Understanding Community Information Needs:

Field Research Guide

Section 1: Daily Schedule and Deliverables 2

Section 2: Research Themes 4

Section 3: Research Tools, Goals, and Instructions 5

A. Understanding How People Think: Interviews & Surveys 5

B. Understand How People Act: Shadowing 5

C. Understanding the Context: Observation and Artifact Collection 6

D. Understanding How a Service Works: Service Trial 7

E. Understanding People Through their Own Eyes: User Diary 8

Section 4: Sample Introduction for Respondents 9

Section 5: Target Respondents 10

A. Information Consumers 10

B. Information Producers 11

Section 6: Instructions and Steps for Interviewing 12

Section 7: Tips for Interviewing 15

Section 8: Guide to Photography 16

Key Themes 16

Photography Tips 17

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Section 1: Daily Schedule and Deliverables

This is your daily schedule and the outputs you are expected to deliver
each day. If there is any reason you cannot meet these requirements for a
certain day, you must explain why to the Research Manager. You need
prior approval to change this schedule or the deliverables for any day.

TIME ACTIVITY COMMUNICATIONS & DELIVERABLES

8:00am Breakfast & Daily 1. Send SMS to Security

Planning - Where you are going for the day
- When you plan to return home that day

8:30am Begin Fieldwork

12:30pm Lunch Break 2. Phone Update to Team Leader

- How many interactions you had in the
morning
- What kind of interactions you had (eg.
interviews, service trial, artifact collection, etc)
- What is your research plan for the afternoon
- Where are you right now

3. Send SMS to Security

- An update on where you are at the moment

1:30pm Restart Fieldwork

5:00pm Return to Origin 4. Send SMS to Security

- An update when you return home

5. Phone Update to Team Leader

- Summary of operational challenges from the
day
- List of GPS coordinates for each location
visited that day

6. Notes, Respondent Indexes, and Photos

from Day’s Interviews and Interactions
- Hard copy notes of all the interviews from the
day
- Digital photos from the entire day in 2
locations: your camera/phone and your laptop

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TIME ACTIVITY COMMUNICATIONS & DELIVERABLES

5:30pm Note-Writing 7. Detailed Notes and Respondent Indexes for

all Interviews and Interactions
Check in with RM - Notes: Fill out all the details of the interviews
and interactions from the day, to ensure you
Plan for Next Day can produce an acceptable and satisfactory
final report
- Respondent Index: Fill out the entire form for
the day, with the appropriate codes in each cell.

8. Phone Report to Research Manager

- Report on a) number of interviews and b)
respondent profiles, based on demographic
indicators, from that day
- Summary of key themes explored that day
and interesting findings
- Questions or challenges from the day
- Research Plan for next day (determined
together)

9. Email Report to Research Manager (every 2

days)
- Research Notes for the last 2 days
- Corresponding Respondent Index for the last
2 days

10. Research Plan for the Following Day

- A specific research plan for you, based on
your progress, your research findings, and your
context (To be developed with Research
Manager)

7:00pm Finish for the Day

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Section 2: Research Themes

To design solutions that help communities get the information they need,
we first need to understand people and their environments. This
knowledge will help us design effective solutions in the next 2 to 5 years.
These solutions may use technology to support communities in ways
that are faster, cheaper, and more convenient than ever before.

We have five key research themes which you should be able to answer at
the end of each interview. The answers to these questions will help us
design good solutions.

1. Information Flows: From what sources does a person get his or her
information? Once they get a piece of information, how do they
choose who to share it with?

2. Trust: How do people determine whether a particular piece of news

or information is – or the source of that information – is reliable or
trustworthy?

3. Influence: How do people determine whether a particular piece of

news or information is – or a source of information – is reliable or
trustworthy? What is influence and reach of different types of
information sources?

4. Displacement: How does the experience of migration and

displacement – both conflict-related and work-related – impact
how populations access, evaluate, and share information?

