Complete firstResearch Goalsnot in catalog
One to three concrete research questions are formulated and aligned with stakeholders.
Without: Without clear questions, conversations become casual chat and insights are not actionable.
RunsheetUX Research
User Interviews
ComplexityLow
Time30-60 min je Session
Participants5-12
FormatWorkshop + async
MaturityCanonical
01
Prerequisite
What needs to be finished first
Complete firstParticipant recruitingnot in catalog
At least 5 suitable participants from the target group are recruited, with appointment, incentive, and consent.
Without: Without suitable participants, heard reality is distorted and insights apply to the wrong target group.
02
Preparation
What needs to be ready before start
Materials
Interview guide (semi-structured, 6-10 open main questions plus probes); recording tool with consent; notes template or live note-taker; calibration pilot completed.
People / roles
One interviewer as lead; one note-taker (can be same person if recorded); optional second observer for synthesis; recruiter for scheduling.
Pre-read
Research questions; hypotheses or assumptions to test; participant demographics and background; known sensitive topics.
Time needed
30-60 min per session, plus 2-4 h synthesis after all sessions
Setup
Guide in funnel structure: warm-up, context, main themes, deepening, closing. 5 participants for first saturation threshold, max 12-15 for affordable insight. Written recording consent upfront. Pilot with 1 person to refine guide.
03
Core question
The one question this method answers
How do users behave in real situations, which motives drive them, and which pain points should shape discovery or design decisions?
04
Flow
Marker: Phase
| Step | Duration | Action | Hint |
|---|---|---|---|
1Phase 1: Guide pilot | 1-2 h preparation + 1 pilot interview | Check guide against hypotheses. Run pilot interview with 1 target-group person or proxy. Rephrase or remove questions that do not work. | Skipping pilot costs data quality later. At least one practice iteration, otherwise the first real interviews teach the interviewer at the expense of insights. |
2Phase 2: Conduct interviews | 30-60 min per session | Warm-up, context, 4-6 main questions with follow-ups, closing. Open questions, no leading questions. Probe interesting anecdotes. | Leading questions distort. Yes/no questions waste depth. If you already expect an answer, rephrase the question. |
3Phase 3: Condense notes immediately | 15-30 min after each interview | Directly after interview, add impressions, quotes, surprising moments. Create 3-5 key findings per session. | After 24 h much is forgotten. Immediate condensation is mandatory. Recording alone is not enough. |
4Phase 4: Synthesize all sessions | 2-4 h | Affinity mapping: put highlights on stickies, cluster into themes. Write one insight sentence per cluster with quote evidence. Check hypotheses: confirmed, refuted, open. | Without synthesis, interviews remain loose anecdotes. Synthesis is the actual insight work. |
5Phase 5: Share insights and act | 1-2 h | Create insight document or presentation with top-5 themes, each with quote evidence. Inform stakeholders. Define action idea per insight. | Insights without action fade. Named owner and next step per insight, otherwise interviews become research activity. |
05
Artifact
What comes out at the end
Form
Interview notes set, one file per session with date, participant code, key points, and quotes, plus synthesis document with top themes, insights, quote evidence, hypotheses, and follow-up actions.
Versioning / ownership
Own project folder per research round with date, research question, and sample description. Version insights with validated/refuted status. Explicitly reference previous insights in follow-up research.
Tool alternatives
- Notion or Confluence with template page per interview
- Dovetail or Condens for structured tagging synthesis
- Miro with affinity mapping board
- Google Docs with table and heatmap
- Aurelius or EnjoyHQ for research repository
user-interviews-working-template.md
Compact working template for User Interviews with context, input, output artifacts, and next step.
User Interviews Working Template
Goal
One-on-one conversations to understand user behavior, motivation, and context.
Context
When and for what do we use this method?
Input
Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?
Execution
Short notes along the runsheet.
Output artifacts
- Interview Notes:
- Themes:
- Insight Summary:
Assumptions and open questions
- ...
Decision / Next step
Owner, date, and success signal.
06
Example output
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
user-interviews-beispiel.md
Concrete filled scenario, fictional example
Research synthesis - Onboarding for solo tax advisors (CW 18/2026, n=7)
Research question: What drives solo tax advisors to test new accounting software, and which barriers stop the switch?
Top themes
Theme 1: Trigger is always concrete pain, never innovation
- 6/7 switched after data loss, price increase, or critical bug
- Quote (P3): "I only tested DATEV Online after the old software ate my receipts for the whole quarter."
- Implication: focus marketing on trigger moments, not abstract benefits
Theme 2: The 30-minute test decides
- 7/7 test software first, then read docs. If no aha moment after 30 min, they uninstall
- Quote (P1): "If I have not booked my first receipt in half an hour, the app is gone."
- Implication: onboarding must enable first productive receipt within 30 min
Theme 3: DATEV export is sine qua non
- 7/7 named DATEV compatibility as mandatory
- Quote (P5): "Without DATEV export, I do not even need to look at your software."
- Implication: DATEV export as above-the-fold headline, not hidden in feature list
07
Pitfalls
Recognize symptoms and steer against them
Trap
Leading instead of open questions
Symptom
Questions contain expected answer.
What to do
Rephrase into open how/what/when questions. Follow yes/no answers with "Tell me more."
Trap
Confirmation bias in synthesis
Symptom
Insights suspiciously confirm what the team already believed.
What to do
Assign a devil's advocate during synthesis who actively searches for refutations. Capture quotes even when uncomfortable.
Trap
Wrong target group recruited
Symptom
Participants come from convenience sample and do not represent target group.
What to do
Apply recruiting filters strictly: demographics, behavior, tool stack. Use external recruiters for hard-to-reach groups.
Trap
Too many interviews without synthesis
Symptom
15 interviews conducted, synthesis postponed, notes are forgotten.
What to do
Synthesize iteratively every 3-5 interviews. Check saturation and stop when no new themes appear.
Trap
Recording instead of notes
Symptom
Team relies on recording, notes are poor, synthesis becomes hard.
What to do
Live notes plus recording. Add highlights directly after interview while impressions are fresh.
08
Stop criteria
Done signals checkable in under a minute
Research questions are not formulated, interviews drift without focus.
Suitable participants cannot be recruited, sample bias guaranteed.
Interviewer lacks qualitative-method experience, leading questions dominate.
No time for synthesis after sessions, interviews remain anecdotes.
Stakeholder wants quantitative claims, method does not fit.
Topics are highly sensitive without ethical setup, risk too high.
Finished the runsheet?
Go to the profile for purpose, similar methods, and sources or continue to the next method in the catalog.