Interview Script: Late-Night Snacking Behaviors

By Greg Kalman, Austin Konig, Ananya Navale, Shuman Wang, Jasmine Xu

Opening Script

[Greetings + brief casual chat]

Acknowledgment & Introduction

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. We really appreciate your willingness to share your experiences.

In this interview, we’re hoping to learn more about your eating habits, particularly around late-night eating or snacking. This will be a relaxed, free-flowing conversation and should take about 30 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers; we’re just interested in learning from your personal experiences.

Safety & Boundaries

Before we begin, I want to emphasize that this conversation is completely confidential and anonymous. Your name and any identifying details will be removed from anything we present or analyze.

You’re also welcome to skip any question, take a break, or stop the interview at any time. No explanation needed.

With your permission, I’d also like to audio-record the interview so we can focus on listening rather than taking notes. We’ll be discarding the recording at the end of the quarter, and it will only be accessed by members of our research team for this project. Would that be okay with you?

Clarification

Before we start, does everything I’ve shared make sense? Do you have any questions for me?

Body of Interview

(Note: questions in italics are optional follow-ups.)

A. Background & Context

• To start, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
  • (For example: age, year in school, major, where you’re from—share only what you’re comfortable with.)
• Very broadly, how would you describe your relationship with food?
  • Can you share a time when eating made you feel especially good—comforted, joyful, satisfied, or proud?
  • Can you share a time when eating felt stressful, pressured, or brought up difficult emotions?
  • Is there anything about your eating habits that you wish were different right now?

• [If indicated on the prescreening survey]: If you’re comfortable sharing, could you tell me a little bit about your experience with an eating disorder or disordered eating? You can keep this as high-level as you like, and it’s completely okay to skip.

• Can you walk me through what you ate yesterday, from morning to night? No need to be perfectly accurate—whatever you remember is totally fine.

B. Experiences With Late-Night Eating

• What comes to mind when you think about late-night eating or snacking?
  •  How would you characterize late-night eating?
  • Does it feel neutral, positive, negative—or something else?

• To the best of your memory, how often do you engage in late-night eating or snacking? (For reference, we define “late night” as between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. or before going to bed — whichever occurs sooner)
  • Where do you usually get food at that time?
  • What situations or circumstances tend to lead to it?
• Now, let’s think about a specific time recently when you ate late at night.
  • When was this?
  • Where were you?
  • Were you alone or with others?
  • What did you eat?
  • About how long did the eating last?
  • What were you doing right before?
  • What did you do afterwards?
  • How were you feeling emotionally before eating?
  • How did you feel while you were eating?
  • How did you feel afterward?
  • Were there any lingering effects the next morning—physically or emotionally?

C. Attempts at Change & Barriers

• Have you ever tried to change your late-night eating or snacking habits?
  • What motivated you to try changing it?
  • What steps did you take?
• How did that go?
  • If it worked (even briefly), what helped?
  • If it didn’t, what made it difficult or unsustainable?
• What, if anything, currently motivates—or discourages—you from changing this behavior?
• If you imagine an ideal relationship with late-night eating, what would that look like for you?
  • How do you think that change would affect your daily life, mood, or energy?

Closing Script

Thank you so much for being open and sharing your experiences with us today. This has been super super helpful! 

Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us — maybe something we didn’t ask about but you feel is important?

Thanks again for your time. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to just shoot me a text message or email!