre-set categories—it follows where responses lead. The goal is discovery: surfacing the meaning behind behavior, not just the behavior itself.

When to Use It

You need to understand the ‘why’ behind a behavior, not just whether it occurs
You’re exploring a new problem space and don’t yet know what questions matter most
Survey data exists but lacks context to be actionable
You want to capture how experiences or decisions have changed over time

What You'll Learn

How people construct meaning from experience; the gap between stated preferences and actual behavior; the social, emotional, and historical context shaping decisions. Because you can probe in the moment, you can chase the unexpected finding rather than miss it.

How to Run It

Build the Guide

Work backward from outcomes to questions. Structure chronologically from past to present. Move from concrete to interpretive. Keep questions open-ended and neutral. Run a practice session before fielding it.

Conduct

Build rapport early and establish the expectation of detailed responses. Probe for concrete specifics rather than generalizations (“Can you tell me about a time when…?”). Repeat back part of a statement to invite elaboration rather than filling in the blanks yourself. Treat silences as productive.

Analyze

Use the guide structure to compare responses across participants. Get an AI first pass at themes and key quotes per section, then check it against your direct experience of the interview.

Artifacts

Interview guide with nested question sets, follow-ups, and probes
Screener, consent, and recording release
Post-interview memo (impressions, setting, key moments, emerging insights)

Watch Out For

Leading questions

Any wording that implies a preferred answer. Instead, try “Some people say x, others say y. What about you?”

Binary and double-barreled questions

One open question at a time.

Skipping probes

A vague answer is the start of the conversation, not the end.