Most of us familiarize with interview; interview for job, scholarship, study application etc. Interview is one of the platforms for interviewer and interviewee to interact with each other. Why interview is important in our project? Through interview, we can find out what are the current situation in disaster relief and the crucial needs for the disaster victims.
Ms. Karen Sng, Design Engineer in SUTD-MIT International Design Centre (IDC), had recently join our project team. She had been working on designs for refugees’ shelters, which have some similar challenges to shelter design for disaster relief. Her design was recently a contestant for the UN Refugee Challenge (https://refugeechallenge.unhcrideas.org/Page/ViewIdea?ideaid=5991). During our recent weekly meeting, she shared with us the interview procedure she had used while designing refugees' shelters.
Interview procedure
1. Brainstorm interview questions: “What do we need to know about Where, How, and Who?”
2. Customize context questions template: add, delete, and modify questions as needed.
3. Interview customers using product in a realistic context:
3.1. Actively question customer during product use, recording “voice of the customer”
3.2. Ask any remaining* questions in the customized context questions template
4. Form customer needs list Translate voice of customer; combine & prioritize needs
5. Form context scenario by combining context answers to each question
Our interviewees are mainly aid workers, non-governmental organisation (NGO), medical personnel and expert in the industry. Their inputs are valuable for us since they have prior experience in disaster relief.
Brainstorm interview questions:
Before we embark on conducting interview, we had draft out interview questions based on different area of focus on shelter design. For our team, we used 5W1H to brainstorm interview questions:
WHO (person)
WHO consists of user characteristics such as user interactions, safety expectations etc.
Example of interview questions:
- What are your roles in the organisation?
- What are your interactions with the staff?
WHERE (disaster environment)
WHERE consists of the usage environment (in this case, disaster area) such as space evolution, portable shelter etc.
Example of interview questions:
- How does an evacuation area being prepared?
- How is maintenance of disaster relief equipment performed while not in used?
WHAT (process for disaster relief)
WHAT consists of the process from pre-disaster, during the disaster and post-disaster.
Example of interview questions:
- How are you prepared as a volunteer?
- Source of food and medical supplies?
- What is your strategy to leave the area?
WHY (person background)
WHY consists on the users experience as an aid worker/volunteer during disaster relief.
Example of interview questions:
- What do you like about being a volunteer?
- What is your most rewarding part of your job?
HOW (methods used for disaster relief)
HOW consists of the methods being adopted during disaster relief.
Example of interview questions:
- How do you know what are the victim’s needs?
- How do you prepare as a volunteer?
Conclusion
This interview procedure serve as a reference for us while conducting interview(s). With all these steps, we are ready to interview people for a better design!
- Zhi Yuan
Special thanks to Ms. Karen Sng for providing us a valuable interview procedure.
Also Prof Paul Migone for introducing Ms. Karen Sng to our team.
