Method
Interviews with subject matter experts to learn about a topic.
Purpose
- To learn about an unfamiliar topic or subject area.
- To collect ideas from people familiar with challenges in a particular area.
What you get
- Insights into a problem space or topic area.
- Feedback on specific aspects of your project or plan.
- Recommendations on who else to engage about your project.
Strengths
- Provides fast understanding of a specialist domain.
- Can help reveal the 'unknown unknowns' around a project or plan.
- Provides an overview of the issues or opportunities that may be discovered through other research.
Weaknesses
- Should not be considered a replacement for community engagement or other discovery research.
- What experts think are issues or opportunities are not always what citizens want, need or expect.
- Experts can find it difficult to imagine solutions that are outside of their area of expertise, and so.
Tips
Ensure you include government and non-government experts in your research. Speaking to them before further research can help inform a research approach. Speaking to them after other research can help validate your understanding.
Tools and resources
Updated