It's Your Turn!
We often take the things that happen around us every day for granted. The goal of this activity is to get out into the world and observe behaviors in action.
You're working on an app around coffee* ☕️ and your company has sent you out to conduct design research. For the first step, you will need to complete two interviews: one with a coffee drinker in their home (for this exercise, it is OK to interview a friend or family member as long as it is not where you live) and one coffee drinker at a café or coffee shop.
You will need to develop a list of preliminary questions you want to ask before the interviews. You do not need to have a typed transcript for these interviews, but you need to submit your field notes from your interview and observations. Note the date, time, location, and interviewee at the top of the page. You also should take notes about the products/brands the interviewee uses, the setting, and the environment. Remember, your goal is to learn about the habits of coffee drinkers. Try to write down any quotes they say. Finally, write a two-paragraph reflection about your experience and the challenges you encountered.
At the end, you should have:
A list of interview questions (initial list, as well as notes on additional questions you asked, or would ask in the future).
Field notes from both interviews (scan or photo) – It's OK if your handwriting is bad, the purpose is to show your work.
Reflection paragraphs (1 page max).
Double-check that you have included the following information:
The questions were relevant.
There were open-ended questions.
There were no leading questions.
The location was relevant to the subject matter (café, coffee shop, teahouse, home).
The interviewer was in the field (not online, for example).
Specific observations about the environment were noted.
