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Interviewing participants with English as a second language
A quick note on setting expectations and increasing participant comfort (without leading)
In 2018 I was conducting research in Malaysia. The interviews were conducted in English.
In the normal course of travel, there’s a back and forth negotiation guessing at what the other person is saying.
For example, in Germany I remember a guy saying to me “I don’t know the name in English… you know… baby sh!t pants?” Err.. nappies? (or diapers for the Americans).
In Colombia when I needed antihistamines I just said “ah… antihistamines por favor?” to the chemist, hoping the word was similar enough (it is thankfully, it’s antihistamínicos).
By guessing at what the other person is saying you’re able to communicate effectively and compassionately. But if you do this in research, you’re leading, biasing and potentially twisting their words.
In the first interview I did in Malaysia, I could tell the participant knew how the interface worked but couldn’t put it in words in English. They were flustered, and they were frustrated at me for not jumping in and helping them while they were floundering. I told them “I can tell you understand, but I need to hear it in your own words”.
I need to hear it in your own words
After this, I reedited the welcome spiel of the script to set this expectation up front, and make participants feel more comfortable should this arise again.
“There may be times when you are struggling to find a word or can’t put into words what you mean. I won’t jump in and offer you a word as I don’t want to lead or bias your answers. It may be obvious that you know how to do something, but I’m looking for you to be really explicit and tell me what you are thinking in your own words. I can’t read your mind. Is that OK? If you have any questions at the end of the session, we can talk about them then”
Most UX researchers will have faced participants asking them questions that they can’t answer, and need to deflect. Adding this spiel into your introduction is good practice for any research piece. It sets expectations up from…
