Lecture 2:
Discovering what people can't tell you:
Contextual Inquiry and Analysis
Methodology
Brad Myers
05-863 / 08-763 / 46-863: Introduction to
Human Computer Interaction for
Technology Executives
Fall, 2011, Mini 2
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Happy Halloween!
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Take 2 candies!
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Enrollment = 86 students!
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PhD
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Masters
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Pick Devices for Assignments
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Random order for currently enrolled &
wait-listed students
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Have choices from some distance and absent
students, will go in order
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I put special students last, in case you want
to do the homeworks
If late to class, go to end of the line
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(Note: textbook distribution at end of class)
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Some Usability Methods
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Contextual Inquiry
Contextual Analysis (Design)
Paper prototypes
Think-aloud protocols
Heuristic Evaluation
Affinity diagrams (WAAD)
Personas
Wizard of Oz
Task analysis
Cognitive Walkthrough
KLM and GOMS (CogTool)
Video prototyping
Body storming
Expert interviews
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Questionnaires
Surveys
Interaction Relabeling
Log analysis
Focus groups
Card sorting
Diary studies
Improvisation
Use cases
Scenarios
Cognitive Dimensions
“Speed Dating”
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Contextual Inquiry and Analysis/Design
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One method for organizing the development process
We teach it to our MS and BS students
Seems to be very successful
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Hartson-Pyla text: Chapters 3-6
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Originally described in book:
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(doing things in a different order than text)
H. Beyer and K. Holtzblatt. 1998. Contextual Design: Defining
Customer-Centered Systems. San Francisco, CA:Morgan
Kaufmann Publishers, Inc. ISBN: 1558604111.
http://www.incent.com/
Another book (doesn’t work as well):
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K. Holtblatt, J. BurnsWendell, and S. Wood. 2004. Rapid
Contextual Design: A How-to Guide to Key Techniques for UserCentered Design. San Francisco, CA:Morgan Kaufmann
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Publishers, Inc.
User Research Methods
& the different fields they come from
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Questionnaires, Interviews
 Social Psychology
Focus Groups
 Business, marketing technique
Laboratory studies
 Experimental Psychology
Think-aloud protocols
 Cognitive Psychology
Participant/observer ethnographic studies
 Anthropology
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Contextual Inquiry & Analysis/Design
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Contextual Inquiry
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A kind of “ethnographic” or “participatory design” method
Combines aspects of other methods:
 Interviewing, think-aloud protocols,
participant/observer in the context of the work
Afterwards: Contextual Analysis (Hartson-Pyla term)
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Beyer-Holtzblatt call it “Contextual Design”
Also includes diagrams (“models”) to describe results
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“Contextual Inquiry”
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Interpretive field research method
Depends on conversations with users in the context
of their work
Used to define requirements, plans and designs.
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Discover the real requirements of the work
Drives the creative process:
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In original design
In considering new features or functionality
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Context
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Definition:
 The interrelated conditions within which
something occurs or exists
Understand work in its natural environment
 Go to the user
 Observe real work
 Use real examples and artifacts
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“Artifact”: An object created by human workmanship
Interview while she/he is working
 More reliable than asking them
Context exists even when not a “work” activity
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Use “work” here just to mean “doing something”
Can be home, entertainment, etc.
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Why Context?
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Design complete work process
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Integration!
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Fits into “fabric” of entire operations
Not just “point solutions” to specific problems
Consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, coherent
Design from data
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Not just opinions, negotiation
Not just a list of features
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Key distinctions about CIs
Interviews, Surveys, Focus
Groups
Contextual Inquiry
Summary data & abstractions
Ongoing experience &
concrete data
What customers say
What users do
Subjective
Objective
Limited by reliability of human
memory
Spontaneous, as it happens
What customers think they want
What users actually need
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Who?
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Users
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Between 6 – 20
Representative of different roles
Note: may not be people who will be doing the
purchasing of the system
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E.g., if for an enterprise; public kiosk
Interviewers: “Cross-functional” team
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Designers
UI specialists
Product managers
Marketing
Technical people
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Where?
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Design is a group activity
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Shared across different groups
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Useful to have a designated, long-term space
for the project team
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Interviews at user site
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Key Concepts in Contextual Inquiry
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Context
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Partnership
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Understand users' needs in their work or living
environment
Work with users as co-investigators
Interpretation
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Assigning meaning to the observations
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Elements of User's Context: Pay
Attention to all of these
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User's work space
User's work
User’s workarounds
User's work intentions
User's words (language used)
Tools used
How people work together
Business goals
Organizational and cultural structure
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Partnership
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Definition:
 A relationship characterized by close cooperation
Build an equitable relationship with the user
Suspend your assumptions and beliefs
Invite the user into the inquiry process
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Why is Partnership Important?
