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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

CMU-IS TSB-IA CIT-INI SCS-SE CIT-ECE CMU-IT CMU-ETC SCS-CS CIT-MEG HSS-H00HSS-HSS TSB-BA TSB-IA30

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Teaching Assistants Andrea Irwin

airwin @ andrew.cmu.edu http://andreairwindesign.com/ Office hours:

Wed, 12:30pm-1:30pm, place: NSH 3501

By appointment

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 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 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

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 One method for organizing the development process We teach it to our MS and BS students Seems to be very successful Described in book:

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):

K. Holtblatt, J. BurnsWendell, and S. Wood. 2004. Rapid Contextual Design: A How-to Guide to Key Techniques for User-Centered Design. San Francisco, CA:Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.

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Common HCI methods in the software lifecycle

System Formulation

Requirements

Architectural DesignDetailed Design e.g. MHP, GOMS, Heuristic Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthrough, Rapid prototyping + Think-aloud testing, Controlled experiments.

ImplementationSystem Test and Deployment e.g., Think-aloud Usability Testing, Log analysis, Contextual Inquiry, Controlled Experiments

e.g., interviews, questionnaires, Contextual Inquiry

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Contextual Inquiry

Design Ideas

New Design Ideas

Think-Aloud Usability Studies

Heuristic Evaluation

Cognitive Walkthrough

Prototyping

GOMS

Tasks

Analytic Methods Empirical Methods

HCI methods in the design process

Contextual Inquiry is used in the beginning of the design process

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User Study Methods& the different fields they come from

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

Contextual Inquiry 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” Also includes models to describe results

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“Contextual Inquiry” Interpretive field research method Depends on conversations with users in the context of

their work 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:

In original design In considering new features or functionality

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Why Context? Design complete work process

Fits into “fabric” of entire operations Not just “point solutions” to specific problems

Integration! Consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, coherent

Design from data Not just opinions, negotiation Not just a list of features

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Who? Interviewers: “Cross-functional” team

Designers UI specialists Product managers Marketing Technical people

Customers Between 6 – 20 Representative of different roles

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Where? Design is a group activity

Shared across different groups Useful to have a designated, long-term space

for the project team

Interviews at customer site

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Key Concepts in Contextual Inquiry Context

Understand users' needs in their work or living environment

Partnership Work with users as co-investigators

Interpretation Assigning meaning to the observations

Focus Listen and probe from a clearly defined set of

concerns

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Context 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

“Artifact”: An object created by human workmanship

Interview while she/he is working

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Key distinctions about contextInterviews, Surveys, Focus

GroupsSummary data & abstractions

Subjective

Limited by reliability of human memory

What customers think & say they want

Contextual Inquiry

Ongoing experience & concrete data

Objective

Spontaneous, as it happens

What customers actually need

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Elements of User's Context: Pay Attention to all of these 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 InterviewUse 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

Work flow and tasks Work opportunities and problems Tool opportunities and problems Design ideas and validations User's words

Ask for elaboration, explanation Your observations

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Interview Note-Taking

When to take notes? 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? 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 Different goals

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 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 For intermittent tasks

In-context cued recall Activity logs

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

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? 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 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)

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

In the moment:Simultaneous data collection and analysis during interview

Post interview: Using notes, tapes, and transcripts

Analysis by a group: Integrates multiple perspectives Creates shared vision Creates shared focus Builds teams Saves time

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Defining the Tasks In a real Contextual Inquiry, user decides the

tasks Investigate real-world tasks, needs, context

But you still must decide the focus 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 Task design is difficult part of usability testing Representative of “real” tasks

Sufficiently realistic and compelling so users are motivated to finish

Can let users create their own tasks if relevant Appropriate difficulty and coverage

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

But better if independent

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Test Script Useful to have a script

Make sure say everything you want Make sure all users get same instructions

Should read instructions out loud Ask if users have any questions

Make sure instructions provide goals only in a general way, and doesn’t give away information Describe the result and not the steps Avoid product names and technical terms that appear on the

web site Don’t give away the vocabulary

Example: “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 Video of sample session with a eCommerce site:http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bam/uicourse/EHCIcontexualinquiry.mpg

Issues to observe 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