System and method for building and managing user experience for computer software interfaces

1. A portable interview capture tool for use by an interviewer, comprising:

a first memory for storing an interview template comprising a plurality of interview items, each interview item containing an associated interview question to be potentially asked by the interviewer, the interview template storing information about an order in which at least one subset of the interview items are to be processed during an interview;

a second memory configured to store interview data obtained during the interview;

a graphical user interface comprising an input control for modifying an interview question from open-ended to multiple-choice based on previously received responses from one or more interviewees; and

a control program configured to:

control the first and second memories and the graphical user interface;

display, via the graphical user interface, a sequence of interview questions according to the order in which the at least one subset of the interview items are to be processed;

receive responses, via the graphical user interface, to ones of the sequence of the interview questions; and

store the responses as interview data in the second memory.

2. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , wherein:

each open-ended interview question requires a free-text response from an interviewee; and

the control program is configured to, in response to a user command received via the input control of the graphical user interface:

receive, via the graphical user interface, the free-text response from the interviewee; and

modify the open-ended interview question to a multiple-choice interview question pre-populated with the received free-text response.

3. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , wherein the information about the order in which the at least one subset of the interview items are to be processed during an interview includes at least one conditional branch, wherein the branch condition comprises at least a portion of a received response to an interview question.

4. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , further comprising:

a video input port configured to receive a video signal comprising at least one of a still image and a motion video;

wherein the control program is configured to:

receive the video signal via the video input port; and

store at least a portion of the received video signal as interview data in the second memory in timed correlation with the responses stored in the second memory.

5. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , further comprising:

an audio input port;

wherein the control program is configured to:

receive an audio signal via the audio input port; and

store at least a portion of the received audio signal as interview data in the second memory in timed correlation with the responses stored in the second memory.

6. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , further comprising:

an audio input port configured to receive an audio signal;

an automatic speech recognizer configured to recognize speech within the audio signal and to provide corresponding recognized speech and a level of confidence in accuracy of the recognized speech;

wherein the control program is configured to display the recognized speech as text on the graphical user interface, such that a display attribute of the text depends on the level of confidence.

7. The portable interview capture tool of claim claim 6 , wherein the control program is configured to store at least a portion of the recognized speech as at least a portion of a response in the interview data in the second memory.

8. The portable interview capture tool of claim 6 , wherein the control program is configured to store at least a portion of the recognized speech in timed correlation with the responses stored in the second memory.

9. The portable interview capture tool of claim 6 , wherein the control program is configured to:

receive a user command, via the graphical user interface, the command delimiting a portion of the recognized speech displayed as text; and

store the delimited portion of the recognized speech as at least a portion of a response in the interview data in the second memory.

10. The portable interview capture tool of claim 9 , wherein the control program is configured to:

receive, via the graphical user interface, a user input specifying metadata; and

store the specified metadata and associate the stored metadata with the stored portion of the recognized speech, wherein the metadata identifies one of the interview items.

11. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , wherein the control program is configured to:

receive text entered via a keyboard as at least one of the responses and store the received text as interview data in the second memory;

receive, via the graphical user interface, a user input specifying metadata; and

store the specified metadata and associate the stored metadata with the stored text, wherein the metadata identifies one of the interview items.

12. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , wherein the control program is configured to automatically store metadata and associate the stored metadata with the interview data in the second memory, and wherein the metadata comprises information about a context in which the responses to the interview questions were received.

13. The portable interview capture tool of claim 12 , wherein the metadata comprises at least one of: a date on which the responses were received, an identification of the interviewer and an identification of a research project.

14. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , wherein:

the control program is configured to receive, via the graphical user interface, information about a scenario involving an interviewee; and

store the received scenario information as interview data in the second memory.

15. A computer-implemented method for capturing interview responses, the method comprising:

storing, in a first memory, an interview template comprising a plurality of interview items, each interview item containing an associated interview question to be potentially asked by the interviewer, the interview template storing information about an order in which at least a subset of the interview items are to be processed during an interview;

displaying, via a graphical user interface, a sequence of interview questions corresponding to the plurality of interview items according to the order in which the at least the subset of the interview items are to be processed, wherein the graphical user interface comprises an input control for modifying an interview question from open-ended to multiple-choice based on previously received responses from one or more interviewees;

receiving responses, via the graphical user interface, to ones of the sequence of the interview questions; and

storing the responses as interview data in a second memory.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

each open-ended interview question requires a free-text response from an interviewee; and further comprising:

in response to a user command received via the input control of the graphical user interface:

receiving, via the graphical user interface, a the free-text response from the interviewee; and

modifying the open-ended interview question to a multiple-choice interview question pre-populated with the received free-text response.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the information about the order in which the at least one subset of the interview items are to be processed during an interview includes at least one conditional branch, wherein the branch condition comprises at least a portion of a received response to an interview question; and

displaying the sequence of the interview questions comprises conditionally branching according to the order in which the at least the subset of the interview items are to be processed.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving a video signal; and

storing at least a portion of the received video signal as interview data in the second memory in timed correlation with the responses stored in the second memory.

19. The method of o claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving an audio signal; and

storing at least a portion of the received audio signal as interview data in the second memory in timed correlation with the responses stored in the second memory.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

automatically recognizing speech within an audio signal and providing corresponding recognized speech and a level of confidence in accuracy of the recognized speech;

displaying the recognized speech as text on the graphical user interface, such that a display attribute of the text depends on the level of confidence.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising storing at least a portion of the recognized speech as at least a portion of a response in the interview data in the second memory.

22. The method of claim 20 , further comprising storing at least a portion of the recognized speech in timed correlation with the responses stored in the second memory.

23. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

receiving a user command, via the graphical user interface, the command delimiting a portion of the recognized speech displayed as text; and

storing the delimited portion of the recognized speech as at least a portion of a response in the interview data in the second memory.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:

receiving, via the graphical user interface, a user input specifying metadata; and

storing the specified metadata and associating the stored metadata with the stored portion of the recognized speech, wherein the metadata identifies one of the interview items.

25. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving text entered via a keyboard as at least one of the responses and storing the received text as interview data in the second memory;

receiving, via the graphical user interface, a user input specifying metadata; and

storing the specified metadata and associating the stored metadata with the stored text, wherein the metadata identifies one of the interview items.

26. The method of claim 15 , further comprising automatically storing metadata and automatically associating the stored metadata with the interview data in the second memory, wherein the metadata comprises information about a context in which the responses to the interview questions were received.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the metadata comprises at least one of: a date on which the responses were received, an identification of the interviewer and an identification of a research project.

28. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving, via the graphical user interface, information about a scenario involving an interviewee; and

storing the received scenario information as interview data in the second memory.

29. A computer program product for providing capturing interview responses, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer readable program code stored thereon, the computer readable program code configured to:

store, in a first memory, an interview template comprising a plurality of interview items, each interview item containing an associated interview question to be potentially asked by an interviewer, the interview template storing information about an order in which at least one subset of the interview items are to be processed during an interview;

display, via a graphical user interface, a sequence of the interview questions according to the order in which the at least one subset of the interview items are to be processed, wherein the graphical user interface comprises an input control for modifying an interview question from open-ended to multiple-choice based on previously received responses from one or more interviewees;

receive responses, via the graphical user interface, to ones of the sequence of the interview questions; and

store the responses as interview data in a second memory.

30. The portable interview capture tool of claim 1 , wherein modifying the interview question from open-ended to multiple-choice occurs during the interview.