Method Overview
Expert Interview
The specialist perspective: Birds-eye view laying out the industry, potential competitors and common user challenges for you to further explore in user interviews or field observation.
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Exploratory – Explanatory Phase
Suggested Time
30min-1hr per interview (plus time for preparation), at least 3 interviews per question
Level of UX Expertise
Low to medium
Materials
Interview guideline or script, note taking and/or recording tools, data analysis tools
Participants
Interviewer, interviewer and notetaker
Nice to have
This method can be applied to all types of innovations.
What
Expert interviews are one-on-one questioning sessions with a few selected domain experts about a topic of interest to the user research.
How much time
Although the interview itself is one hour maximum, you should count with some days for developing the interview guide and organizing the results.
Who
Usually, the expert interview requires some more intimate space than the User Interview, so you would not take a whole team. As the interviewer you probably also assume notetaking.
Why
In contrast to User Interviews, expert interviews can give you a birds-eye perspective on the industry, existing services or common user challenges. They are an intense source of knowledge for your design process.
When
You use expert interviews when you work on complex problems and need context knowledge. The interview should take place as early as possible in your research phase (discovery phase/ exploratory research) or to summarize and confirm research results.
Why it’s useful
Important tool to gather context knowledge and an overview on questions to deepen in user interviews Quick and easy way to gather user data
Potential challenges
Beware of biases in your data: human memory and issues of class, gender or other social structures are determining the accuracy and scope of the information you can collect
Is this for you?
Get step-by-step guidance, expert tips and best practice examples for planning and conducting insightful Expert Interviews.
Emmanuel Zapata - Digital Agriculture and HCD, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Image by Emmanuel Zapata
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