All frameworks and cheat sheets

Process

Critical incident technique interview phases

How to run a critical incident technique interview in four phases

Process of the four critical incident technique interview phases: priming, incident elicitation, impact assessment and pattern reflection.
Plan 30 to 60 minutes and 3 to 5 incidents per interview.

The four phases of a critical incident technique (CIT) interview, with the time each one takes. A typical session runs 30 to 60 minutes and covers 3 to 5 incidents. Use it to plan a study that collects specific remembered events instead of general opinions. Koji's AI interviewer can run the same flow and probe when answers are vague.

Where this appears

What's in this process

  1. Situation priming, 5 minutes: Ask for specific stories, not general opinions.
  2. Incident elicitation: 15 to 20 minutes per incident. Walk through what happened, what triggered it and what came next.
  3. Impact assessment: 5 minutes per incident. Ask how big the moment was and whether it changed how they use the product.
  4. Pattern reflection, 10 minutes: After 3 to 5 incidents, ask if they were typical.

Use this image

Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:

html
<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/critical-incident-technique-interview-phases"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/critical-incident-technique-interview-phases/critical-incident-technique-interview-phases.png" alt="Process of the four critical incident technique interview phases: priming, incident elicitation, impact assessment and pattern reflection." width="1200" height="630" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/critical-incident-technique-interview-phases">Critical incident technique interview phases</a>, Koji</p>