5. New Media & Technology: How do people use technology to

access, share, create, and evaluate information? How might
technology change these habits in the next two to five years?

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 Notes

Section 3: Research Tools, Goals, and Instructions

These are the range of research tools you will use. It explains what the
tool is, how to use it, and your target goals for each. The tools have been
put in 4 categories, based on which other tools they will be used with.
Tools include interviews and surveys, shadowing, observation, artifact
collection, service trial, and user diaries.

A. Understanding How People Think: Interviews & Surveys

Interviews
What: Guided conversations that help us discover and probe for respondents’
thoughts on the 5 key themes.
Goal: 3 to 4 interviews per day for rural/remote. 5 to 6 per day for urban.
How To: See full set of Interview Steps in Section 5, Interview Tips in Section 6.

Surveying
What: Questionnaire with indicators focused on demographics, capabilities, and
technology usage. To be conducted for each Interview Respondent, at the end of
each interview.
Goal: 3 to 4 questionnaires completed per day for rural and remote areas. 5 to 6
interviews per day for urban areas. (Note: These are the same respondents as
your interview respondents.)
How To:
• At the end of each interview, go through Respondent Index Questions.
• At the end of each day, fill in the Respondent Index form for the day.
• Email Respondent Index every 2 days to Research Manager.

B. Understand How People Act: Shadowing

Shadowing
What: “Following” people as they conduct daily tasks to understand why they do
what they do, and the various factors that may influence their thinking or behaviour.
Goal: 1 shadowing exercise per week per researcher, to be conducted as someone is
doing an activity related to getting information or communicating with others.
How To:

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• Ask respondents whether you might be able to follow them as they are
conducting a certain activity, as that will help you better understand daily life
in that area.
• As you are shadowing them, as respondents to “think out loud” when they
are doing any activity to help you understand their thinking process and why
they might do certain things.
• Take notes on what they are doing, and why they say they are doing it.
• Note down anything that surprises you about the reasons they choose to do
things they way they do.
• Add your own analysis and interpretation in your notes, based on what you
think of what you just observed.

C. Understanding the Context: Observation and Artifact

Collection

Observation
What: Observing an environment where information is flowing, or where people are
communicating and/or getting information. Watching how people behave and
communicate in these situations.
Goal: 1 observation per researcher per week. (But, as a design researcher, you should
always be observing your environment and taking notes!)
How To:
• Conduct observation in an environment where there is information being
consumed (eg. group of people watching TV together) or exchanged (eg.
group of people sharing ideas or opinions.)
• Spend 30 minutes to 1 hour watching the group or the environment
• As you are observing, take notes on
‣ What is the environment like?
‣ Who are the people that are in this environment?
‣ How do people interact or communicate with each other? What are
the other activities that are taking place?
‣ What kind of information are people sharing with each other?
‣ Are there any interesting patterns in people’s behaviour?
‣ How do they people seem here: happy? frustrated? interested?
worried?
‣ Is there any about the environment that make it useful for getting,
sharing, or communicating information? Or that makes people
experience the emotions described above?
‣ What types of communications materials can we see in the
environment?

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Artifact Collection
What: Collecting documents and artifacts that tell us about the people and culture
that produce or use them, based on how they are designed, distributed, or used.
Goal: At least 10 artifacts per researcher – the more the better! – with 5 artifacts to
be brought to each workshop – first workshop on Friday, Sept 21, second workshop
on Monday, Oct 1.
How To:
• Collect documents including posters, brochures, advertisements, and other
informational material aimed at our respondents
• Collect artifacts, which may be anything that our respondents may use to
access, share, or store information.
• If you need to buy the artifact, call the Research Manager and ask if you can
spend the money. If she approves, buy it and she will reimburse you in cash
the next time you meet.

