a guide to interviewing techniques

1
a guide tointerviewing techniques
summary of chapter 5 section 2 in architectural
programming and predesign manager
2
interviewing the most frequently used method for
gathering information in architectural programming

• Goals and objectives of the interview
• primary goal is to discover the reasons as to why
  a new facility is needed.
• opportunity to discover the values and goals of
  the client.
• discover requirements for the first phase of
  development as well as potential future growth
• discuss the clients aesthetic intentions

3
planning the interview

• defining the whole problem
• natural categories
• sampling plan
• logistics
• priming
• documentation
• analysis

4
defining the whole problem

• important for interviewer to remember various
  value areas that may influence the design, so as
  to use them as a base line during the interview
• interviewer will receive 5 types of programmatic
  information from interviewee values, goals,
  facts needs and ideas.

5
sampling plan (persons, places, times)

• determine who should be interviewed
• those who will be using the facility
• in a commercial setting it is good to get an
  organizational chart to identify key officers,
  department heads, and other persons who are
  likely to be knowledgeable about our have the
  authority to make decisions regarding facility
  needs. A sampling plan may be necessary if
  there are to many people to interview. This is
  where one representative of each category is
  interviewed
• identify users and visitors who are not part of
  the organization, but will be using the facility
• group interviews are more time efficient because
  they can accommodate a group of people with
  similar interests at once however, they tend to
  have one or two dominate members who may not be
  providing the most valuable information

6
logistics
1st interview should not last longer than 1
hour 1. determine the key issues that are of
prime importance to the interviewee.
including values goals needs key ideas
for reorganization 2. it is more productive to
determine all the values and goals of the
different participants before attempting to
obtain all of the factual information and
specific needs 3. Interviewing fatigue is a
reality - people will loose interest if it
takes to long. 1st interview is to establish a
framework for later more direct research. this
research may involve focused interviews to
obtain more factual information.

7
logistics
efficiencies in approach interviewing most
effective method to obtain values of owners,
users and clients client work sessions most
effective for establishing needs (what an
interviewee may express as needs may be
personal ideals, wants or wishes that are not
necessary to satisfy the purpose for the
organization.) literature based research most
efficient for determining facts

8
priming
providing the person to be interviewed some
advanced notice of what is to be accomplished in
the interview (broad categories to be
discussed) the purposes of the
organization how a department or position
supports those purposes key values or design
issues specific goals that could be better met
with improved facilities constraints that must
be considered important performance or design
requirements.

9
documentation
have a systematic way of recording the
information for easy retrieval and analysis
during the programming phase. (a systematic
approach is the best way of making sure that the
results are not biased) Information obtained
from an interview tends to have less structure
than other more quantitative forms of information
gathering regardless of the method of
recording techniques for recording identify who
when and where at the top of the sheet list all
the issues that the programmer whishes to cover
at the top of the page. do not structure the
interview form with specific questions on each
page with a limited amount of space to record
each answer this does not allow for
flexibility in the interview.

10
analysis
the analysis of the results can be difficult as
each respondent is likely to have brought up
different values and issues. it should be
expected that persons with different
responsibilities in an organization will have
different values and goals. it is helpful to use
a matrix format to organize the information
obtained.

11
analysis

12
analysis

13
conclusion

14
interviewing process
introduction appraisal time spent actively
listening should consume 90
to 95 of the time diagnosis when the
interviewer attempts to interpret and summarize
the concerns of the interviewee recording when
a diagnostic summary has been affirmed by the
interviewee it is time to recorded the
diagnosis review verbal summary by the
interviewer of everything that has been
recorded. (serves as a time for the interviewer
to determine if all the programming categories
have been discussed.)

15
interviewing skills

16
active listening skills
acceptance attitude - conveys respect for the
worth of the interviewee technique - involves
both verbal and non verbal responses verbal
uh-huh, and yes go on non verbal facial
expressions and nodding, tone of voice, and
posture reflection the restatement of
paraphrasing of the interviewees comment.
adding nothing to what has been said, but is
distilling the essence of a more lengthy
discourse.

17
management skills
clarification seeking additional information to
clear up confusion or a misunderstanding amplific
ation if you are not getting enough information
it might be necessary to introduce some
additional verbal probes to obtain the needed
information. this could include questions or
statements such as could you tell me more
about that? what else? redirection if
conversation has gone off topic it may be
necessary redirect the conversation and to
gently remind the interviewee that there is
limited time

18
diagnostic skills
interpretation once the interview reaches the
stage where the interviewer feels that an
important point has been made, then it is time
to offer an interpretation in terms of values,
goals, facts, needs or ideas. summary after
one of the issues or focus areas has been
completely discussed and several diagnostic
interpretations made, it is well to
recapitulate, to condense, and to crystallize
the essence of what the interviewee has said.
this will help to close out a phase of the
interview of possibly to stimulate the
interviewee to bring up additional
thoughts.

19
interesting techniques for gathering information
from the user

20
activities taken from the ideo method cards
camera journal how ask potential users to keep
a written and visual diary of their impressions,
circumstances, and activities related to the
product. why this rich, self-conducted notation
technique is useful for prompting users to reveal
points of view and patterns of behavior.
card sort how on separate cards, name possible
feature, functions, or design attributes. ask
people to organize the cards spatially, in ways
that make sense to them. why this helps to
expose peoples mental models of a device or
system. their organization reveals expectations
and priorities about the intended functions.

narration how as they perform a process or
execute a specific task, ask participants to
describe aloud what they are thinking. why this
is a useful way to reach users motivations,
concerns, perceptions, and reasoning.
five whys how ask why? questions in response
to five consecutive answers. why this exercise
forces people to examine and express the
underlying reasons for their behavior and
attitudes.