Objectives
- Gather data for persona development
- Understand the needs and expectations of potential target audience
- Understand the general view and opinions of EI
- Understand people’s interactions with films and the role of films in their lives
- Gather ideas for product development
- Learn about user interview techniques
- Understand the needs and expectations of potential target audience
- Understand the general view and opinions of EI
- Understand people’s interactions with films and the role of films in their lives
- Gather ideas for product development
- Learn about user interview techniques
Interview Techniques
In line with the topic, the interviews were structured with a focus on emphatic interaction and enabling subjective descriptions rather than rigorous quantitative responses. Thus, to understand how much people value EI and what is their understanding of the concept, I pursued one-to-one online interviews where people were encouraged to respond in free form using an informal discussion format.
For general user feedback and interview guidelines, I used industry sources such as Adobe User Research where they encourage several techniques such as:
- engaging in direct communication with users as much as possible;
- maintaining a clear focus on the process objectives;
- focusing on reaching the primary target audience rather than obtaining a high number of participants;
- constructing clear and concise questions while reducing avoiding leading questions or other bias-inducing questions
- keeping the number of questions low and focused
- encouraging the interviewee to elaborate freely and spontaneously (Babich, 2020).
- maintaining a clear focus on the process objectives;
- focusing on reaching the primary target audience rather than obtaining a high number of participants;
- constructing clear and concise questions while reducing avoiding leading questions or other bias-inducing questions
- keeping the number of questions low and focused
- encouraging the interviewee to elaborate freely and spontaneously (Babich, 2020).
Interview guides
About EI:
1. Let’s start with learning a bit about your opinion regarding EI. Firstly, what does it mean to you to have a good level of EI?
2. In your opinion, how can EI benefit you in everyday life?
3. Have you tried to find ways to improve your EI (such as recognising your own or other people’s emotions, empathising with another person) before? Can you tell me some of the ways that you found effective?
4. In your opinion, how may films be able to help you cope with everyday emotional and social issues that you may face?
About film:
5. The next few questions will be about the process from when you begin to watch a film until it finishes.
a. How do you pick a film to watch?
b. Where do you usually watch films? Device/platform/service?
c. What do you like about this method of watching? (What is good about this platform/service? What could be better
in your opinion?)
d. Do you prefer to watch films on your own or with others? Why?
e. How immersed in the film do you get? (Do you focus on the film entirely or do you pause and get distracted often?)
How would you rate your level of attention to what is going on in the films and what the characters are saying?
f. Anything else that you would like to add?
a. How do you pick a film to watch?
b. Where do you usually watch films? Device/platform/service?
c. What do you like about this method of watching? (What is good about this platform/service? What could be better
in your opinion?)
d. Do you prefer to watch films on your own or with others? Why?
e. How immersed in the film do you get? (Do you focus on the film entirely or do you pause and get distracted often?)
How would you rate your level of attention to what is going on in the films and what the characters are saying?
f. Anything else that you would like to add?
6. Which is your favourite film genre? How do you often feel upon finishing a film? How much do you think about the film afterwards?
7. Think about when you watch films on your own, and when you watch films with someone else, how differently do you express or register your emotional reactions to the film?
Findings
After analysing the interview transcripts, I recorded the following insights.
About EI:
- All participants thought of EI in terms of interactions with others first before thinking about the inward element of EI which is understanding onself;
- Most benefits mentioned had to do with handling relationships both in personal and work life, such as creating new relationships and improving current ones, managing colleagues, communicating with clients, progressing at work;
- When prompted, then some benefits for self were mentioned including understand and regulate one’s own emotional states, help make better decisions;
- Some believed that EI is less important for some personalities such as introversion because it is less dependent on social interactions;
- Some viewed the importance of EI as dependent on career objectives, especially males;
- For some, EI is less important because their personal goals and wellbeing are not dependent on social aspects of their lives;
- Most benefits mentioned had to do with handling relationships both in personal and work life, such as creating new relationships and improving current ones, managing colleagues, communicating with clients, progressing at work;
- When prompted, then some benefits for self were mentioned including understand and regulate one’s own emotional states, help make better decisions;
- Some believed that EI is less important for some personalities such as introversion because it is less dependent on social interactions;
- Some viewed the importance of EI as dependent on career objectives, especially males;
- For some, EI is less important because their personal goals and wellbeing are not dependent on social aspects of their lives;
About watching film/TV:
- When it comes to films, participants agreed that there are a lot to be learnt from films, most mentioned were seeing different perspectives, cultural differences, learn different ways to deal with issues, learning about other personalities, understand certain emotions through the characters;
- Some see films as a more practical means to relieve stress, a distraction, an activity used to socialise and maintain friendships, a bridge between people because it gives a subject to talk about, crucial to functioning well in modern society;
- Most people watch films on Netflix;
- Most people only really pay attention to a film if it is particularly meaningful or enticing;
- When the film is good, they tend to think and research about it for at least several hours afterwards, trying to understand its message, characters, storyline, symbolism and artistic aspects of the film;
- It came across that most participants prefer to watch a film either alone or with someone close to them;
- They reported that they register emotions better when watching a film on their own because they can focus without social distractions;
- They express emotions more freely on their own and feel more controlled when with others;
- They seemed more comfortable expressing negative emotions such as sadness and crying when on their own, but seem to laugh more when with others;
- More extroverted participants seem to enjoy discussing and making comments about a film as it happens.
- Some see films as a more practical means to relieve stress, a distraction, an activity used to socialise and maintain friendships, a bridge between people because it gives a subject to talk about, crucial to functioning well in modern society;
- Most people watch films on Netflix;
- Most people only really pay attention to a film if it is particularly meaningful or enticing;
- When the film is good, they tend to think and research about it for at least several hours afterwards, trying to understand its message, characters, storyline, symbolism and artistic aspects of the film;
- It came across that most participants prefer to watch a film either alone or with someone close to them;
- They reported that they register emotions better when watching a film on their own because they can focus without social distractions;
- They express emotions more freely on their own and feel more controlled when with others;
- They seemed more comfortable expressing negative emotions such as sadness and crying when on their own, but seem to laugh more when with others;
- More extroverted participants seem to enjoy discussing and making comments about a film as it happens.
References
Babich, N. (2020). Collecting User Feedback: 10 Best Practices. Adobe XD Ideas. https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-research/collecting-user-feedback/
