\n2. What are the core techniques of motivational interviewing?<\/a>
\n3. How does motivational interviewing connect with UX design?<\/a>
\n4. When should you conduct motivational interviewing in UX research?<\/a>
\n5. Common pitfalls of motivational interviewing in UX research<\/a>
\n6. What tools of motivational interviewing can you use in UX research?<\/a>
\n7. Seven tips on how to apply motivational interviewing in your UX research<\/a>
\n8. Final thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a>1. What is motivational interviewing (MI)?<\/span><\/h2>\nIt\u2019s an approach aiming to analyse the key drives of a person, reaffirming what they know about themselves. Clinical psychologists\u2014<\/span>Stephen Rollnick and William Richard Miller<\/span><\/a>\u2014described motivational interviewing as:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- A communication style sitting between attentive listening and helpful advice<\/span><\/li>\n
- A collaborative process where the MI practitioner helps a person to change<\/span><\/li>\n
- A respectful way of transforming the old beliefs into new ones<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The core principles of motivational interviewing are partnership, evocation, compassion, and acceptance. By applying them, therapists help their patients be more open and share their experiences and feelings freely.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"4](\"https:\/\/www.testingtime.com\/app\/uploads\/2021\/10\/4-key-principles-of-movitational-interviewing.jpg\")
The four key principles of motivational interviewing (source: dentalcare.com<\/a>).<\/p><\/div>\nMotivational interviewing prompts to change behaviour by establishing trust. Do you want to find out how to do that? Let\u2019s explain the key techniques of motivational interviewing that can help.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>2. What are the core techniques of motivational interviewing?<\/span><\/h2>\nThe main methods of motivational interviewing are based on the OARS model representing the basic interaction skills. So, let\u2019s unravel what it means below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n2.1 Open-ended questions (O)<\/span><\/h3>\nThis technique encourages research participants to tell more about themselves. With open-ended questions, you won\u2019t get simple \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d answers. Your research participants will share more information with you. So, what are the best practices for creating open-ended questions and gathering more handy insights in motivational interviewing?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nHere are some of them:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Start your questions with \u201cwhat if\u201d, \u201cwhy\u201d, and \u201chow\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- Prepare follow-up questions like \u201cwhy have you decided to do…?\u201d and \u201cwhat do you think about\u2026?\u201d if you want to gather more information from your research participants<\/span><\/li>\n
- Move from general questions to specific ones<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Open-ended questions feel more conversational for your research participants and that, in turn, helps them feel more comfortable and tell you more information. Let\u2019s assume you conduct a research interview about parking areas in Munich. You start your first questions with general phrases like \u201ctell me more about,\u201d and then you continue to ask specific questions about their positive and negative experiences.<\/p>\n
Example: <\/b><\/p>\n\n- Tell me more about your parking experiences in Munich?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What parking areas of Munich do you like and why?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
2.2 Affirmative statements (A)<\/span><\/h3>\nUse them if you want to show respect and appreciation towards your research participants. You can also express affirmative statements in a non-verbal manner, like making eye contact or nodding your head.<\/span><\/p>\nAffirming means you take steps to motivate your research participant to engage in the conversation with you. This tactic will also help you build trust and foster an open environment where your interviewees can feel secure and confident enough to give you information.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nExample: <\/b>It seems you like parking in Munich.<\/span><\/p>\n2.3 Reflective listening (R)<\/span><\/h3>\nThe key goal of this tactic is to understand what your participants mean when they answer your research questions. To achieve it, practice the following principles of reflective listening:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n- Rephrasing<\/b>: Try it to clarify if you\u2019ve understood correctly what your research participants tell you.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Repeating<\/b>: Use it to show your interviewees that you actively listen to them.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Reflection<\/b>: Rephrase the emotions of your research participants to see if you can state in words what they can\u2019t express.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Paraphrasing<\/b>: Summarise information from your interviewees to identify their feelings.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You can apply all these principles of reflective listening to your interviewing process to prevent breakdowns in communication. Make sure to use such phrases as \u201cit seems you\u201d, \u201cit sounds you like\u201d, \u201cso you mean\u201d, and \u201cyou wonder whether\u201d if you want to increase the level of intimacy between you and a research participant.