3 Steps for Bias-Free Interviews

Understand your users better

Photo by Matthieu Brajon on Unsplash

Understanding customers is an integral part of any entrepreneur's journey.

At times, you learn it by starting your own things. Other times you might collect feedback from those around you to understand their particular challenges.

It is tough building something.

We are all better at some areas than others and there is so much we don’t even know that we don’t know. That’s why I’m building Hustlemate to make the journey smoother for those who might not have time ( or frankly energy) to look into everything themselves.

In this article, let’s look at how to interview prospective customers or users. You want to get the most objective feedback so that you can improve your product.

Choose your words carefully

Use words that don’t lead the user in one direction or another. As a designer, you’re going to be partial to the designs you’ve created, and you’ll likely assume that users will appreciate them too.

When asking users questions about their experience using your product, you don’t want them to answer in a particular way just to please you.

Avoid leading words since these can cause the framing effect- where users make a decision or choice based on the way information was presented to them.

For example, imagine a participant is testing your designs. You ask the participant: “Do you like or dislike the improved layout of these buttons?” Because you used the word “improved,” the user will most likely reply positively.

But, this could be because the question is framed positively and hence you get a positive response.

Instead, if you ask: “Explain how you feel about the XXX.”, the users will give their own conclusions without any outside influence.

Foster independent thinking

It can be hard to avoid groupthink in group interviews- i.e going along with the group’s opinion instead of thinking creatively. This would discourage open discussion by people who have an opinion that doesn’t align with the majority of the group.

To combat this, ask the participants to write down or record their thoughts before discussing them as a group. You could also alternate with who starts the discussion and leave the most ‘ dominant ‘ person till the end when asking to share thoughts.

Avoid specific language

Be mindful of confirmation bias, which is the tendency to search for evidence that confirms your existing beliefs.

For example, online surveys are susceptible to this bias. Suppose you’re conducting an online survey with a significant number of participants. In that case, you may ask a question such as “How do you use our product?” with predetermined answer options that are worded in a particular way.

This approach forces the respondent to select an answer that doesn’t accurately reflect their experience if none of the provided options applies to them.

This would skew your research data and provides incorrect evidence to support your hypothesis.

Therefore, it’s essential to avoid leading questions that impose your beliefs on your users. Instead, focus on open-ended questions that allow respondents to express their thoughts and opinions freely.

Thanks for sticking to the end! Let me know what you think.

This is a work in progress and your feedback is SUPER important!