D. Understanding How a Service Works: Service Trial

Service Trial
What: Personally trying different services to be able to accurate describe the service
– good and bad points – so we can both learn from them and design better solution
that copies the good parts, but doesn’t have the bad parts.
Goal: 1 service trial per week per researcher, to be conducted as someone is doing an
activity related to getting information or communicating with others.
How To:
• Do it for a variety of services or experiences, whether directly or indirectly
related to information and media – inspiration comes from many places.
• Check with the Research Manager once you have a service in mind. She will
tell you whether that service is approved for trial.
• Take notes about the entire service experience:
‣ How did you find out about the service?
‣ Where is the service provider located? Are there many of them in that
location?
‣ Who else is using the service?
‣ In detailed, step-by-step notes, record what happens as you are using
the service. Note each and every step. Record:
‣ The instructions you received
‣ The actions that you took
‣ Note any confusion or frustration you experience as you are trying
the service

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‣ How the service provider or agent responded to you
‣ What was the outcome of your experience
‣ Take photos of each step of the experience, and collect any materials
received from the service provider (eg. forms, information brochures,
admission slips, receipts, etc) to submit to Research Manager

E. Understanding People Through their Own Eyes: User Diary

User Diary
What: Asking young people to record, in writing and with photos, how they receive
different types of information every day.
Goal: 1 user diary collected by each researcher, who will write entries for at least one
week (7 days). The diary along with any digital photos will be submitted to the
Research Manager.
How To:
• Identify a suitable respondent between the age of 19 and 26.
• Conduct an interview as usual, as well as fill out the Respondent Index. Once
you have done this, call the Research Manager to get approval for asking this
respondent to participate in a User Diary activity.
• Give the respondent a notebook, and ask him or her to:
1. Write down every single time he or she has a question that he needs to
answer as part of their routine activities.
2. Write down he or she found the answer to that question.
3. Take photos that represents how they tried to answer the question. For
example, a person they talked to, a newspaper they read, etc. (This should
be preceded by a photo of the diary page with the date on it.)
• Explain that questions can be anything, and give a wide range of examples.
The following questions are examples you may raise if you think they are
relevant to the respondent; otherwise, create your own:
‣ What is the expected rainfall for this year? How will it affect my area?
‣ Was anyone hurt in that blast at the girls’ school last week?
‣ How did the fire in Karachi happen?
‣ How can I find a good job?
‣ Has my cousin that went to Peshawar found a job?
‣ When are the next elections? What will it mean for my village?
‣ What kind of fertilizer is the best for [insert crop]?
‣ Where can I get the best Chapli Kabab?
• Go back to the respondent at the end of a week to collect their diary, and to
collect or transfer their photos.

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 Notes

Section 4: Sample Introduction for Respondents

This is an example of how you might want to introduce yourself and the
project. You will be adapting this for each interaction you have, based on
the respondent and what is appropriate for that situation.

This is a sample introduction for an interview. You will want to adjust it

based on the type of tool you are using – for example, you will change it
when starting a Shadowing or User Diary exercise.

“Hello. My name is [YOUR NAME] and it’s nice to meet you.

I am from [YOUR HOMETOWN]. I am here today to work on a research project for

an international organization that is interested in finding out more about the
people in this community, and what their lives are like.

The organization wants to better understand what people here have and what
they need, so that it may be able to find ways to help people here get what they
need.

We would like to talk to people from this community about the way they
communicate with each other and the ways in which they get information. Would
you be interested and available to talk with my colleague and I? An interview will
last approximately 1 hour long.

All of your information will be anonymized, and we will never share your name or
personal information with others.

Our organization wants to hear about the lives of the ordinary people here, so
that it can then understand the areas where it should spend more energy.”

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Section 5: Target Respondents

This is a list of the respondents you are expected to interview, as well as

target numbers for each group. As information flows require both
Information Consumers and Producers, you will be interviewing both.

A. Information Consumers

Who: FATA communities who seek and consume information through diverse
outlets. Understanding their behaviours and attitudes – and their underlying
reasons for these behaviours – and capacities will allow us to develop content and
programs that will reach and be understood by these populations.

