Discovery Concept Guide

Plan & Visualize

HCD Discovery Cycle illustration with everything except the Before bubble grayed out. Inside the bubble labeled "Before", four squares are labeled "1. Brief", "2. Frame", "3. Recruit", and "4. Plan".

Plan the Interview

Prepare to Research

Materials

Prior to the research session, review your project brief and “How Might We” question. Review participants names, titles, and any background information you may have.

All participants must be given the opportunity to provide their official consent-to-participate in the research project. They also must be given the opportunity to withdraw from the study. Different kinds of research may require different kinds of information disclosure and participant consent. Standard consent forms are one to two pages. Page one will cover project details. Page two will cover permissions to document the interview and participant signature. A blank copy of a ‘page 2’ can be found on page 33 of this guide. You can create your own or use this one.

Mentally Prepare

Reflect on the following key HCD beliefs before you begin the interviews:

  1. The participant is the expert in their own experience. We want to observe and listen to them so as to understand their experience.
  2. The insights of participant are facts as they believe them to be. There are no wrong answers in the interview.
  3. We approach the participant ready to hear their story and their perspective. Before the interview, we check at the door our own assumptions and internal biases.
  4. We are mentally present and focused in the moment and on the participant.

Visualizing an HCD Interview

Illustration of an interview arc. Time is on the x axis; energy and emotion are indicated by the y axis. The steps move along a timeline in the following order: Introduce yourself, Introduce the project, Build rapport, Evoke stories, Explore emotions, Question statements, Thank you and Wrap up. The energy of the interview line starts to increase at Build Rapport and peaks at Explore emotions. It quickly returns to normal energy level in time for Thank you and Wrap up.

This diagram is a visual representation of the path of a typical HCD discovery interview. We invite you to use it as a guide for planning your own interviews, if you find it helpful. It is adapted from adapted from work from Stanford’s d.School and represents a path you may follow when conducting an interview.