Lecture 2:
Discovering what people can't tell you:
Contextual Inquiry and Design
Methodology*
Brad Myers
05-863 / 08-763 / 46-863: Introduction to
Human Computer Interaction for
Technology Executives
Fall, 2009, Mini 2
*These lecture notes based in part on notes created by Professors Bonnie John and Ken Koedinger
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Enrollment as of Saturday = 66
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Teaching Assistants
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Andrea Irwin
 airwin @ andrew.cmu.edu
 http://andreairwindesign.com/
 Office hours:
 Wed, 12:30pm-1:30pm,
place: NSH 3501
 By appointment
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Zhiquan ("ZQ") Yeo
 zyeo @ andrew.cmu.edu
 http://www.zhiquanyeo.com/
 Office hours:
 Sun, 7:00pm-8:00pm,
place: NSH 3001
 By appointment
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Pick Devices for Assignments
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Random order for currently enrolled &
wait-listed students
If late to class, go to end of the line
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Some Usability Methods
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Contextual Inquiry
Contextual Design
Paper prototypes
Think-aloud protocols
Heuristic Evaluation
Cognitive Walkthrough
KLM and GOMS
Task analysis
Questionnaires
Surveys
Interaction Relabeling
Personas
Log analysis
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Focus groups
Video prototyping
Wizard of Oz
Body storming
Affinity diagrams
Expert interviews
Card sorting
Diary studies
Improvisation
Use cases
Scenarios
Cognitive Dimensions
…
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Contextual Inquiry and 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
Described in book:
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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
Publishers, Inc.
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Common HCI methods in the software lifecycle
System Formulation e.g., interviews,
Requirements
questionnaires,
Contextual Inquiry
Architectural Design
Detailed Design e.g. MHP, GOMS, Heuristic
Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthrough, Rapid prototyping
+ Think-aloud testing, Controlled experiments.
Implementation
System Test and Deployment e.g., Think-aloud
Usability Testing, Log analysis, Contextual Inquiry,
Controlled Experiments
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HCI methods in the design process
Design Ideas
Contextual
Inquiry
Tasks
Heuristic
Evaluation
Prototyping
GOMS
Cognitive
Walkthrough
Analytic Methods
Think-Aloud
Usability
Studies
Empirical
Methods
New Design Ideas
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Contextual Inquiry is used in the beginning of the design process
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User Study 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 & Design
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Contextual Inquiry
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An evolving method
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
Part of “Contextual Design”
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Also includes 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
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Recommends “direct observation” when possible
When not possible
 cued recall of past experience, or
 recreation of related experience
Used to define requirements, plans and designs.
Drives the creative process:
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In original design
In considering new features or functionality
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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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Who?
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Interviewers: “Cross-functional” team
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Designers
UI specialists
Product managers
Marketing
Technical people
Customers
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Between 6 – 20
Representative of different roles
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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 customer site
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Key Concepts in Contextual Inquiry
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Context
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Partnership
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Work with users as co-investigators
Interpretation
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Understand users' needs in their work or living
environment
Assigning meaning to the observations
Focus
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Listen and probe from a clearly defined set of
concerns
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Context
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Definition:
 The interrelated conditions within which
something occurs or exists
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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
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Key distinctions about context
Interviews, Surveys, Focus
Groups
Summary data & abstractions
Contextual Inquiry
Ongoing experience &
concrete data
Subjective
Objective
Limited by reliability of human
memory
Spontaneous, as it happens
What customers think &
say they want
What customers actually
need
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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 work intentions
User's words
Tools used
How people work together
Business goals
Organizational and cultural structure
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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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What to Record
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Work flow and tasks
Work opportunities and problems
Tool opportunities and problems
Design ideas and validations
User's words
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Ask for elaboration, explanation
Your observations
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Interview Note-Taking
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When to take notes?
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Any observations not being recorded
Note taking can help you pay closer attention
Notes lead to faster turn-around
Do not let it interfere with interviewing
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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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
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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Making your interpretations explicit
Procedure we recommend
(not in Beyer & Holtzblatt’s writings)
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Label “facts” with the line number of the transcript or
time on the tape
Interpretations are then anything not labeled that way
If you do this all the way through, the links back to
facts are explicit and the intermediate hypotheses and
ideas can always be challenged
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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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Sufficiently realistic and compelling so users are motivated to
finish
Can let users create their own tasks if relevant
Should last about 2 minutes for expert, less than 30 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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But better if independent
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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.
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
events (phone ringing), etc.
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Screen shots of important points in video
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bam/uicourse/EHCIcontexualinquiryScreens.ppt
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