User Interview Template

Intro

Thanks again for agreeing to meet with me today. I’ll quickly introduce myself, my name is __ and I’m a UX designer/UXresearcher working on a project to build an open source volunteer management software that is specifically focused on volunteer wellbeing and retention.

We’re conducting interviews to better understand how people view their volunteering experience, and how they feel about using digital tools to manage their workload and maintain their well-being while volunteering.

With your permission, I would also like to record this session. The recording is confidential and will not be shared outside of the team, it will only be used to improve our product. Is that ok?

Before we get started, I want to make it very clear that this is not a test. There are no right or wrong answers, so just take your time and answer each question the best you can. If you have any questions as we go along, just go ahead and ask them.

We’re going to start with one or two opening questions, then some more specific questions around how you feel about volunteering, and then we can wrap up with some final questions. I expect this to take about 20 minutes.

If you’re ready to get started, we can move on to the opening questions.

Interview questions

1. With a couple of sentences, tell me about yourself. (Location? Occupation? Age? Pronouns?)
2. Walk me through your past volunteer experiences.
3. Tell me about a specific time you decided to volunteer. What made you make that decision?
4. How does volunteering make you feel?
5. Can you tell me about a time you found your volunteering experience enjoyable?
   1. Can you tell me about a time you found volunteering frustrating?
      1. How did you manage the situation? Did you ask for help?
6. Did you receive any support from the organisation/charity in question? If yes, were you happy with the support you received?
7. Can you tell me about a time you stopped volunteering? Why did you stop? Can you tell me more about that?
8. Have you ever used digital tools when volunteering? Did you find the tools easy to use/helpful? E.g signing up or logging hours
9. Can you tell me about a time that you felt you had a good work-life balance? Why was that?
10. Can you tell me what steps you currently have in place to manage situations where you feel overworked or overburdened? (What works, what doesn’t work)
11. Do you ever consider your mental wellbeing in relation to your volunteering? If so, how?

Wrap-up