- Our challenge was to analyze our descriptive notes
from the previous challenge
and come up with some good follow up interview questions
to discover more about the layout of the store
and how it affects how people shop.
Here's how I went about this process.
First, I read through my notes
looking for general areas that need more clarification.
I asked you to come up with at least five.
Here are mine.
I want to establish some demographics.
Knowing age and background of each participant
will provide important contextual information
when we later look at behaviors and opinions.
Each participant moved through the store differently
and I'd like to try and learn more about why.
It seemed as though Participant A had a plan with a list,
and Participant B was either making it up as he went,
or maybe looking for inspiration.
Either way, one shopper seemed structured
and the other didn't.
And I'd like to know more about why.
Participant B purchased a lot of pre-made food products
from the in-store displays.
And I'm curious if he was enticed to buy these
because of their placement and display
or if this is a regular habit.
Participant A shopped with coupons.
And I'm curious how much sales and coupons
affect her shopping.
So, my next step was to take each observation
and quickly brainstorm a list
of questions I might ask to learn more about it.
Here are some questions that might help
me know more about each participant.
Their age can be an important comparison tool
for things like maturity and lifestyle.
How much they cook might tell me more
about why they purchase certain things.
And their income might tell me more
about how price affects their shopping routine.
Now I want to learn more about their process of shopping.
Whether they have a pre-set plan
or they like to get inspired based on what's present.
It might be also interesting to know
if they approach a shopping list
with a time constraint or not.
Here's a more specific question.
Do they have a shopping list?
This might tell me know more about
how the routine is built,
if they vary off the list at all,
and what effect product placement
and availability has on it.
I'd also like to know more
about the specialized displays
that showcase food products.
Did they convince people to buy something
they hadn't planned on?
Is price an important factor to consider?
This might tell a lot about product placement.
Here I'll follow up with a coupon observation
and try to learn more about how the price of products
and having coupons ready to use
affects how, and what, they purchase.
Our last step is to take these questions
and formulate them into an interview script.
A good place to start would be with the demographics.
A few simple questions to answer gets the interview rolling
and establishes a little bit of a connection.
I'm using closed-ended questions
to try to make the participant to feel more comfortable
answering them.
Now I left out my question about annual income
because it felt rather private.
And anyway, what I really want to know
is how much money they spend on groceries per week,
not what their salary is.
Next, I'm gonna try an open-ended question.
I have a series of probes ready
if the participant stalls out
or if they struggle to reply.
Now I'll follow up with another open-ended question
specific about the shopping process
and using a list.
Okay, so next I'll stay on that same path
and I'll ask about those specialized displays.
I'm careful here not to write a leading question
that might influence a particular reply.
Finally, I'll end with another easy question to answer.
At this point, my participant might be checked out.
So, you never want to end an interview
with something that's too important.
Don't forget to thank your participant
for helping you out.
So, that's all there is to it.
Keep your questions short and to the point.
Be prepared with some possible probes.
And give your questions a logical order
like we've done here.