Will the shoe fit?

Collaborative / Individual

UX Research / UI Design

3rd Year - CAB210 Intro to User Experience Research

Say Method: Interview Moderation Guide

Introduction

Hi! How are you? How’s your day been so far? [Make some small talk, help them feel comfortable]

I’m [name] and I’m a student at Queensland University of Technology. I wanted to start by thanking you for taking the time to help us with our research today. This project is a group assignment and we’re researching people’s experiences of purchasing shoes. It will take approximately 30 minutes and I’ll just be asking some questions about the last time you bought shoes. Does that work for you?

Is it ok if I record our meeting today for note-taking purposes and reviewing with my team? We won’t be publishing it anywhere and any responses we use in our research will be anonymised. [Get verbal confirmation that it’s ok to record]

Excellent! Did you have any questions for me before we get started?

Opening questions

• Can you tell me about the last time you bought a pair of shoes?
  Possible Prompts:
  -What type of shoes did you buy?
  -When did you buy them?
  -How long did you spend searching?
  -What sites did you visit?
  -How did you decide on the pair of shoes you chose?
  [Clarify if online or offline]

• Why did you buy a new pair of shoes?

• What did you find enjoyable about the process?

• What did you find annoying about the process?

Fit Questions

• How does a pair of shoes that fits well feel? [How do you know if a shoe fits correctly?]

• Thinking about that last pair of shoes you bought, could you tell me how you worked out what size shoe to buy?

• Could you tell me about a time where you’ve had challenges finding the right shoe size?

• Could you tell me about a time when finding the right shoe size went smoothly?
  -If no: What about a piece of clothing you bought online where the fit went smoothly?

• Has there been a time when you realised a pair of shoes didn’t fit after you’d purchased them?
  -What did you do?
  -What did you feel about it?

If online:

• Thinking back to that last online shoe purchase, was there anything you were worried about anywhere in the process?

• How did you overcome that worry?

• Was there anything the online store did that made you feel more comfortable purchasing?

• How would you compare the experience of shopping for shoes online to the last time you purchased in person?

• What stores did you look at in addition to the store you purchased your shoes from?

  I’m conscious that we’re getting close to finishing our time so I’ll just ask one last question:

• Thinking about your experience of your last online purchase, how do you feel about buying shoes online again in the future?

If in person

• Thinking back to that last shoe purchase, was there anything you were worried about anywhere in the process?

• How did you overcome that worry?

• Was there anything the store did that made you feel more comfortable purchasing?
  
  I’m conscious that we’re getting close to finishing our time so I’ll just ask one last question:

• Have you ever experienced purchasing or looking for shoes online?
  -Yes Purchased: How would you compare the in-store experience to the online experience?
  -Yes Looked: What sort of information were you looking for online?

• Did you eventually purchase the same shoes in-person?
  -No: Is there any reason you’ve never looked online?

Wrap up

Are there any other questions you think I should have asked about this topic or anything you’d like to add?

Thank you again for your time and for helping us out with this research. I’ll stop recording now.

A lot of the processes in this subject were reasonably comfortable for me having conducted user interviews as part of my internship and the compiling of the workshop Make and Do methods being similar to lesson planning as a teacher. Conducting the usability testing was new to me and was challenging to edit down into a short summary video (not shared due to ethics).

I really enjoyed the aspect of working with a real world partner for this project. Through feedback sessions I was able to get a better understanding of their goals and also of who their target market was. After realising from feedback in the first assessment that the persona I had created wasn’t exactly the right match for their target audience I was able to course correct and recruit participants for usability testing who better matched their target audience. In doing so I was able to uncover insights that were more relevant to their product with the added validity of showcasing that these were problems faced by users who closely matched their target audience.