Writing better questions for moderated interviews

As one of the lead product designers at Delphia, I developed a series of guides to help our team with user research and discovery.

Map interview questions to research questions

After completing your research questions, you can begin mapping your interview questions. It is good practice to connect the questions you ask back to the goals of your research study.

✅ Do this

Research Question

What tools do young professionals use to keep track of their personal finances?

Interview Question

Walk me through the last time you tracked your personal finances.

❌ Not this

Research Question

What tools do young professionals use to keep track of their finances?

Interview Question

Walk me through the last time you bought a luxury item.

💡 Tip: Research questions should always differ from your interview questions. If you use your research question in an interview, it will often lead or bias answers as you present the participant your goals up-front.

Write open-ended interview questions that provoke story-telling

Open-ended questions are favoured in interviews to avoid limiting participants’ answers. We want to encourage users to story-tell so we can get richer context on their thoughts and behaviours. Yes/no questions can be used to jog the user’s memory, however simply using close-ended questions end the dialogue.

Good open-ended questions often give us more information than we anticipate as they often reveal information about mental models, behaviours, motivations, pains, etc.

✅ Do this

Explain how you prepare your annual personal budget.

❌ Not this

Do you prepare a budget every year?

💡 Tip: TEDW is a simple model and acronym of prompts you can use to begin writing open-ended questions.

  • Talk me through… or Tell me about…

  • Explain…

  • Describe…

  • Walk me through…

Ask questions that focus on past/present behaviours

If you want to learn about human behaviours, it’s important to know that it’s difficult for people to predict their future behaviour. Because of this, avoid asking hypothetical questions as it risks skewing or biasing answers.

Past behaviour is the best indication of future behaviour. Asking people to explain their past experiences will reveal more accurate information about what they will do in the future.

✅ Do this

Walk me through the last time you tracked your personal finances.

❌ Not this

If you had our new budgeting app, how do you think you’d track personal finances now?

Use plain, neutral language. Avoid bias and leading questions.

Always use plain, neutral language when writing questions. The way you word a question needs to avoid skewing the tone either towards a positive or a negative response. Even descriptive words can introduce bias. Below are examples of the types of biases to look out for.

Confirmation Bias (”Cherry Picking”)

Seeking only data that confirms your beliefs. This often occurs when we are interpreting evidence. This may show up as ignoring other evidence that counters what we believe or only selecting ones that support our case.

Example: I have an assumption that young professionals don’t budget because it is a cumbersome, time-consuming process.

Participant says: I don’t always track my budget because I live at home so I’m not spending a lot right now, plus budgeting takes a lot of time.

✅ Do this

Objectively look at the full responses from other participants and identify patterns that both validate and invalidate your assumption.

❌ Not this

Only look for responses that validate my initial assumptions. Ignore or exclude findings that counter my assumption or belief.

In the example, our biases may cause us to ignore that not having significant expenses (e.g. rent, mortgage) may impact why a young professional budgets.

Leading Question: Framing Effect

People make a decision or form an opinion based on the way information is being presented, either positively or negatively. We want to avoid asking a question in a way that prompts a specific answer.

✅ Do this

How did you feel the last time you used our budgeting app?

❌ Not this

What did you like about our budgeting app?

💡 Tip: Always ask yourself: Am I only looking at the data that works in my favour?

Be prepared with follow-up questions

Conversation styles and answers may differ between participants. You may get participants who will go into detail with their stories and you may get those who give short one-word answers. Be prepared by writing out follow-up questions in your guide to dive deeper.

✅ Do this

Walk me through the first time you added your annual budget into the app.

  • How were you feeling?

  • Was this something you did alone or with another person?

  • Did you have any other websites or apps open?

Practice active listening

A good user interview is more than a good discussion guide. Interviews should feel like a conversation and this is done by practicing active listening.

Active listening is a skill that ensures that both you and the participant are engaged in the conversation.

✅ Do this

  • Listen attentively to a participant.

  • Understand what they're saying. You can ask clarifying questions if you’re unclear.

  • Respond and reflect on what's being said.

  • Retain the information for later. You can ask probing questions or refer back to answers they gave earlier on.