Stop 03 · User Research & DiscoveryTopics · 1/12

User Interviews

In short

Asking people 'would you use this?' gets you polite lies. Asking 'tell me about the last time you...' gets you the truth. That one switch is most of interviewing.

One-on-one conversations designed to understand a user's real behavior and motivations — done well by asking about past behavior, not hypothetical future preferences.

The jaadu, dressed as a doctor, listens carefully and takes notes while an elderly man talks.

Think of it like this

A doctor taking your history

A good doctor doesn't ask 'would you like medicine?'. They ask when the pain started, what you ate, what you tried. Real past details lead to the right diagnosis. Interviews work the same way.

Watch it happen

Digging into a real story

Interviewer

Participant

Last time you paid rent?

1/6Start with a specific past event, not an opinion. Memories of real events are far more reliable.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Ask about the past

Past behaviour is evidence. 'Would you...' questions about the future get hopeful guesses.

Talk less, listen more

Aim for the participant speaking most of the time. Silence feels awkward but often brings the best details.

No leading questions

'Don't you find it annoying?' pushes an answer. 'How did that feel?' lets them decide.

A handful per group

A small number of interviews per user group, often 5 to 8, usually shows the main patterns. Stop when you hear repeats.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Pitching your idea and asking if they like it.

Do this instead

Keep your idea out of the interview. Learn about their problem first; test ideas separately.

Oops

Only interviewing friends who will be kind.

Do this instead

Recruit people who actually have the problem, ideally strangers. Friends soften the truth.

Your mission

Run one real interview

~40 min

Quick check

Which question is most likely to give you reliable insight?

Go deeper

1Write 8-10 open-ended questions for a product you're curious about.
2Practice the 'five whys' technique to dig past a surface-level answer.
3Avoid leading questions like 'wouldn't it be great if...' — they bias the answer.