FAQ
1. How did you choose your interview subjects?
2. Why isn’t there more diversity of people in your study?
3. What questions did you ask during interviews?
4. What was your interviewing strategy like?
5. What equipment did you use?
6. What did your informed consent document look like and how did you write it?
7. What kind of preparation did you have? Any test runs?
8. What was your approach with the photography?
1. How did you choose your interview subjects?
Because I knew only a few people in the area, my subjects consist of the people that were willing to participate in this project. I didn’t turn away anyone or select people based on any demographics, I simply worked with what I had and tried to contact and meet with as many people as possible. The interview subjects reflect the social networking that I was able to establish while I was in Seattle for 6 weeks. For a visual of these relationships please refer to the "Seattle Networking" page on the left.
2. Why isn’t there more diversity of people in your study?
The project didn’t include any specific selection process. The networking of who I interviewed developed naturally. The connection I had to most of the interview subjects came from previous interviews and I thought it a bit rude to ask my new acquaintances to refer me to specific demographics. Please refer to question 1.
3. What questions did you ask during interviews?
I believe that each interview should be a unique conversation but there is an important balance here as well. For every interview I had a document on my screen containing questions and reminders. There was a balance between making sure I touched on all the same points in each interview, and making sure that the interview and questions fit each interview. Here is the document I used:
Interview Question
To remember: How does a work environment affect a person’s satisfaction. How much is their satisfaction tied to their environment? How does the workspace or environment affect their attitude towards work?
Collecting attitudes
1. What is your job title? And what do you do, describe to me a typical work day.
2. Tell me about your workspace.
a. Some follow ups/reminders/adjustments according to profession—How much time do you spend time in the office? A home office? Other work environment? If you have more than one workspace, the difference between the two? Which do you prefer and why? Workspace could be about the people and environment.
3. Do you like your workspace; How do you feel when you’re working in your workspace?
a. Reminder: if they just say ‘I like what’ what do you like about it? Why is it important to you? What do you think first thing in the morning when you get to your job or start working?
4. How would you describe the work environment that you work best in? that allows you to be the most productive and efficient with your work? (Consider how their current workspace compares with this description.)
a. An alone setting, working on a team, in the office or out in the field doing the work.
5. What’s your relationship like with your boss/employees/clients/the community?
6. If you could put your experience with your work into a few words what might some of those words be?
Tell me what you Think and Feel.
Less yes no answers, tell me about, describe your. Conversation- themes
Not questionnaire, more like a reporter- getting the ppl engaged. Set the right tone, NOT like a telephone survey. Reach the person, plug in and connect with them, listen and respond.
4.What was your interviewing strategy like?
An important piece of this project was to try to make the person I am interviewing comfortable because if you aren’t comfortable you aren’t likely to share much. I dressed casual/professional so to be clean and presentable but not so formal that it felt like a verbal questionnaire. The most important piece was attitude. I kept in mind that the interview was about them and their story. While there may have been times where I wanted to jump in and share a story or experience because something they said triggered an idea—I refrained. Once the interview was over we could casually talk back and forth but the interview is about them and their story.
While listening, I focused on facilitating and directing the conversation through non-leading and open-ended questions. I tried to draw things out of the person, their stories, thoughts and feelings regarding their workspace and their job. I never asked about a specific design aspect until it was mentioned by the interviewee. In other words, I kept my own judgements and opinions about their workspace to myself and let them tell me what was there, what was important, and what they thought about it. Generally people want to give you the "right" answer so approaching the space with a neutral perspective makes all the difference.
Here are four simple rules that I’ve learned about interviewing
1. -Set up Microphone before anything else. This lets participant become more comfortable with it, then by the time the laptop is set up, and they’ve signed the informed consent document, they don’t feel pressures or intimidated by it as much.
2. Do NOT move the microphone once you have set it up in place. Participant may think they aren’t speaking loud enough and become self conscious. This is really more about not drawing attention to the fact that you are recording—they have signed the form, they are aware they are being recorded, any other visit back to that fact will disrupt the atmosphere.
