3 Tips to Design an Engaging User Interview with Kids

If there is one skill that our team at 55 Minutes has honed through multiple clients whose target audience are children, it is how to listen to the particular needs and desires of kids when it comes to the digital products that are designed for them.

We had the chance to exercise that skill again with the opportunity to work with the SmartJen team to redesign their student learning platform and create a more engaging and enjoyable learning process for kids ages 11 to 14 years old. To do this, we conducted interviews with kids to understand their perspectives, what causes them to behave a certain way, and what their needs and motivations are.

From our interviews with kids, we learned several pieces of wisdom we’d love to share with you. So here are 3 tips that you can consider when planning research questions for kids and teens!

Make sure to include easy warm-up questions at the start

It is important to help kids feel at ease at the start, which will create a safe space where they can share their thoughts more clearly and honestly.

Some sample questions you can consider are:

• What are your favourite activities to do after school?

• What is your favourite game? Who do you play the game with?

• What are your favourite apps?

Also, ensure that you explain the research purpose and the kinds of questions you’ll ask. This helps kids become familiar with the topic you’ll be discussing.

• We want to talk about the learning website that you’re using every day. You can simply think about any online website that your school or your tuition centre uses

• You can be honest about what you think, because we won’t share your name

Don’t forget to tell them it’s okay to take some time to explain if it’s hard to answer.

Don’t ask too many open-ended questions; save them for when they’re necessary

Psychologically, kids’ brains are still maturing and developing which can make it hard to think critically and analytically. Therefore, we shouldn’t ask the same questions as we do with adults, such as “what do you hope to see in this product” or “why you don’t like this feature in this product.” They might have difficulty explaining their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs clearly. By asking leading questions like ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to start the conversation, it can be easier for kids to give us their answers.

Otherwise, you can take note of our next tip which encourages you to give them options to choose!

Use visual tools to help kids articulate their thoughts and preferences

Prepare some visual prompts that can inspire kids to articulate their thoughts and what they like and don’t like. Visual tools can turn the research session into an activity, so kids can stay interested in the research topic areas and you can get a better understanding of their needs and motivations. For our SmartJen user research, we chose digital card sorting and website comparison methods as a visual tool to initiate and continue conversations with kids.

Digital Card Sorting: Visual cards were used to help kids identify which element of the learning websites they like and dislike, and why.

We also prepared a comparison of competitor websites, to let kids identify their favourite parts of other websites. Looking at the real website encourages kids to explain the reason why they prefer website A rather than website B. We selected three representative learning websites where the system, visual styles, and worksheet elements are designed in different concepts.

Through the comparisons, we were able to identify the learning platform that appealed most to students and the elements that would help them engage in their learning process and why.

These visual tools facilitate better communication with kids as they help kids provide more specific feedback.

Side note: How easy or difficult it is to gain a clear answer from kids sometimes depends on the child’s personality and their preferred ways to communicate. In case some kids feel too shy to share their thoughts and opinions, having parents around can be helpful to follow up with more detailed feedback after interviewing the kids.

Having addressed the importance of understanding kids’ perspectives which can be different from adults, we hope our learnings and tips will be helpful for other UX researchers and practitioners to plan and conduct effective research with kids. We can’t wait to hear about what product you’re designing for your tiny humans!

If you’re interested in learning more about our work, you can reach out at hello@55mins.com.

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Hye Yoon is a UX researcher at 55 Minutes. She has a Bachelor’s in furniture and spatial design from Seoul, South Korea, and a Master’s in contextual design from Helsinki, Finland. Currently, she lives in Singapore, observing her surroundings from the lens of a tourist from time to time. She loves nature and goes cycling every weekend in the Northeast region of Singapore.