User interview comment (for Startup Garage class)

Project: Redesigning the concept of neighborhood
Interviewer: Mike Duboe
Interviewee: David Liu

Like
-Starting with warm up questions that do not require much thinking, for example, by asking David to describe plain fact about the place he lives, without asking for any specific opinion (which requires more thinking).
-Very casual..lots of joking/laughing

Possible improvement
-When asking if David, as an EV RA, did anything to help people in the apartment to meet one another, David said he tried but it never worked. I think here is a good opportunity to dig deep into the detail about dynamics how people in the neighbor interact. However, Mike let go this opportunity and went back to sort of warm-up question again about time allocation. Mike should have asked follow-questions right away about when David actually did and how, specifically people responded (what kind of people showed up? what are their opinions..etc.).
-Noisy background in the middle of interview...should be more careful about choosing the place for interview;
-When discussing the fact that people in the apartment formed small groups based on ethnicity or thier undegrad schools, David said "They are not open, they should be more open." Again, I think this is a good opportunity to follow-up with detail questions like describing examples that made David think the way he said. Then, once these details are uncovered, Mike can ask David about possible solutions. In this interview, Mike jumped directly to question about possible solution. I think it is difficult for David to think of solutions before he has a chance to recall more specific detail about problems first.
-Before asking if social network will help, Mike should have asked plain background questions about how David and his friends typically use it first.