<\/span><\/p>\nExample<\/b>: So, to be sure I\u2019ve understood you correctly, you don\u2019t like parking lots in Munich\u00a0because it takes up to 20 minutes to find the place.<\/span><\/p>\n2.4 Summary (S)<\/span><\/h3>\nSumming up what your participants have said during motivational interviewing will help you link different pieces of information together. And will show them that you empathise with their situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nYou can create summaries if you:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Start with a statement that indicates a summary like \u201cHere is what you\u2019ve recently told me. Tell me if there is something that I\u2019ve missed.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- Use change statements\u2014where participants expressed their drive to change. Here are some examples of them like \u201cI know I can handle this problem\u201d and \u201cI plan to do something, but I\u2019m not sure what it is.”<\/span><\/li>\n
- Include both sides of the summary statement if a person expresses ambivalence. You can do it like this: \u201cOn the one hand, you like parking lots in Munich, but on the other hand, you experience some problems finding the right spot.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- End your interview with an invitation. For instance, you can ask these questions such as \u201cdo you want to add anything to our conversation?\u201d and \u201cif it\u2019s true, what are the other points you\u2019d like to mention?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Summaries ensure that the conversation is clear and understandable between you and a research participant. Keep in mind that your role as an interviewer is to share your understanding of your interviewees\u2019 feelings.<\/span><\/p>\nExample<\/b>: What I\u2019ve heard is that you don\u2019t like to park your car in the central part of Munich. You know there are parking lots located near the center, but something holds you back.<\/span><\/p>\nUsing the OARS model requires the balance between these techniques and the flow of your conversation with the research participants. If you succeed in doing that, you\u2019ll establish trust and rapport with them. But how does motivational interviewing align with UX design? Let\u2019s discover below.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>3. How does motivational interviewing connect with UX design?<\/span><\/h2>\nDirect communication, empathy, and a person-centered approach are the core traits that motivational interviewing and UX design have in common. When you conduct UX research, you speak directly with your users, applying your empathetic skills to understand how they interact with your product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAlthough UX design and motivational interviewing have similar methods, they\u2019re different in their approaches. Let\u2019s get to them below.<\/span><\/p>\n\n- UX research doesn\u2019t aim to change human behaviour. Its goal is to understand the participants\u2019 problems, habits, and behaviours. Motivational interviewing, however, strives to alter them.<\/span><\/li>\n
- UX design focuses on how a user interacts with your product. Motivational interviewing is patient-centered and aims at changing patients\u2019 beliefs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
If you\u2019re aware of how these two approaches differ from one another, you\u2019ll know which one of them is better to apply to your UX research.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>4. When should you conduct motivational interviewing in UX research?<\/span><\/h2>\nWhen you plan to attend a business conference, you\u2019ll wear an official suit instead of a casual one. If you consider applying motivational interviewing to your UX research, you need to know when to do that. You can use this method if you want to:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Find out what will drive potential users to try your product<\/span><\/li>\n
- Research what products people don\u2019t like and analyse their reviews<\/span><\/li>\n
- Discover user pain points and how your service can help solve them<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Motivational interviewing and UX research is a perfect combo for exploring what will drive your target audience to use the product.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>5. Common pitfalls of motivational interviewing in UX research<\/span><\/h2>\nWhen you know what traps await you, you can omit them while mixing motivational interviewing and UX research methods. So try NOT to:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Have a strict interview structure<\/b>. You can\u2019t always plan conversations with your interviewees. Sometimes the best research insights you can get when you don\u2019t follow the interview structure rigidly.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Express your opinions about a research subject<\/b>. While conducting the interview, the last thing you should do is tell your participants what you think about the topic. Your goal is to gather information from them and don\u2019t push your agenda.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Alter user habits and behaviours<\/b>. Changing how your participants behave is the main principle in motivational interviewing, but not in UX design. In UX research, your goal is to understand what will prompt your participants to use the product.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Listen to your research participants lightly. <\/b>Being fully present during the interviewing session is a surefire way to conduct a successful UX research interview.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/a>6. What tools of motivational interviewing can you use in UX research?<\/span><\/h2>\nHere are some tools of motivational interviewing you can use in UX research.<\/p>\n
