[Format for document title: 2016 xx xx Interview at xx:xx ET]
#Interview with NAME or NAMES / AGENCY, PROGRAM — DATE
##Introduction
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.
I'm working with our education and training support team, called Learn, to help them explore what kinds of educational opportunities might be most helpful for our partner agencies and others working within the digital space inside the federal government.
We’d like to ask you a few questions about your experience so we can understand the problem space a little better. You don’t have to answer any question you don’t want to answer and we can stop at any point. We’ll share our results publicly but we won’t connect your responses to your name or agency.
Any questions or concerns before we begin?
###Innovator questions
Adapt these questions as you see fit.
####Context
Can you tell us about your role at {agency} and the goals of what you’re working on?
We’ve heard a bit about your work at {agency}, but for the purposes of this interview, can you tell us the story from the beginning?
Who do you work with? (get as specific as possible)
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
What kinds of resistance did you encounter?
What groups were involved?
How did you overcome that resistance?
If you had a magic wand and could get everyone at your agency [or in your program] to understand one thing that would make your lives easier, what would that be?
####Education-specific questions
These questions are aimed at helping us understand what kinds of education would appeal to agencies.
Do you provide any training or education yourself? What do you provide? What format do you use? (probe)
Do you recommend or require any external training or resources for people you work with?
What topics does the education cover? Why did you decide on that? (probe until you uncover the benefit they believed they’d see)
Who participates in the training? (get as specific as possible)
Do you encounter any resistance to taking the training? What reasons do people give?
Are there people who haven’t taken the training but you wish would? Why? (probe until you uncover the benefit that they believe they’d see if this happened)
What format is the training in? Have you tried any other formats? (If relevant, why did you change?)
What platforms are you using for the training?
What impact have you noticed coming from the training?
Is there something you wish you could cover in your training that you currently can’t? What would this allow you to accomplish?
####Referrals
You mentioned that you work a lot with certain groups [list kinds of people], would you be willing to introduce us to a few people from those groups so we can talk to them as well? This will help us get different perspectives and get a fuller picture overall.
(If they’ve offered training) Would you be willing to introduce us to a couple of your past students so we could talk to them?
###Student questions
Potential learners aren’t necessarily people who have taken a training, but are people who have worked with others who are leading innovation changes. Potential learners may have learned things along the way, may have felt like they’ve encountered situations that felt uncomfortable or unfamiliar, or may have resisted efforts to try new things.
Can you tell us about your role at {agency} and the goals of what you’re working on?
Can you tell me about your experience working with {referring project or team}? We know a little bit about this, but for the purposes of this interview, can you tell us the story from the beginning?
Can you tell us about a point when you felt uncomfortable with the way things were going?
What happened? How did it get resolved?
Who did you work with? (get as specific as possible)
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Did you participate in any training that proved relevant to this work? What topics did it cover?
How did it present the material? What format was it in? How well did that work for you?
If you were to change one thing about the training, what would that be?
Within the timeline of this project, when did the training happen?
##Wrap-up
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. We really appreciate it.
Who else should we talk to about this?
Do you have any questions? Or are there any topics we covered that you’d like to discuss in more detail?
Excellent! Have a great day.