User interview study brief
Plan user interviews that uncover real past behavior and give the team evidence for a specific decision.
UX research and audits · 45 min · Advanced · 33 questions
Sampling and guide
What can interviews help us understand?
Which recent experience should participants have?
Which user roles can answer the interview question from experience?
How often should participants perform the behavior?
Which contrasting experiences should the sample include?
Which user segments should the sample include?
Which people who did not complete the behavior should be included?
Recruitment
What is the useful sample-size range?
Where will participants be recruited?
What evidence will tell us to stop recruiting?
Discussion guide
How will the interview open?
Which context should we understand before discussing an incident?
Which recent incident should participants recall?
How will we reconstruct what happened step by step?
Which real artifact could help the participant remember?
What happened because of the participant's decision?
Neutral facilitation
Which product language should the interviewer avoid?
Which assumptions must the interviewer avoid presenting as facts?
Which follow-up questions could lead the participant?
Consent and safety
How will participants consent to recording?
Will participants know who is observing?
How can an interview participant withdraw?
How will participant confidentiality be protected?
Which topics may be sensitive?
Which disclosure must be escalated?
Analysis
How will interview notes be organized?
Will interviews be transcribed?
How will observations be separated from interpretations?
How will interview evidence be coded?
Which cases contradict the main pattern?
Decision confidence
What decision should the interview study support?
When are new interviews no longer revealing important new patterns?
Which uncertainty will remain after the study?
How to use this brief
Use this brief as a bank of questions for the conversation. Choose what is relevant, mark covered questions as you go, and skip anything that has already been answered.
Use this brief when...
Use when you need to plan user interviews that uncover real past behavior and give the team evidence for a specific decision.
Best used as: Research plan
- Category
- UX research and audits
- Discussion time
- 45 minutes
- Depth
- Advanced
- Last updated
- Jul 21, 2026
- Scope
- Design briefs
- Best used as
- Research plan
- Design roles
- UX researcher
- Audience
- UX and UI designersProduct designersProduct managersDesign leads
- Platforms
- ResearchWebMobile
- Company type
- B2BB2CEnterprise
- Product stage
- DiscoveryGrowthMature product
- Tags
- ux-research-and-auditsuser-interview-studyresearch-and-evaluationgenerative-interviewsproblem-discovery