Goal: 24 respondents per researcher. The demographic breakdown is as follow:

Variable Percentage Respondents

Age 19 to 32 50% 12

33 to 50 30% 7

51 to 70 15% 4

71+ 5% 1

Gender Male 80% 19

Female 20% 5

Income Very Poor 20% 5

Poor 20% 5

Middle-Class 40% 10

Wealthy 10% 2

Very Wealthy 10% 2

Location Urban 20% 5

Rural 50% 12

Remote 30% 7

* Particular attention will be paid to influencers (community leaders, village elders,

activists, etc.)

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B. Information Producers

Who: Individuals who produce and broadcast information, whether as part of

their jobs or informally, in other ways.

Goal: 16 respondents per researcher. Some of these individuals may include:

2 x Journalists (radio, newspaper, internet)

1 x Bloggers OR heavy internet users

1 x Traditional leadership

2 x Informal community leaders

1 x Civil society and/or special interest groups (eg. youth organizations, NGOs,
fundamentalist groups)

2 x Religious media outlets (eg. mullah radio) and leaders (eg. imams)

1 x Government officials

1 x Social or political activists

1 x Businesses and/or entrepreneurs

2 x “Man on the street”

2 x Service man (eg. shop keepers, drivers, barbers, etc)

For these actors, the figures at the start are a suggestion. We recognize that not all
teams will have the same access to different types of individuals. Thus, keep in touch
with your TL and RM to discuss areas where you are excelling and areas where you
might struggle.

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 Notes

Section 6: Instructions and Steps for Interviewing

This is a set of instructions for how to conduct an interview, including the

specific activities for each part of the interview. These are only intended
to be used as guidelines. Actual interviews will be between 1 and 2 hours
long, and will be conducted in a private or “natural” situation.

Step 1: Prepare for the Interview

• Identify respondents that match the target profiles. Recruit from your
extended social networks, but make sure each respondent is at least one
connection removed. (For example, a friend of your cousin is suitable to
be a respondent, but your cousin himself is not suitable.)
• Think about the unique profile of the respondent, as well as the Research
Plan, and write down key questions you may want to cover with this
particular respondent.
• Think about how your respondents will be dressed, and dress accordingly.
• Consider bringing a small gift if you are entering the respondent’s home.
• Prepare respondents for the interview. Tell them:
‣ What it is for? What will it be like? Who will be there? How long will it
take?
• Ask if present time is convenient for the respondent for an interview, and
whether it can be conducted it in the home or other natural setting? (If not,
arrange to meet later, or find another candidate.)
• Ensure respondent is alone to prevent outside influence.

Step 2: Introduce Yourself and the Project

• Introduce
‣ Who you are
‣ What you want to ask about
‣ Why you want to ask these questions
‣ How the information will be used for
• Tell the respondent that all of his or her information will be anonymized
• Give respondent a chance to ask questions and answer all of them truthfully
(without compromising your security) and as best as you can
• Ask for permission from the respondent to begin the interview

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Step 3: Build Rapport
• Start with casual small talk to warm up. Find points you have in common.
• Begin with open-ended questions to see which themes respondent naturally
wants to talk about. This question:
‣ Should be open-ended and invite storytelling
‣ Should not touch on sensitive topics
‣ Will provide the ingredients for rest of the interview

Step 4: Use Active Listening in Interviews

• Engage fully with the respondent. This means:
‣ Forget about your opinions on the topic. Remain neutral and do not
judge them based on any of their experiences.
‣ Avoid other internal thoughts, or activities.
• Restate or paraphrase what you hear in your own words to
‣ Make sure we are not assuming or wrongly interpreting
‣ Help confirm what you heard
‣ Help confirm understanding of both parties