6.1 Scales<\/span><\/h3>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.testingtime.com\/app\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Likert-scale.png\")
The Likert scale (source: invisionapp.com<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\nIf you notice your research participants can\u2019t express what they mean in words, ask them to rate their answers from 1 to 6. In motivational interviewing, you can apply the format of a Likert scale, which looks like this:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- 1 \u2013 \u201cStrongly disagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2 \u2013 \u201cDisagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 3 \u2013 \u201cSlightly disagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 4 \u2013 \u201cSlightly agree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 5 \u2013 \u201cAgree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 6 \u2013 \u201cStrongly agree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Such an approach will help you determine what participants think about your research study.<\/span><\/p>\n6.2 Follow-up questions<\/span><\/h3>\nOnce your interviewees give you numbers from a Likert scale, use follow-up questions to gather more information about your study topic. But how can you approach this?<\/span><\/p>\nSimply. Just ask why they rated the subject with a higher number. For example, your research participant assessed the Apple brand with 6, according to the Likert scale. You then ask them why they gave it this number instead of 4 or 5.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf your interviewees gave lower numbers, apply other tactics for follow-up questions such as:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Clarifying information if they used vague terms<\/span><\/li>\n
- Asking additional questions if you want to\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
- Emphasising a specific problem or the need to understand the emotions of your interviewees better<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- A communication style sitting between attentive listening and helpful advice<\/span><\/li>\n
- A collaborative process where the MI practitioner helps a person to change<\/span><\/li>\n
- A respectful way of transforming the old beliefs into new ones<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The core principles of motivational interviewing are partnership, evocation, compassion, and acceptance. By applying them, therapists help their patients be more open and share their experiences and feelings freely.<\/span><\/p>\n
The four key principles of motivational interviewing (source: dentalcare.com<\/a>).<\/p><\/div>\n
Motivational interviewing prompts to change behaviour by establishing trust. Do you want to find out how to do that? Let\u2019s explain the key techniques of motivational interviewing that can help.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a>2. What are the core techniques of motivational interviewing?<\/span><\/h2>\n
The main methods of motivational interviewing are based on the OARS model representing the basic interaction skills. So, let\u2019s unravel what it means below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
2.1 Open-ended questions (O)<\/span><\/h3>\n
This technique encourages research participants to tell more about themselves. With open-ended questions, you won\u2019t get simple \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d answers. Your research participants will share more information with you. So, what are the best practices for creating open-ended questions and gathering more handy insights in motivational interviewing?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Here are some of them:<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Start your questions with \u201cwhat if\u201d, \u201cwhy\u201d, and \u201chow\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- Prepare follow-up questions like \u201cwhy have you decided to do…?\u201d and \u201cwhat do you think about\u2026?\u201d if you want to gather more information from your research participants<\/span><\/li>\n
- Move from general questions to specific ones<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Open-ended questions feel more conversational for your research participants and that, in turn, helps them feel more comfortable and tell you more information. Let\u2019s assume you conduct a research interview about parking areas in Munich. You start your first questions with general phrases like \u201ctell me more about,\u201d and then you continue to ask specific questions about their positive and negative experiences.<\/p>\n
Example: <\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- Tell me more about your parking experiences in Munich?<\/span><\/li>\n
- What parking areas of Munich do you like and why?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
2.2 Affirmative statements (A)<\/span><\/h3>\n
Use them if you want to show respect and appreciation towards your research participants. You can also express affirmative statements in a non-verbal manner, like making eye contact or nodding your head.<\/span><\/p>\n
