Contextual inquiry

Draft

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Introduction

According to usability.gov, “Contextual interviews are like usability tests because you watch and listen as users work. They differ from usability tests because you go to the user and watch and listen to them as they work in their own environment. Contextual interviews are more natural and sometimes more realistic because they occur in the person’s environment. They are also usually quite informal.”

Usability Body of Knowledge defines “Contextual inquiry [as] semi-structured interview method to obtain information about the context of use, where users are first asked a set of standard questions and then observed and questioned while they work in their own environments.”

Method

According to usability.gov, “In a contextual interview, you watch and listen as the user does his or her own work. You don't usually impose tasks or scenarios on the user. The observer listens to the user but may also ask clarifying questions and probe to gain greater understanding of what the user is doing and thinking. The results are usually qualitative rather than quantitative.”

Links

Indexes

• Contextual inquiry and field studies at Dey Alexander Consulting.

Introductions

• Gaffney, G. (2004). Contextual enquiry – A primer

• Contextual enquiry at infodesign.com (Gerry Gaffney)

• Contextual interview usability.gov

• Contextual inquiry at usabilitynet.

Bibliography

• Beyer, H. & Holtzblatt, K. (1998) Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers ISBN 1-55860-411-1

• Holtzblatt, K., Wendell, J. B., & Wood, S. (2005). Rapid contextual design: A how-to guide to key techniques for user-centered design. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

• Rampoldi-Hnilo, L. & English, J.(2004). Remote Contextual Inquiry: A Technique to Improve Enterprise Software. Boxes and Arrows. HTML

• Whiteside, J. Bennett, J., & Holtzblatt, H. (1988). Usability engineering: Our experience and evaluation. In M. Helander (Ed.). Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction. New York, NY: Elsevier Science Publishing. 791-817.