3. Pay Attention to the participant’s comfort level. Some people won’t mind you taking notes while they are talking, some become very distracted by it and become self-conscious. You don’t want the participant to focus heavily on the fact that you may be quoting them, you will get less honest answers, and won’t be able to discover the ‘new ideas’ because of the rigid atmosphere.
4. Make eye contact and care about what they’re saying. Always set the computer off to the side. In other words, avoid at all costs having a computer screen between the two of you. There are pros and cons to having a computer in the room and what kind of media you use, but whatever you use make sure you are aware of how it is affecting the interviewee.
5. What equipment did you use?
Each day when I left for an interview I checked that I had these 4 imperative things—laptop, microphone, camera, informed consent documents. I had a small USB microphone that plugged into my laptop.
6. What did your informed consent document look like and how did you write it?
I had never written a formal document like this until my senior year in college. When I started my "dry run" test study (Working on MDI Maine) I had to get in touch with the ERRB which is the Ethical Research and Review Board. Through the ERRB I found a few resources and guidelines on how to write an informed consent document. Here is the one I used for this project:
Informed Consent Document
My name is Lauren Broomall and I am a student at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. I am doing explorative research regarding workspace design and how that affects employees. With your permission I would like to interview you and record our conversation through a microphone attached to my laptop. Along with the interview I would like to take several photographs of you in your workspace in order to create a photo-biography of you and your workspace. The interview will take approximately half an hour and you will be asked questions concerning what you do for work, your workspace, and how you feel about both these topics.
There are no risks associated in the participation of this project as the topic and questions are non-controversial. Unless you specifically authorize the release of your employer’s identity by signing below, it will be held confidential. The identity and exact location of your employer will remain confidential. Though your workspace will be seen through photographs no information regarding its direct location will be revealed in any aspect of this project.
The information from interviews and photographs will be used in a final presentation of this project and will be available online. Your participation is voluntary and no compensation will be offered. Please share only what you are comfortable with and you may decline to participate or choose not to answer particular questions. If you change your mind about participating you may stop the interview at any time. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Lauren Broomall
P.O. Box 26 Seal Cove, ME 04674
Lauren@Liminil.com
Statement of Consent (Please initial only items you agree to):
_____ I have read the above information and have asked any questions pertaining to the study. I consent to be interview by Lauren Broomall for this project.
_____ I give permission for the interview to be audio-recorded for this project only.
_____ I give permission to be photographed and allow photos to be used by Lauren Broomall for this project only.
_____ I give permission to use my name in the photographs and in written work by Lauren Broomall for this project only.
_____ I authorize and would like Lauren Broomall to reveal my employer’s identity in this project only.
Signature: __________________________
Print Name: __________________________ Date: ________________
Email Address (if you would like a copy of photos or written information):
____________________________________
[Only if minors are involved]
Signature of parent or guardian: __________________ Date: ___________________
Signature of Interviewer: ______________________ Date: ____________________
7. What kind of preparation did you have? Any test runs?
My first exposure to a business course was called "Human Relations" which was a course co-taught by a psychology professor, Rich Borden, and a business professor, Jay McNally. It was in this course that I was driven forward to search for new ways of combining my academic interests into a business context.
In the fall of my senior year I did an independent study called "Psychology in the Workplace" in which I searched for literature and studies in this area. The biggest piece of preparation for this project was my "dry run" test project. During the winter term I conducted another independent study called "Working on Mount Desert Island, Maine." The goal of that project was to refine some of the skills I needed to make this project possible and to run through each area of the project so that I could hit the ground running for my senior project. You can find more information about this project on the tab to the left.
8. What was your approach with the photography?
Because this project entailed representing people’s workspace I thought that it was important not to use any of my own artificial lighting. Though I have experience lighting for photography with lighting kits and clip lamps I took a natural approach. I did this because I feel that the lighting changes the way a space looks dramatically and if I did my own lighting then it would create a dramatic visual bias. This was both rewarding and frustrating. When you love photography you begin to focus on lighting, the quality of light, direction, and the large affect it has on the tone of a photograph. I’m glad I didn’t impose my own lighting because I feel the spaces look like they would any day of the week but I was very tempted to use my own lighting, especially in a few poorly lit offices.