Reflection
In this module we were asked to plan and carry out a contextual interview with one of our peers based around photography. The purpose of this was to experience a design research method which we can use in the future to gather data on clients and to improve our design. Due to this module I have gained valuable skills in video editing. However, throughout this process I found that it was harder than I had first anticipated. I often ran into trouble when it came to meeting my idea of how the interview would turn out. In reflection I realise that the problems I faced were down to human error not mechanical. For example, I felt that the questions that I had written for my interview didn’t quite trigger as thought-provoking answers as I would have hoped. Many of my questions led to merely one word or in fact very dull answers. To prevent this in the future I would test my interview questions on my peers before I use them in an interview. I would also try not to assume what the answers would be. I would sometimes find myself interrupting when my interviewee was thinking of an answer and I feel this may have affected their answers. However, I still managed to receive some good answers from my interviewee which enabled me to draw various insights into what he was saying.
Insights
The first insight I gathered was that the interviewee seemed to lack the self-confidence to post images of himself on social media. He admitted that he did use social media, but spent the majority of his time consuming content rather than creating his own. This is a common theme seen amongst my peers and seems to be becoming even more prevalent as social media’s influence continues to grow.
The Interviewee also commented that he spent too much time on social media. He admitted that this effected his relationships with those closest to him. Even though social media is such a good tool for connecting to others, the interviewee admitted that he never really experiences any meaningful or engaged conversations on social media, instead just sticking to informal chats.
He also made the statement that he would never take photos if his smartphone lacked a decent camera. I felt this in particular shows the influence our phones have on people our age and how convenient having a camera in our pocket at all times has become. People don’t take photos as a way of capturing memories, they do it just because they can. If it takes more effort to take photos, they wouldn’t taking any.
Another insight I made was that the interviewee’s use of photography and social seemed to have changed as he aged. As he has gotten older his use of social media has become more and more introverted, and his use of photography has become rarer and rarer. As the interviewee has matured his use of the platforms has matured as well and he now limits his postings as well as his photo taking. This can again be related to the idea of diminishing self confidence in a digital age.
My participant also seems to cherish photos of his loved ones and those close to him and feels these photos have more sentimental value to him than other photos he has taken, or is present in. This shows how photos can still hold real value to individuals even though photography has become easy and commonplace.
Personal Insight
As an avid social media user, I can relate to a lot of what my interview subject was saying. Personally, I prefer to consume content made by others on social media rather than post my own. When it comes to photography, I use it quite differently to that of my interviewee. While I never really use it socially, it is one of my hobbies. I enjoy taking photos of things I find interesting or odd, but I rarely upload these to social media. I do believe that even if my smartphone lacked a camera, I would still try to use photography regularly, perhaps even more so.
Much like my interviewee I feel that my use of social media as a platform has changed and matured as I’ve aged. When I was younger, I used to post quite frequently and now that I’m a bit older I rarely ever post to social media. This is also down to a lack in confidence. As social media becomes more prevalent it is easier to be faced with criticism online. This factor can affect the use of the platform for many people my age.
Why we use Contextual Interview?
The contextual Interview is an important part of contextual design. A contextual interview is an interview conducted within the context of use. Be it an environment that is related to the interview subject or comfortable for the interviewee, or questions that are specifically relevant to the participant. It is important for the interviewer to form a rapport with the interviewee in order to completely understand them and get as much information as they can. It’s likely that the interviewer will be able to extract better information if they gel with the participant personally.
Using information gathered from contextual interview allows the interviewer to better understand the data and draw insights from it in order to make better design decisions. Contextual interviews involve interviewing a participant when they are at their most comfortable. This may reveal more information and understanding that participants might not be aware of. This form of design research collects far more highly detailed information rather than the higher quantities of information gathered by other methods.
This method is also far more flexible than others and can be carried out in a variety of environments. Questions can also be adapted and changed as the conversation grows to allow for more personal and interesting dialogue.
While Contextual Interview is a very effective research technique it can be very time consuming and resource intensive for the interviewer. However, it is still a superior method of identifying the needs of a demographic. Traditionally contextual interviews are conducted on multiple participants to allow for the comparison of insights. In our case we were only conducting the interview on one participant so what we were doing wasn’t a true example of a contextual interview.
In reflection, I felt my interview was carried out in a contextual manner. The interview itself was carried out in a comfortable environment familiar to the participant – the University. Since I have been friends with the participant for a number of years it was easy to converse and make them feel comfortable. If I was to go back and change something it would be my failure to adapt some of my questions. I sometimes didn’t encourage the participant to expand on a topic once they had answered. As I have known him for years I felt as if I already knew this information. I neglected to think about how those watching the interview don’t share the same relationship with the participant as I do. I felt I missed out on valuable additional information which would have enabled me to develop more of an insight.