Affirming means you take steps to motivate your research participant to engage in the conversation with you. This tactic will also help you build trust and foster an open environment where your interviewees can feel secure and confident enough to give you information.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Example: <\/b>It seems you like parking in Munich.<\/span><\/p>\n
2.3 Reflective listening (R)<\/span><\/h3>\n
The key goal of this tactic is to understand what your participants mean when they answer your research questions. To achieve it, practice the following principles of reflective listening:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- Rephrasing<\/b>: Try it to clarify if you\u2019ve understood correctly what your research participants tell you.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Repeating<\/b>: Use it to show your interviewees that you actively listen to them.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Reflection<\/b>: Rephrase the emotions of your research participants to see if you can state in words what they can\u2019t express.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Paraphrasing<\/b>: Summarise information from your interviewees to identify their feelings.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You can apply all these principles of reflective listening to your interviewing process to prevent breakdowns in communication. Make sure to use such phrases as \u201cit seems you\u201d, \u201cit sounds you like\u201d, \u201cso you mean\u201d, and \u201cyou wonder whether\u201d if you want to increase the level of intimacy between you and a research participant.<\/span><\/p>\n
Example<\/b>: So, to be sure I\u2019ve understood you correctly, you don\u2019t like parking lots in Munich\u00a0because it takes up to 20 minutes to find the place.<\/span><\/p>\n
2.4 Summary (S)<\/span><\/h3>\n
Summing up what your participants have said during motivational interviewing will help you link different pieces of information together. And will show them that you empathise with their situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
You can create summaries if you:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Start with a statement that indicates a summary like \u201cHere is what you\u2019ve recently told me. Tell me if there is something that I\u2019ve missed.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- Use change statements\u2014where participants expressed their drive to change. Here are some examples of them like \u201cI know I can handle this problem\u201d and \u201cI plan to do something, but I\u2019m not sure what it is.”<\/span><\/li>\n
- Include both sides of the summary statement if a person expresses ambivalence. You can do it like this: \u201cOn the one hand, you like parking lots in Munich, but on the other hand, you experience some problems finding the right spot.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- End your interview with an invitation. For instance, you can ask these questions such as \u201cdo you want to add anything to our conversation?\u201d and \u201cif it\u2019s true, what are the other points you\u2019d like to mention?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Summaries ensure that the conversation is clear and understandable between you and a research participant. Keep in mind that your role as an interviewer is to share your understanding of your interviewees\u2019 feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n
Example<\/b>: What I\u2019ve heard is that you don\u2019t like to park your car in the central part of Munich. You know there are parking lots located near the center, but something holds you back.<\/span><\/p>\n
Using the OARS model requires the balance between these techniques and the flow of your conversation with the research participants. If you succeed in doing that, you\u2019ll establish trust and rapport with them. But how does motivational interviewing align with UX design? Let\u2019s discover below.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a>3. How does motivational interviewing connect with UX design?<\/span><\/h2>\n
Direct communication, empathy, and a person-centered approach are the core traits that motivational interviewing and UX design have in common. When you conduct UX research, you speak directly with your users, applying your empathetic skills to understand how they interact with your product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Although UX design and motivational interviewing have similar methods, they\u2019re different in their approaches. Let\u2019s get to them below.<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- UX research doesn\u2019t aim to change human behaviour. Its goal is to understand the participants\u2019 problems, habits, and behaviours. Motivational interviewing, however, strives to alter them.<\/span><\/li>\n
- UX design focuses on how a user interacts with your product. Motivational interviewing is patient-centered and aims at changing patients\u2019 beliefs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
If you\u2019re aware of how these two approaches differ from one another, you\u2019ll know which one of them is better to apply to your UX research.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a>4. When should you conduct motivational interviewing in UX research?<\/span><\/h2>\n
