Question wording is important

In my corporate UXR training today we’ll cover the key components of successful UX research interviews, how to evaluate a user research interview, and how to set participants, stakeholders and moderators up for success.

Then we focus on asking the right questions. Participant questions are different from research questions. Here are some participant question best practices:

• Only ask questions pertinent to the research goals

• Only include questions that are actionable

• Pose open-ended questions to dig deeper, closed-ended questions to affirm or confirm

• Identify and avoid leading questions, questions that contain bias

• Remove any industry jargon or acronyms

• Eliminate any unnecessary words

• Phrase questions in layman terms

• Only ask one question at a time

• Pause after you ask a question

• Pause again after you hear an initial response

Pro Tip: Layout your study's goals in a chart and list each participant question underneath each goal to ensure alignment.

• Evaluate whether you have the right proportion of questions to support each goal.

• Determine outliers and remove them.

• Then pilot the session to identify where and how to improve the questions, their flow, and other aspects.