# Search Intent Interview Notes

Compare what people say they need with the queries, result choices, page behavior, vocabulary, and follow-up searches they use during a real task.

## Usage note

Use this worksheet with voluntary participants and an approved observation setup. Do not ask them to reveal private searches, account details, or sensitive history. A session offers contextual evidence about one task; it does not prove how all searchers behave or justify creating several pages that target minor wording variations.

## How to use this template

1. Define the research decision, target task, recruitment criteria, consent, and safe observation method.
2. Ask about the triggering situation and desired outcome before exposing any suggested query language.
3. Capture queries, expected result, selection cues, page behavior, reformulations, and outcome in sequence.
4. Separate participant statements and observed actions from researcher interpretation.
5. Synthesize across sessions, compare existing content, and recommend one coherent change tied to evidence and validation.

## Blank template

### Session context

- **Research question:** [What content or search decision will this inform?]
- **Participant code:** [Non-identifying label]
- **Task and trigger:** [What happened before search?]
- **Desired outcome:** [What would make the search useful?]
- **Prior knowledge:** [What did the participant already believe?]
- **Constraints:** [Time, device, location, language, access, or another]
- **Consent and capture:** [Observation, recording, and retention agreement]
- **Session date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]

### Search sequence

- **First query:** [Exact query if safely captured]
- **Expected result:** [What did the participant hope to find?]
- **Result cues noticed:** [Titles, source, date, snippet, format, or another]
- **Selected result:** [Which one and participant’s stated reason]
- **First page action:** [What they scanned or attempted]
- **Expectation mismatch:** [What differed from the result promise]
- **Reformulated query:** [New words or constraints]
- **Reason for reformulation:** [Participant statement or researcher inference]
- **Stopping point:** [Why search ended or paused]

### Evidence discipline

- [ ] The interviewer did not introduce the target keyword before the first query.
- [ ] Direct observations and participant statements are labeled separately.
- [ ] Researcher interpretations are marked as inferences.
- [ ] Private, unrelated search history was not collected.
- [ ] Position is not treated as the only reason for selection.
- [ ] Failed and abandoned paths remain in the notes.

### Synthesis and content action

- **Underlying need:** [Situation, decision, and constraint]
- **Vocabulary pattern:** [Words used, expected, or misunderstood]
- **Required information:** [What must the content answer?]
- **Trust or selection cues:** [Supported by session evidence]
- **Current coverage:** [Page or gap]
- **Recommended action:** [Improve, combine, create, retitle, link, or no change]
- **Cannibalization check:** [Could an existing page own this intent?]
- **Validation plan:** [How the change will be tested]
- **Confidence and limitation:** [What this session can and cannot show]