Apple New MacBook - the Interview Process - Case Study Example

Interview-Apple New MacBook Student’s Name Institution Apple new MacBook The new apple mac book during an Apple event and it was referred to as the thinnest Mac to be produced by the company. The Mac comes in golden color, and it is only 13.1 mm in thickness and weighs about m2.03 pounds, and that’s it makes it lighter compared to MacBook Air. It contains a 12 inch diagonal LED-backlit Retina which displays a larger screen. The new Mac book includes stereo speakers with a high level of sound, and the speakers have hidden the vents near the hinge (Andre et al, 2009). The keyboard is another key feature that defines this new product which is 34 % more slender and utilizations another butterfly component to give keys that are more exact and as per Apple the "stainless steel arch switches situated underneath every key convey a fresh and responsive feel when writing. There is a touch trackpad in the new apple mac book; this is inbuilt force sensors that give the user a chance to customize the trackpad based on the pressure exerted. However, despite the many advantages there numerous disadvantages that can be identified from the product (Andre et al, 2009). The most evident one is the Mac book speed where it comes with a 1.3GHz dual-core fifth-generation Intel Core M processor in respect to the price that it commands in the market. This paper aims to conduct an interview on to one of the users of this product in to get an in-depth understanding of the product. Reflect on the interview process The interview with the chosen user will be held at Melbourne Monash University Caulfield campus. The interview will be structured as follows; the first step will be based on the aspect of Apple MacBook background and current information. The second step will be on how the interview will be conducted where the interviewer will start over with the broad questions and get interviewee talking. There will be a set time for the interview and although the completion of the session will greatly depend on whether the time limit is reached, information relevance and information overload. The final step will be on interview closing, and it will involve recap of the main points, identifying the areas of concern, sharing personal views with the interviewer and thanking the respondent for making time for the interview. In-depth interview depends mainly on qualitative research technique and involves conducting an intensive individual interview. The interview comprises of a few number of participants whom perspectives on a particular product are taken (Guion, Diehl, & McDonald, 2001). For instance, in this case, the interviewer will ask selected new apple mac book users about their experiences as well as expectations related to the product. The outcomes and changes they would like to be done on the product will dominate the interview. This in-depth interview will be appropriate in that they will provide detailed information about the new apple mac book and it will be possible to get the first-hand thoughts of the product users. The interview will be used as a channel to offer a clear and complete picture of the product functionality. There maybe other product users who want to purchase the Mac book, but maybe not sure. Therefore, through an in-depth interview like this, they will be able to get a clear perspective on the mac book user friendliness. The interview is set to take place between small groups of users due to their confirmation that they are comfortable talking openly about the product. Determining the respondents to take part in the interview was no an easy task. This is because the respondent selected were expected to have clear and crucial information about new apple mac book (Guion, Diehl, & McDonald, 2001).. The first thing considered was that this was intended to be an in-depth interview, and it was to take more time compared to other forms structured questionnaires. Therefore, as a typical study, only four respondents were selected among the many users of the new Apple MacBook. In addition, to account for the small sample the selected respondents were supposed to have well informed about the product in order to provide relevant information. Questioning technique The interview questions were open-ended whereby the questions asked gave the interviewee a chance to give more information on the subject matter (Geer, 1991). In this case, the factual questions will be asked d first and then the opinion questions will follow. The following question was the ones that respondents reacted to; Is this the first time to purchase an apple mac book? How can you describe your interaction between these products? What are some the key feature that makes prefer mac book over other company products What do you find special about this mac book compared to earlier Mac book products Are there some challenges you encounter while using this new Mac book. Describe any safety concern Do you believe that the selling price of this new mac book corresponds to the features of the product? How can you describe this relationship? The technique was new for most experienced professionals one of the initial planning decision considered was on the need for a resource person. This was as a result of the fact the investigator felt that he was not fully equipped with information on the product. The resources available to conduct the study and the size of the study were considered as well. This was a study with limited resources. Thus the method relied on similar interviews that required limited resources. The interview was faced with a number of challenges. Some of these challenges were biases in the interview responses. The respondents could have given out some biased information having in mind that they are loyal customers of Apple products (Talja, 1999). However, every effort put into the interview was used to come up with a data collection design in a way that ensured minimal bias. Time intensive; this was another challenge encountered the time used to conduct the interview was not fully enough to collect all the available information, transcribe and analyse the results. Lack of enough knowledge on mac book among the interviewer was a challenge. This may have contributed to a situation where the respondents were not fully comfortable and interested in what they were saying. The manner in which the questions were directed to each and needed to dig deeper into the situation was hard as well. Data generalization was impossible: The interview was an in-depth one, and generalization of the results is in most cases not to be made due to small samples were chosen. However, the interview provided significant information, particularly while supplementing other forms of data collection (Hollway, & Jefferson, 1997). It is clear that the sample size general rule for interviews implies that when the same issues, themes, and topics emerge from interviewees, then a sample size that is sufficient has been obtained. User needs There were various latent and explicit user needs identified from the interview. These were based on emotional benefits. This was basically on how the users felt about the MacBook from an inner context. The functional user benefit was another latent aspect. This was all about how the respondents felt about the functionality of the MacBook on their needs for the