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Information is obtained through a dialog
The user is the expert.
Not a conventional interview or consultant relationship
Alternative way to view the relationship:
Master/Apprentice
The user is the “master craftsman” at his/her work
You are the apprentice trying to learn
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Establishing Partnership
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Share control
Use open-ended questions that invite users to talk:
 "What are you doing?"
 "Is that what you expect?"
 "Why are you doing...?"
Let the user lead the conversation
Listen!
Pay attention to communication that is non-verbal
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Standard Contextual Inquiry:
Work-based Interview
Use when:
 Product or process already exists
 Or a near competitor’s
 User is able to complete a task while you observe
 Work can be interrupted
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Interview Recording and Note-Taking
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Do record interview
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Video recordings
Screen capture software with laptop microphone for user
When to take notes?
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Note taking can help you pay closer attention
Notes lead to faster turn-around
Do not let it interfere with interviewing
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Usually would use a second person
How to record?
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What the user says – in quotes
What the user does – plain text
Your interpretation – in parentheses
Write fast!
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Reasons for variation on the
standard work-based interview
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Different goals
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Designing a known product
 Know the competition
Addressing a new work domain
 Study what replacing
Designing for a new technology
Types of tasks that make work-based inquiry
impractical
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Intermittent – instrument or keep logs
Uninterruptible – video and review later
Extremely long – point sample and review
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Some Alternative Contextual
Inquiry Interview Methods
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For intermittent tasks
 In-context cued recall
 Activity logs
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For uninterruptible tasks
 Post-observation inquiry
For extremely long or multi-person tasks
 Artifact walkthrough
New technology within current work
 Future Scenario
Prototype or prior version exists
 Prototype/Test drive
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Analysis
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In the moment:
Simultaneous data collection and analysis during
interview
Post interview:
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Using notes, tapes, and transcripts
Analysis by a group:
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Integrates multiple perspectives
Creates shared vision
Creates shared focus
Builds teams
Saves time
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Defining the Tasks
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In a real Contextual Inquiry, user decides the
tasks
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But you still must decide the focus
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Investigate real-world tasks, needs, context
What tasks you want to observe
That are relevant to your product plan
But for Assignment 1, you will have to invent
some tasks
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Test Tasks
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Task design is difficult part of usability testing
Representative of “real” tasks
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Appropriate difficulty and coverage
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Should last about 2 min. for expert, less than 30 min. for novice
Short enough to be finished, but not trivial
Tasks not humorous, frivolous, or offensive
Easy task first, progressively harder
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Sufficiently realistic and compelling so users are motivated to
finish
Can let users create their own tasks if relevant
But better if independent
Remember: Not asking their opinions
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Initial Questions for the Users
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Find out the context through initial questions
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When would you normally do this kind of task?
Who would be involved in making the decisions?
What would influence any decisions?
How would you know what to do?
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What information would you use to help decide?
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Test Script
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Useful to have a script
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Should read instructions out loud
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Make sure say everything you want
Make sure all users get same instructions
Ask if users have any questions
Make sure instructions provide goals only in a general
way, and doesn’t give away information
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Describe the result and not the steps
Avoid product names and technical terms that appear on the
web site
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Don’t give away the vocabulary
Example:
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“The clock should have the right time”;
not: “Use the hours and minutes buttons to set the time”
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Example of CI
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Video of sample session with a eCommerce site:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bam/uicourse/EHCIcontexualinquiry.mpg
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Issues to observe
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Interview of work in progress, in “context”
Actual session of doing a task
 Not an interview asking about possible tasks, etc.
 Note that focusing on expert behavior & breakdowns
Questions to clarify about routine, motivations
 Why do certain actions: need intent for actions
 Notice problems (“breakdowns”)
Notice what happens that causes users to do something
(“triggers”)
 E.g. appearance of error messages, other feedback, external
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events (phone ringing), etc.
Screen shots of important points in video
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bam/uicourse/EHCIcontexualinquiryScreens.ppt
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Textbooks
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Only printed 50 in first run
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Will print more next week if necessary
Please do not take one if you are going to drop
Please share if you can
If auditing and not planning to do homeworks,
please wait to get one
Sign sheet by your name, to show you agree
to the terms.
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Alphabetical order, 7 different sheets
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