Quick answer
- Before: participant code, date, role, product area, and whether the participant agreed to recording.
- During: one line per observation, each with a time. Keep quotes, pain points, workarounds, emotions and follow-up questions apart.
- After: up to three insights, the surprises, and links to the evidence.
- The moderator talks; a second person takes the full notes.
User interview note-taking template
Agree how notes and recordings will be used and shared before the session.
Paste the three parts into a document, a spreadsheet or a notebook page. Keep the same fields across sessions for comparison. Leave empty rows in place.
Part 1. Session header (before you start)
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Participant code | P01, P02 and so on. No name, email or employer. |
| Date and session | Date, start time, round and session number. |
| Role | Job or situation in a few words, such as "office manager, small clinic". |
| Product area | The feature, flow or task this session covers. |
| Consent for recording | Yes or no, the form version, and the recording file name if yes. |
| Team | Moderator and note-taker initials. |
Part 2. During the interview
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Timestamped observations | Time, then what the person did or showed: "00:06:40 opens a spreadsheet first". |
| Quotes | Exact words in quotation marks, with the time. |
| Pain points | Where the task slows down or fails, in their words or actions. |
| Workarounds | Tools, notes or steps they use to get around a problem. |
| Emotions | What you see or hear: a sigh, a laugh, "this drives me mad". |
| Questions to follow up | Points to probe later in the session, or in the next round. |
Part 3. After the interview
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Up to three insights | One sentence each, supported by a line in Part 2. Keep interpretations tentative. Do not force three findings if the evidence supports fewer. |
| Surprises | Anything that went against what the team expected. |
| Evidence links | Times in the recording, photo numbers, documents the participant showed. |
Moderator vs note-taker: who writes what
The GOV.UK Service Manual recommends inviting an observer to take the full notes. This lets the moderator focus on the participant while the observer records the session in detail.
| Role | During the session | Writes |
|---|---|---|
| Moderator | Asks the questions and follows up. Keeps eye contact. | A few words per topic and follow-up questions. |
| Note-taker | Listens and watches. Speaks only at the end. | All of Part 2, with times. |
| Both, after | Compare notes before the next session. | Part 3 together. |
If you are alone, record with consent and write only times and short cues. Fill Part 2 from the recording the same day.
How to take notes during a user interview
- Write what they did, not what you think. "Scrolls past the export button twice" is an observation. "Finds export confusing" is your reading of it. The Service Manual says good notes stick to observations "rather than personal interpretations."
- Mark direct quotes with timestamps. Put exact words in quotation marks and the time before them. A paraphrase gets no quotation marks. You can then check each quote against the audio before it goes into a report.
- Keep "said" apart from "did". Nielsen Norman Group classifies interviews as an attitudinal method: they capture what people report, which can differ from what they do. Tag a line "said" when the person describes a habit, and "did" when you watch it happen.
- Write one point per line. The Service Manual asks for notes "based on a single point or observation, so they’re easy to analyse and sort." One line becomes one sticky note in synthesis.
- Fill Part 3 within the hour. Do it before the next session starts, while you still remember the room.
Interview notes example (fictional)
The participant, product and quotes below are invented to show how much to write.
Part 1.
- P03; 2026‑10‑20, 14:00; round 2, session 3.
- Role: office manager at a small dental practice.
- Product area: paying supplier invoices.
- Recording: yes, form v2; file R2-P03.
- Team: moderator JK, note-taker AL.
Part 2.
- 00:04:10 did: opens a spreadsheet before the app. "I check this first, every time."
- 00:07:35 did: copies a supplier code from a sticky note on the monitor.
- Pain point, 00:09:50: two invoices from one supplier look the same in the list.
- Workaround: writes the invoice total on a paper list beside the keyboard.
- Emotion, 00:12:20: laughs, then sighs. "This is the part I dread on Fridays."
- Follow up: who else checks the payments, and when?
Part 3.
- Insights:
- Checks a spreadsheet before opening the app (00:04:10).
- Copies a supplier code from a sticky note (00:07:35).
- Two invoices from one supplier look alike in the list (00:09:50).