Step 5: Dive Deep into Specific Research Themes

• Select a few key topics to focus on for this particular interview, based on
what the respondent seems interested in talking about. (Note: There is no
need to cover all 5 themes for each of the interviews, but you need to
cover at least 2 to 3.)
‣ Ask respondent to elaborate on specific examples and details based
on answers they have already given, or examples they have already
provided, so that we can get deeper and deeper into the specific
research them.
‣ Ask respondent to tell you stories or give specific examples of events
or past activities that demonstrate what he or she thinks.
‣ Wherever possible, ask respondent to show you things they are talking
about rather than merely describe them to you. (eg. Ask them to show
you how they use their phone, rather than tell you about it.)
‣ Use follow-up questions to get more depth and detail.
‣ Ask “Why?” when they offer examples of behaviour.
‣ Ask open-ended questions.
• Ask if you may take photos. (Be cautious in taking photos. See Photography
Guide in Section 8.)
• Near the end of the interview, and depending on the respondent and the
situation, you may be able to:

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‣ Ask about more sensitive topics that they brought up earlier in the
interview.
‣ Confirm or challenge findings from previous interviews. For example, if
they offered an opinion that is very different from what other
respondents say, you can tell them about the other opinions (For
example, you can say: “It is interesting when you said that you felt
_____________ about ______________, because other people we talked
to felt differently. Why do you think they have a different opinion from
you?”). See what they say and how they defend their responses.

Step 6: Complete the Respondent Index

• Near the end of the interview, check to see which questions from the
Respondent Questionnaire were covered over the course of the interview.
Identify the ones that remain unanswered. (Note: In a good interview, you
should have covered approximately 70% of the questions in the Respondent
Index.)
• Ask the remaining questions of the respondent.

Step 7: Finish Interview and Thank Respondent

• Give respondents the chance to ask any questions about the research.

• If you took photos during the interview, give the respondent the opportunity
to look at photos and delete any they don’t like.
• End with a sincere thank you. Thank the respondent for their time and for
participating in our work to help develop better services for communities like
theirs.

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 Notes

Section 7: Tips for Interviewing

• Be creative! Know the key themes and ask whatever questions you think will
be most successful in getting the answers to those themes.
• Make sure your respondents feel comfortable throughout the interview.
‣ Ensure it’s a two-way conversation, not a one-way interrogation.
Offer personal details about yourself, and be a human being, not just a
researcher.
‣ Do what your respondent does: If they are sitting on the ground, sit
on the ground. If they are drinking tea and offer you tea, drink tea.
‣ Do not bring out your smartphones or anything that shows to them
you have more money or status than them.
‣ Notice your body language. Provide small, positive feedback (heads
nods, etc) to show that you are listening to them and respecting them.
• Ask for details and specific examples: Ask the respondent to provide
specific examples and stories in their interviews.
• Ask “Why?” and other follow-up questions: When the respondent
provides a response, go deeper about the reasons or motivations behind
their responses. Do not just move to the next topic or theme; ask follow-up
questions. This will help you get more depth and detail.
• Remain neutral: Do not show emotion beyond basic sympathy for the
responses your respondents provide. You are there to listen, not to judge.
• Maintain control of the interview: Do not let the interview turn into a
complaints session, or where the respondent is asking you to provide things.
• Do not ask the respondent “What do you want?”: Instead of asking about
their desires directly, we want to understand their lives through stories.
People do not always know the best solutions to meet their needs, so your
job is to ask them about their lives and we can determine the best solutions.
‣ Remember, if Henry Ford had asked his customers what they wanted,
they would have said “A faster horse and carriage”. But Henry Ford
invented the car, a revolutionary solution and much better than any
solution than his customers could have dreamed of.
• Ask open-ended questions and DO NOT provide examples of answers:
Ask questions that allow respondents to provide any answer they want. Do
not give them examples of possible answers, even if you want to be helpful.
‣ For example, “How do you get news about what is happening around
Pakistan?” is a good open-ended question. But if you provide examples
(“For example, by newspaper, by internet, through family and friends,
through radio”), you ruin the question because this provides answers
for the respondent.
‣ Keep the question as open as possible to all the answers a respondent
might provide – they can surprise you!