machine. Basically, it was on what the MacBook gives back to the user. The product benefit was also evident; in this case, the context was on how the user felt on what the product does for him or her in general. Finally, it was the features and attributes or tangibles that lead to the MacBook benefits (Hollway, & Jefferson, 1997). Respondents highlighted some advantages that they received from the product, and there are those that benefits that affected the users personally. The key idea here with the latent and explicit aspects is that the MacBook confers both technical and functional benefits to the user. Results Comprehensive analysis The comprehensive analysis of the interview data depended on reviewing the interview records as well as taking notes in order to keep track of the findings that emerged in the interview. There was a written record, and the overwhelming quantity of data that required to be analysed required a lot of seriousness (Baxter, & Eyles, 1997). Data collected was organized by questions asked in the interview whereby in this strategy the notes were recorded as answers to questions; this implies that the respondent’s remarks relating to the questions asked. Keeping in mind that the interview followed the conversation flow than a script and questions are likely to be answered in diverse points during the interview (Taylor, Bogdan, & DeVault, 2015). Therefore, in this case, any additional remark from the respondents relating to the question asked was recorded in the same place even if the question emerged later in the interview. Comprehensive analysis of the data was organized by theme whereby all comments that spoke to a certain theme either predetermined and emerged in the course of the interview were grouped together irrespective of the question they related to. For instance, under the safety concerns while using new apple mac book comments about safety in response were included in the question on the selling price of this new mac book in correspondent to the features of the product. In another case the two strategies discussed were used concurrently were the analysis was organized by question and then a switch was taken to a thematic strategy as themes appear over the course of the interviews. Apart from the main comprehensive analysis used there were other strategies used as well and included aspects such as; the words being used, this basically focused on what the respondents’ way of communication. In an interview people tend to speak more far beyond their intentions and paying attention to their words connotation was beneficial (Taylor, Bogdan, & DeVault, 2015). Watching out for ambiguous words helped get multiple meanings of an answer from numerous respondents especially on the same question. In a qualitative research, it is challenging to know the amount of time to pay towards numerous questions. This is in terms of determining the major and minor findings, frequency and how often an issue comes across during the interview. All these aspects were analysed based on the two primary analysis strategies used and helped to capture any emerging issues that were similar to all respondents’ answers to the questions. Interview Data Interpretation The answers that the respondents gave to almost all the interview questions asked were corresponding. All the respondents said that it was not their first time to purchase or use the apple mac book. This implied that they were all loyal customers of the Apple products. Their interaction with the product was regarded as well based on the functionality of the product. According to the respondents, the feature that makes them prefer mac book over other company products were highlighted as the massive redesign that the mac book has received such as the thin and light feature of the mac book that makes it easily portable compared to the predecessors. The laptop also contains the touch ready OLED display that replaces the whole function key row atop the keyboard. The shallower curves of the mac book all around the edges, track pad that is wider and pressure sensitive and a keyboard that is flatter emerged among all the respondents (Spiggle,.1994). The OLED touch panel for display referred to as dynamic function raw has been used to replace the physical functionalities of the keys found on top of the keyboard. The speed of the machine was also acknowledged where its transfer and operations are fast making it increasingly convenient to its users. The product is new in the market, and with a change in the functionally keys and organization. Challenges on how to apply certain features in the laptop posed some difficulties among the users. Some of the respondents felt that there is a need for increasingly detailed user manual on the product. However, others acknowledged the challenge and confirmed that as they continue to use the laptop, they will get used to all the features and learn how to use them with any problem (Marie, 2011). The price of the new Apple MacBook is relatively high, and respondents felt that some safety issues where arise having in mind that it is an expensive asset that can easily entice robbers. Apart from this external safety concern, issues with data loss due to memory and hardware calls were not factored and the respondents felt that through the professional engineering of the product aspects like those were not likely to occur. The selling price of this new mac book and the new features of the product correspond. The mac book comes along with creativity apps that facilitate productivity and things that people undertakes on a daily basis such as surfing sending emails and calendar organization. The battery life and the speed of the MacBook would not be achievable through the rectangular batteries. Therefore, with features like these, the users felt that MacBook save them time and additional expenses from power and replacement of items such as batteries. Time was factored in whereby the massive speed and functionality of the MacBook save time and makes work easier. In this regard, the respondents differ a little bit on the price of the mac book although they felt that price is not that too high (Marie, 2011). The in-depth analysis seemed beneficial because the interview was able to dig deeper and got almost every relevant detail on the interview questions. In other words, the benefits, especially the emotional ones, are intrinsically unquantifiable. This makes it more likely for the MacBook users to be willing to pay more for your product, due to the fact that they cannot continually put a price tag on how a product makes them feel. Reference List Andre, B. K., Coster, D. J., De Iuliis, D., Hankey, E., Howarth, R. P., Ive, J. P., ... & Russell-Clarke, P. (2009). U.S. Patent No. D606,988. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Baxter, J., & Eyles, J. (1997). Evaluating qualitative research in social geography: establishing ‘rigour’in interview analysis. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 22(4), 505-525. Geer, J. G. (1991). Do open-ended questions measure “salient” issues?.Public opinion quarterly, 55(3), 360-370. Guion, L. A., Diehl, D. C., & McDonald, D. (2001). Conducting an In-depth Interview1. Hollway, W., & Jefferson, T. (1997). Eliciting narrative through the in-depth interview. Qualitative Inquiry, 3(1), 53-70. Marie, A. (2011). 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