Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Participation/First Language Interviews FAQ

Mozilla is looking towards creating a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Participation. In an effort to make this process language-inclusive, we are conducting focus groups and 1:1 interviews in various languages apart from English.

If you are a Mozillian and a non-native English speaker, we would like to have your support in conducting interviews and focus groups in your native language (referred to as first-language henceforth). If you are interested, please contact Emma Irwin at eirwin@mozilla.com

Which languages are focus groups and first language interviews already being held in ?

Focus groups and interviews are currently being conducted in English, French, Spanish, Albanian, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Interviewers can help in conducting focus groups and interviews in these languages as well as in other first languages.

I am interested in conducting first language interviews and/or focus groups in my local community. How should I proceed ?

Here are some suggested steps for first language interviewers on how to proceed :

1. Select which script/topic you want to use.
2. Read best practices and Interviewing for Mozilla
3. Schedule a call (link to form) with someone from the working group who has already conducted an interview to learn from their experiences. This will also ensure that the script/topic you want to use is the right one.
4. Ensure you have attended at least one Interview Training Session (link to how one can request to attend one (?)).
5. Document your questions in your first language, and add to the folder for translation.
6. If possible ask for someone else to review your translation.
7. Schedule your focus group, using an email similar to this one.
8. Add your focus group to the shared Calendar, so we can keep track of when your interview is scheduled.
9. Conduct your focus group using the note-taking format here.
10. Translate your notes into an English version of the notes document.
11. Email Emma & Larissa with link to English version and to the interviewees from the interview/focus group (if you feel this is important or they would like to have the English version).

What are focus groups and where can I learn more about them ?

A focus group consists of interviews in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a particular issue. Participants in Mozilla focus groups usually have a common thread binding them i.e. are all female, are all from India etc. If you want to know more about how focus groups work -here's a great resource.

What is the ideal size of a focus group ?

Focus groups can have 3 – 10 participants. However, we find that interviewers and participants are able to engage well in focus groups of size up to 5 participants.

What is the ideal duration for an interview and/or focus group ?

Length of focus groups and interviews usually depend on availability of the interviewer and the participants. Most of the 1:1 interviews in English have been 1 hour long. However, we have had focus groups run up to 2 hours long Focus groups and interviews take time so it is not advisable to have a rigid plan in place. Instead, it is important to connect with the participants/interviewee and learn about their experiences during interviews and focus groups - hence, the interviewer should try their best to make the participants/interviewee feel as comfortable as possible. One way of ensuring this is by not rushing through the questions as an interviewer and making the interviewee feel as “though” a strict script is being followed.

How should interviewers decide whether to conduct focus groups or 1:1 interviews ?

It would be depend on participants’ preference whether to want to be a part of focus group or would prefer a 1:1 interview. Interviewers can conduct a focus group if the participant is comfortable with participation in a focus group and if there exists a focus group where the participant would be a good fit or if there exists a sufficient number of participants to form a focus group.

Which script should should interviewers use?

We currently have five different scripts for interviews and focus groups. The interview script should be decided on basis of background (contribution area, demographics eg. gender, language, country etc) of the interviewee, especially related to Mozilla Community. Here is a brief overview of the five scripts and their target areas :

• General - ideal for 1:1 interviews, in-person or groups with high comfort level speaking openly and honestly about diversity & inclusion.
• Events - Focus on insights for inclusive event design.
• Participation Design - Insights, ideas, intuition about how we can better design contributor engagement, and sustained participation for diverse groups.
• Participation - Who is in our community now, who are we missing, technical/non-technical experiences and so on.
• Regional Leadership - (leaders isn’t always the right word) Mentorship, mobilization and what it means to organize local communities for success.

Can interviewers use machine translations to translate interview scripts in English to first language ones, and how accurate is it?

Machine translations are encouraged to be used if the interviewer can speak both languages (english and native) fluently as the interviewer can work on verifying the validity of machine-translated sentences (i.e. have machine translations of interview scripts and/or notes and work on the sentences where machine translation feels very very wrong, or there isn’t a specific translation describe what the term means in the language the word is being translated into). Machine translations have advanced in terms of quality (38% better quality than previous versions) and are a good tool to use for translations of interviews -- they are the quickest turnaround option. Alternatively, you can also ask localization members from Mozilla community for their support. (dev-l10n@lists.mozilla.org )

Is there anything else interviewer should ask,apart from questions mentioned in the script ?

The script is supposed to provide a basic skeleton for interview questions. However, interviewers can modify the script by adding or deleting questions based on factors like time availability or interviewee engagement. Ideally, the questions should be geared towards seeking a deeper understanding of D&I based on the experience of interviewee in Mozilla community. Here are a few example questions that seek to draw greater understanding of language diversity at Mozilla:

1. How comfortable are you with [reading/speaking/writing] in the English language?
2. From a language barrier perspective, how easy do you find it to contribute to different parts of the Mozilla Project?

If interviewee uses some slang terms in the answers, should I include as they are?

Interviewers should ensure interviewees are able to speak and express themselves using words they feel most comfortable with. However, interviewers should take notes which don't include slang words. Use simple words if possible, though there might be some unique words due to the nature of the scripts.

Should the interviewee check the answers after the interview is done?

If it feels important and time allows - interviewers may want to cross-check responses in their native language and/or English with the interviewee to avoid issues related to interpretation and translation.

What if the interviewees speak with a different accent than me, which is tough to understand ?

If you are interviewing with people who speak the same language but have different accents (which might make it hard to understand), you can consider an interpreter on both sides, but only if this results in higher quality discussion than switching to English.

I am an interviewer. An interviewee just described an experience in Mozilla community which is a serious violation of the Community Participation Guidelines. What should I do?

In such cases, interviewers should inform the interviewee about contacting Emma Irwin from Mozilla Participation Team to report such violations, who would then look further into the matter.

What are some other resources I could look into to conduct a successful focus group and/or interview?

We currently have a guide for best practices to conduct first language interviews and focus groups here.

Personal Suggestions from other first language interviewers

Kristi Progri, conducting first language interviews and focus groups in Albanian

• What I usually do during the interviews in native language, is that I let them write the answers in papers (with bullet points), and then after they are done, they start to read their own notes and comment them longer, in this way they do not lose any important thought and express themselves fully. (I do not take the notes so everything is private and anonymous). It's a process that doesn't take more then 10-15 min

Bhagyashree Padalkar, conducting first language interviews and focus groups in Hindi

• If possible, it would be helpful to have two contributors (a primary interviewer and a note-taker) conducting the interviews instead of one. This not only reduces the load on the contributors conducting the interview but might also help reduce any bias in the notes due to personal experiences of contributor conducting the interview.

Subhashish Panigrahi, training experienced Mozillians to conduct first language interviews and focus groups in Telugu

• Explaining some parts of the script (like the frameworks in Participation Design Script) would be best if left up to the discretion of the interviewer to explain to the participants i.e. based on constraints like time availability, inquisitiveness of the interviewer to understand motivation behind the questions etc.
• Subhashish also talked about gender playing an important role in interviews. Same sex interviewers and interviewees tend to feel more comfortable with each other, especially if the interviewee is having trouble opening up. This can vary from culture to culture though.