Structured, one-on-one interviews help researchers learn about users’ attitudes and beliefs surrounding a website or application and specific tasks that the website or application supports.
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In order to prevent the researcher from introducing bias and to ensure that every participant is asked the same questions, the researcher prepares a Discussion Guide, which is a list of questions that will be asked of participants in a particular order. As the researcher asks questions, he or she may decide to ask probing follow-up questions to gain more clarity about how a task is performed and how a participant feels about it. Although the researcher can ask questions about equipment, tools, people, and procedures involved in a task, the participant is likely to answer the question based on the way a task “should” be completed, and not necessarily how it is completed on a regular basis. It is often best to first observe users in their natural work environment, and then use a one-on-one interview to follow up the observation and clarify what was witnessed.