When you plan to attend a business conference, you\u2019ll wear an official suit instead of a casual one. If you consider applying motivational interviewing to your UX research, you need to know when to do that. You can use this method if you want to:<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Find out what will drive potential users to try your product<\/span><\/li>\n
- Research what products people don\u2019t like and analyse their reviews<\/span><\/li>\n
- Discover user pain points and how your service can help solve them<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Motivational interviewing and UX research is a perfect combo for exploring what will drive your target audience to use the product.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a>5. Common pitfalls of motivational interviewing in UX research<\/span><\/h2>\n
When you know what traps await you, you can omit them while mixing motivational interviewing and UX research methods. So try NOT to:<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Have a strict interview structure<\/b>. You can\u2019t always plan conversations with your interviewees. Sometimes the best research insights you can get when you don\u2019t follow the interview structure rigidly.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Express your opinions about a research subject<\/b>. While conducting the interview, the last thing you should do is tell your participants what you think about the topic. Your goal is to gather information from them and don\u2019t push your agenda.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Alter user habits and behaviours<\/b>. Changing how your participants behave is the main principle in motivational interviewing, but not in UX design. In UX research, your goal is to understand what will prompt your participants to use the product.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Listen to your research participants lightly. <\/b>Being fully present during the interviewing session is a surefire way to conduct a successful UX research interview.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/a>6. What tools of motivational interviewing can you use in UX research?<\/span><\/h2>\n
Here are some tools of motivational interviewing you can use in UX research.<\/p>\n
6.1 Scales<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Likert scale (source: invisionapp.com<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n
If you notice your research participants can\u2019t express what they mean in words, ask them to rate their answers from 1 to 6. In motivational interviewing, you can apply the format of a Likert scale, which looks like this:<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- 1 \u2013 \u201cStrongly disagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2 \u2013 \u201cDisagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 3 \u2013 \u201cSlightly disagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 4 \u2013 \u201cSlightly agree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 5 \u2013 \u201cAgree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 6 \u2013 \u201cStrongly agree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Such an approach will help you determine what participants think about your research study.<\/span><\/p>\n
6.2 Follow-up questions<\/span><\/h3>\n
Once your interviewees give you numbers from a Likert scale, use follow-up questions to gather more information about your study topic. But how can you approach this?<\/span><\/p>\n
Simply. Just ask why they rated the subject with a higher number. For example, your research participant assessed the Apple brand with 6, according to the Likert scale. You then ask them why they gave it this number instead of 4 or 5.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
If your interviewees gave lower numbers, apply other tactics for follow-up questions such as:<\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Clarifying information if they used vague terms<\/span><\/li>\n
- Asking additional questions if you want to\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
- Emphasising a specific problem or the need to understand the emotions of your interviewees better<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Asking additional questions if you want to\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2 \u2013 \u201cDisagree\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- Express your opinions about a research subject<\/b>. While conducting the interview, the last thing you should do is tell your participants what you think about the topic. Your goal is to gather information from them and don\u2019t push your agenda.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Research what products people don\u2019t like and analyse their reviews<\/span><\/li>\n
- UX design focuses on how a user interacts with your product. Motivational interviewing is patient-centered and aims at changing patients\u2019 beliefs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Use change statements\u2014where participants expressed their drive to change. Here are some examples of them like \u201cI know I can handle this problem\u201d and \u201cI plan to do something, but I\u2019m not sure what it is.”<\/span><\/li>\n
- Repeating<\/b>: Use it to show your interviewees that you actively listen to them.<\/span><\/li>\n
- What parking areas of Munich do you like and why?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Prepare follow-up questions like \u201cwhy have you decided to do…?\u201d and \u201cwhat do you think about\u2026?\u201d if you want to gather more information from your research participants<\/span><\/li>\n
- A collaborative process where the MI practitioner helps a person to change<\/span><\/li>\n