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 Notes

Section 8: Guide to Photography

This is a set of instructions for how to take photos for each interview and/
or activity. Note that:

1. You are expected to take 10 to 30 photos per interview, from

multiple angles – the more photos the better, security permitting.
2.At the end of taking photos for a particular interview or activity (eg.
shadowing, observation, service trial, etc), take a photo of a piece of
paper with the Respondent Code on it.
3.You will be sharing your photos with the Research Manager at each
workshop.

Key Themes
These are the key types of pictures that we want.

People
• People getting information from (eg. listening to, reading, watching, etc)
media channels: radio, newspapers, mobile phones, TVs, computers
‣ Individual people
‣ Groups of people
• People using technology to do something (eg. writing, typing, speaking into,
etc): radio, newspapers, mobile phones, TVs, computers, etc
‣ Individual people
‣ Groups of people

Materials
• Physical objects that are relevant to people’s information seeking, creating,
or sharing habits:
‣ Telephones
‣ Mobile phones
‣ Newspapers
‣ Pens
‣ Computers
‣ Letters
‣ Banners
‣ Wall chalking

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 Notes
Environments
• Public places where people gather to talk, meet, and socialize
‣ Restaurants
‣ Bazaars
‣ Streets
‣ Villages
‣ Houses
• Public places where people go to get information
‣ Cyber cafe
‣ Village meetings
‣ Hujras
‣ Mosques
• Locations where interviews are talking place
‣ In a private home
‣ In a shop
‣ In a restaurant
‣ In an open space

Design Research
• Researchers doing fieldwork
‣ Traveling to different locations
‣ Conducting interviews and having conversations
‣ Taking notes
‣ Speaking to groups
‣ Shadowing a user
‣ Doing observation
‣ Trying a service
• Researchers post-fieldwork
‣ Writing notes
‣ Doing synthesis with Post-It notes
‣ Team meetings

Photography Tips
These are some tips on how to take photographs.

Preparing for taking photos...

• Practice with your camera or phone camera so you know how to use it
properly.

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• Don't use a flash unless absolutely necessary.
• Check battery levels and memory card every night to make sure there is
enough battery or memory for you to take photos the next day.

When approaching your respondent or location...

• Always be ready. Have your camera easily accessible, but introduce the
camera slowly.
‣ After introductions and small talk, once the interview has progressed a
little, move the camera to your hands to introduce it to the situation in
a slow way, not suddenly.
‣ Place the camera on a table or "neutral" area in front of the respondent
to let them see it before you begin taking photos. If you start slow and
gain their trust, you will likely be able to take photos more freely and
respectfully.
‣ Always ask for permission to take photographs. Agreeing to be
interviewed does not mean agreeing to be photographed.
‣ Once permission is gained, start slow and take general photos (eg.
the environment, the home) before taking more specific photos
(eg. people).
• Show your respondent the photos at the end of the session. Help them
look through the photos, can offer to delete any ones they wish.

When composing your photos...

• Take many photos of each situation, from multiple angles so that we can
get the entire perspective of each interview or interaction.
• Take photos of not just the people, but of the environment as well as well
as any other details relevant to your observation.
• Take photos of any identifying details (eg. street signs, relevant
landmarks, or other materials) that can also help us place where the
location is.
• Shoot “natural” portraits of respondents being interviewed. Do not pose
your respondents for photographs – we want to see them in action (eg.
talking, doing activities), not smiling for the camera.
• Look for positions and gestures that show a respondents’ emotion.
Happiness, frustration, confusion, and anger can be felt through facial
expressions – we want to see this.
• Take photos from eye level with your respondent – do not stand above
them and shoot down.
• Get as close as you can to your subject when you are taking photos. We
want to see as much of them as possible, and less of the space around them.

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