Method guide · Progress through phases
Seven Questions
Compare views of the future through reciprocal interviews covering seven perspectives.
- People
- 2–20
- Base procedure time
- 60 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Explore through dialogue; Generate ideas.
English guide
Text acceptance is not approval of this rendered page, its media, or publication.
How this method works
A method for comparing views of the future through reciprocal one-to-one interviews using seven perspectives. Use it when only loud voices shape future visions, hopes and concerns become mixed, or organisational assumptions need to be understood before research. Limit questions to what continues from the present, desired change, change to avoid, surprising change, first signals, exploration needed, and current choices. Listeners offer only brief clarification, not evaluation or advice. The result is seven-field answers, shared perceptions, conflicting assumptions, and questions to explore next. Do not treat interviewees as representative of others or use it for personnel evaluation where psychological safety cannot be secured.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Define the interview scope0–5 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Define. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Listen to the first person5–25 minutes from the start (20 minutes)
Action: Listen. Participation: Pairs.
Individual record
- Switch roles and listen25–45 minutes from the start (20 minutes)
Action: Switch. Participation: Pairs.
Individual record
- Compare answers45–55 minutes from the start (10 minutes)
Action: Compare. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
- Record exploration questions55–60 minutes from the start (5 minutes)
Action: Record. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 5 minutes, define one subject and future period and agree who may see the answers.
- For 3 minutes, assign speaker and listener roles in each pair and distribute one question-card set and answer-sheet set.
- For 17 minutes, the listener asks in the order of continuity, hopes, concerns, surprise, signals, exploration, and choices.
- For 20 minutes, switch roles and record the second person’s answers on a separate sheet without evaluation.
- For 5 minutes, each pair selects one shared perception and one conflicting assumption.
- For 5 minutes, place one similarity per group above the comparison strip and one difference below it.
- For 5 minutes, choose and record one subject to check further from the differences and the first contact for doing so.
If something changes
If
Twelve minutes after the first interview begins, fewer than 5 question fields are filled.
Then
Use one-sentence answers for the remaining questions. Stop the listener’s summaries and record only the speaker’s own words.
If
Four minutes into comparison, there are no differences and at least 5 similarities.
Then
Each pair chooses its least-certain answer and checks with its author whether different conditions would change it.
Preparation
Materials
- One set of seven-question cards per pair, numbered by perspective
- One seven-field answer sheet per person
- One whole-group comparison strip with similarities and differences fields
- One dark-coloured pen per person
Room and setup
- Pairs facing each other
- At most one trio for an odd participant count, with 2 listeners
- One comparison strip visible to everyone
Adjust for people and time
With 2 people, complete the method as one pair. With 3, rotate one speaker and 2 listeners, assigning one main recorder each time. With 4–20, run pairs simultaneously, making just one trio if the count is odd. With 20 people, collect one similarity and one difference from each of 10 pairs. Bundle duplicates with the number of respondents attached.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Agree the sharing scope of answers first. Listen without evaluation or advice. Do not treat interviewees as representatives or use the format for personnel evaluation without psychological safety.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- The source allows a trio and rotation of all three roles, but the timed sequence allocates only two interview periods. It does not specify a third speaker’s allocation within 60 minutes. This draft preserves the trio instruction without adding time or a new schedule.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Government Office for Science: Seven Questions
Adaptation under OGL 3.0; changes made
- OGL 3.0
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
Current-page licence notice
A Taiwa no Fumen adaptation based on the UK government publication identified below. Any separately stated terms apply to the material they identify.
Changes: timings, instructions, materials and branches have been edited for this site. The English edition translates the Japanese manuscript, not the government text verbatim.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
This notice does not grant blanket rights to third-party works, personal data, organisational logos or trademarks.
This is not an official or government-endorsed method.
See the licence for its no-warranty and other terms.
© Crown copyright 2024
Credits on the checked source page
- Published by: Government Office for Science
- Produced in collaboration with: SAMI Consulting
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: The Futures Toolkit HTML.
Source lineage
Open Government Licence v3.0 · Legal code · Official source policy
This material-specific notice does not itself establish publication clearance. Preserved manuscript references above remain separate from the current page's credits and licence evidence.
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.