1. select suit­able inter­view part­ners

This is cru­cial for mean­ing­ful results. Make sure that as many dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives, back­grounds and expe­ri­ences as pos­si­ble are cov­ered. In addi­tion to peo­ple from the tar­get group, you can also inter­view experts and peo­ple who work in a sim­i­lar envi­ron­ment, for exam­ple.

2. devel­op inter­view ques­tions for the tar­get group dis­cus­sions

The fol­low­ing sug­ges­tions for ques­tions serve only as exam­ples and must be adapt­ed to your solu­tion ideas and your tar­get group. Where appro­pri­ate, you can offer mul­ti­ple choice, a rat­ing scale or open answer fields.

Eval­u­a­tion of the pro­posed solu­tion

• Which aspects of our solu­tion do you like the most?
• Are there ele­ments of the solu­tion idea that you con­sid­er prob­lem­at­ic or inef­fec­tive?
• How easy is it for you to under­stand and use our solu­tion?
• What sug­ges­tions do you have for improv­ing our solu­tion con­cept?

Rel­e­vance and accep­tance of the solu­tion

• How like­ly is it that you would use our solu­tion?
• What would moti­vate you to active­ly use our solu­tion?
• What could pre­vent you from using our solu­tion?

Assess­ment of the poten­tial impact

• To what extent do you agree that our solu­tion can con­tribute to pos­i­tive changes in your envi­ron­ment?
• What spe­cif­ic pos­i­tive changes can our solu­tion bring about?

Fea­si­bil­i­ty and resources

• How real­is­tic do you think it is to imple­ment our solu­tion in your envi­ron­ment?
• What chal­lenges or bar­ri­ers could there be?
• What resources or sup­port do you need to use the solu­tion suc­cess­ful­ly?
• Would you use our solu­tion on your own or do you need sup­port?

Coop­er­a­tion and com­mit­ment

• How will­ing are you to active­ly par­tic­i­pate in the fur­ther devel­op­ment and adap­ta­tion of our solu­tion?
• What kind of sup­port or coop­er­a­tion can you offer us to fur­ther improve the solu­tion?

3. write an appeal­ing cov­er let­ter for the inter­view

Clear­ly for­mu­late the expec­ta­tions of the par­tic­i­pants. Assumes that many peo­ple will ask them­selves in advance what exact­ly to expect and whether they need to pre­pare. Explain how long the inter­view will take, what its pur­pose is and empha­size that no spe­cial prepa­ra­tion is nec­es­sary. Thank the par­tic­i­pants in advance for their time and empha­size how impor­tant their con­tri­bu­tion is to the project.

4. cre­ates a pleas­ant atmos­phere

It is the basis for an open and hon­est con­ver­sa­tion. Start the exchange with a short intro­duc­tion and explain what your project is about and why you are con­duct­ing the inter­view. Make sure the par­tic­i­pants feel com­fort­able by cre­at­ing a friend­ly, relaxed envi­ron­ment and giv­ing them the oppor­tu­ni­ty to ask ques­tions or raise con­cerns at any time.