- Follow up: why is the spreadsheet checked first, and which record is used to confirm payment?
- Evidence: R2-P03 at the times above; photo 3 of the sticky note, taken with her permission.
UX user interview questions template
The notes template sits next to your discussion guide, not in place of it. Nielsen Norman Group suggests open questions and follow-ups such as:
- "Walk me through a typical day for you."
- "Tell me about the last time you [did something]."
- "How did you feel during this experience?"
Write your own follow-ups for the topic, such as:
- What did you try before this?
- What happened next?
- Who else was involved?
Keep your main questions on the guide and tick each one off as it is covered. Use the "Questions to follow up" row only for new points to probe. For kickoff interviews with managers and product owners, use Stakeholder Interview Template and Questions.
After the session: check quotes and file the evidence
If the participant agreed to recording, listen to each quoted passage and correct the words. The Service Manual’s analysis guide says to make recordings available "so people can confirm their observations and get verbatim quotes." Add the file time to "Evidence links."
Store the notes with the same participant code as the recording and the consent form. Then you can find, or delete, one person's data on request. Setup and storage rules are in How to Record Research Interviews in Person (UX Guide). When all sessions are done, the Part 3 rows feed User Interview Synthesis: Turn Interviews Into Insights.
HOW LOCUS FITS
A transcript to check your quotes against
Locus records on Apple Watch or iPhone, and the iPhone app transfers the recording to your Mac.
The Mac app transcribes it, writes a summary, can remember the voices of people you choose, and answers questions across your recordings. All of that runs on the Mac with local AI; no cloud AI is required. Device transfer can use an encrypted relay, with Remote Access enabled by default. A cloud-synced notes folder still syncs. An external AI service is an optional, separate choice; when it is on, that text leaves the device.
You still fill the template yourself and check every quote against the audio. The app is in preview. It needs a Mac with Apple Silicon M3 or later, 24 GB of unified memory or more, and macOS 27 or later. Watch recordings pass through the paired iPhone app. The built-in route is a paper notebook plus Voice Memos.
Join the waitlistQuestions people ask
What should be included in user interview notes?
Start with a header: participant code, date, role, product area, and whether the participant agreed to recording. During the session, write timestamped observations, exact quotes, pain points, workarounds, emotions and questions to follow up. After it, write up to three evidence-linked insights, the surprises, and links to the evidence. Use the same fields for every session so you can compare them later.
How do you take notes during a user interview?
Write one observation per line, with the time in front. Record what the person did and said, not what you think it means. Put exact words in quotation marks and keep paraphrases without them. Tag reported habits as "said" and watched actions as "did". Fill in the insights within an hour of the session, while you still remember it clearly.
Should the moderator take notes in a user interview?
Only brief ones. The GOV.UK Service Manual suggests you invite an observer who can act as note-taker. Then the moderator can focus on the participant, and the team still gets one full set of notes. If alone, record with consent and complete notes that day.
What is an example of good user interview notes?
A good line has a time, an action or exact words, and no opinion: "00:07:35 did: copies a supplier code from a sticky note on the monitor." A weak line reads "she finds codes annoying", because it mixes your reading into the record. Good notes end with up to three evidence-linked insights, and each insight points back to the times that support it.
Can Locus help with user interview notes?
With the participant's consent to record, it can give you a transcript and a summary of each session. Locus records on Apple Watch or iPhone. Watch recordings pass through the paired iPhone app before reaching your Mac. The Mac app transcribes and summarizes them with local AI. Device transfer can use an encrypted relay, with Remote Access enabled by default. A cloud-synced notes folder still syncs. You still fill in the template yourself and check every quote against the audio. The app is in preview.
Sources
- Taking notes and recording user research sessions (GOV.UK Service Manual) — note-takers, observations not interpretations, one point per note, checked 2026‑10‑28.
- User Interviews 101 (Nielsen Norman Group, Maria Rosala and Kara Pernice) — reported behavior, open questions and follow-ups, checked 2026‑10‑28.
- Analyse a research session (GOV.UK Service Manual) — using recordings to confirm observations and get verbatim quotes, checked 2026‑10‑28.