Semi-structured interviews are designed to take a deep dive into understanding the root cause of problems, the population impacted most and the desired outcomes. Interviews are additionally useful for identifying and capturing insights into issues that relate to current solutions, processes and systems.

In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer prepares questions ahead of time but can adjust their order, skip redundant ones, or create new questions during the interview based on the interviewee’s responses. This approach allows the interviewee to probe for further detail and uncover insights. Semi-structured interviews are typically open-ended, allowing for exploration and discovery while still enabling comparisons between different participants.

Key Considerations when framing and designing your question set.

• As part of this process, you will need to identify and decide who is most important to talk to first. This is addressed as part of the Stakeholder Mapping and Prioritisation activity.

• Clearly identify why you are undertaking the interview. What is the purpose? what information or ‘observed needs’ do you need to validate? What job-to-be-done, or aspect of the job do you need to understand more clearly? 

• Carefully consider your opening question. This needs to be well-articulated and compelling, as we want them to open up and share their experiences. 

• When preparing your exploratory question set, consider the sequence of the questions.

• Use the same question set for each customer segment for consistency. This is to enable you to compare answers and start identifying patterns as they emerge in their various responses.  

• Consider the language you use when asking questions - What you say and how you say it – making it appropriate to who you are talking to whether they are a consumer, distributor or manufacturer or in relation to the sector they are in. 

• Establish and build a rapport with your interviewee. Make the person being interviewed feel at ease and open enough to talk and not become pressurised, defensive, or concerned about what they are saying during conversation. Your ability to get useful information from your interviews also will hinge on your ability to establish a good rapport. 

Note: Don’t forget to add your interview data responses and / or analysis to your Need Statement as ‘evidence’.