Download Observations contextual inquiry

CSCI 4163/6610 WINTER 2015
OBSERVATIONS (CONT’D)
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
Q1: Observations allow you
to:
a) Learn about real world behaviours
b) Learn about opinions and perspectives
c) Both A & B
d) Neither A nor B
Q2: Observations are a good
choice…
A. When you are trying to understand an
ongoing behaviour or process
B. When there is physical evidence, products,
or outcomes that can be readily seen
C. When you want direct information
D. All of the above
Q3: Disadvantages of
observation include…
A) Can only be used in natural settings
B) The observer’s presence may create an
artificial situation
C) Both A & B
D) Neither A nor B
Q4: If unobtrusive,
observations allow you to…
A) see things in their natural context
B) see things that may escape conscious awareness,
things that are not seen by others
C) discover things that may have been taken for
granted
D) All of the above
Q5: To preserve ecological validity,
you must make sure the _____ is/are
representative of usual behaviours
A. Task
B. Setting
C. Tools
D. All of the above
Big disadvantage of pure
(unobtrusive) observation…
 Can be hard to understand why the
behaviours/activities are happeny….
Contextual inquiry
 Interviewees are interviewed in their context,
when doing their tasks, with as little
interference from the interviewer as possible.
 Allows probing of “why?”
 Can be real-time or record interesting actions
for later discussion
“Typical” 4 phased approach
 Traditional interview
 Get an overview, establish trust, start recording
 Switch to a master-apprentice relationship
 Tell them what you want to observe
 Make sure to establish when ok to interrupt
 Observe, ask questions
 Take notes
 Balance need to understand with impact of
interruptions
 Summarization
 Go over observations and your understanding with
participant
 Make sure that you go it right
Other ways of providing
context
 If natural observation not possible, can ask
them to demonstrate specific tasks of
interest
 Can provide task scenarios and ask them to
perform
 “Think aloud” protocols
Other ways of getting
observational data
 Logging
 Screen recording (check out Camtasia)
 Trace data
 Read McGrath handout for a great discussion
of ways to get observational data
Recent readings
1. Why did they do the research/study?
a. What was the motivation?
b. What were the research questions?
2. What was their approach?
3. Critique their study (Recruitment, running
the study, analysis)
a. what was good?
b. What was bad?)
c.
Do you think that their findings are valid?
4. What would you do differently if you wanted
to replicate/extend this research?
Homework
 Friday’s tutorials: interview groups
 Be a participant
 Be an observer
 Day of: submit quick feedback sheets for all that
you took part in/observed
 The next tutorial: submit a critique for ONE group
 Advertising Diary exercise for Tues
 Assigned reading w/ questions for Tues
 Read McGrath’s Methodology Matters
(submit questions) for Tues Feb 3rd