Lecture slides from the Interaction Design Methods course, 26 January 2013, Tallinn University.

1. Contextual Inquiry
IFI7156 Interaction Design Methods

2. What is contextual inquiry?
• Traditional narrow meaning: etnographic
interviewing technique (Beyer, & Holtzblatt, 1997)
• Wider meaning: first phase in the research-based
design process (Leinonen, Toikkanen, & Silvfast,
2008)

3. Research-based design process
(Leinonen et al, 2008)

4. Qualitative user research in
Contextual Inquiry phase
• Stakeholder interviews
• Subject matter expert (SME)
interviews
• User and customer interviews
• User observation/ethnographic
field studies
• Literature review
• Competitive reviews
(Cooper, Reimann, & Cronin, 2007)

5. The value of qualitative research
Qualitative research helps to understand:
• Behaviors and attitudes of potential product
users
• Technical, business, and environmental contexts
— the domain — of the product to be designed
• Vocabulary and other social aspects of the
domain in question
• How existing products are used
(Cooper et al, 2007)

6. Interviews

7. Stakeholder interviews
• Preliminary product vision
• Budget and schedule
• Technical constraints and opportunities
• Business drivers
• Stakeholders’ perceptions of the user
(Cooper et al, 2007)

8. Subject matter expert (SME)
interviews
• SMEs are often expert users
• SMEs are knowledgeable, but they aren’t designers
• SMEs are necessary in complex or specialized
domains
• You will want access to SMEs throughout the
design process
(Cooper et al, 2007)

9. Customer interviews
When interviewing customers, you will want to
understand:
• Their goals in purchasing the product
• Their frustrations with current solutions
• Their decision process for purchasing a product of
the type you’re designing
• Their role in installation, maintenance, and
management of the product
• Domain-related issues and vocabulary
(Cooper et al, 2007)

10. User interviews
• The context of how the product fits into their lives or
workflow: when, why, and how the product is or will be used
• Domain knowledge from a user perspective: What do users
need to know to do their jobs?
• Current tasks and activities: both those the current product is
required to accomplish and those it doesn’t support
• Goals and motivations for using the product
• Mental model: how users think about their jobs and activities,
as well as what expectations users have about the product
• Problems and frustrations with current products
(Cooper et al, 2007)

11. Guidelines for user interviews
• Interview where the interaction happens
• Avoid a fixed set of questions
• Focus on the goal first, tasks second
• Avoid making the user a designer
• Avoid discussion of technology
• Avoid leading questions
• Ask for stories, demonstrations and a tour
• Direct the interview as new issues arise
• Interpretation: read between the lines
(Cooper et al, 2007)

12. Goal-oriented questions
• Goals — What makes a good day? A bad day?
• Opportunity — What activities currently waste
your time?
• Priorities — What is most important to you?
• Information — What helps you make decisions?
(Cooper et al, 2007)

13. System-oriented questions
• Function — What are the most common things
you do with the product?
• Frequency — What parts of the product do you
use most?
• Preference — What are your favorite aspects of
the product? What drives you crazy?
• Failure — How do you work around problems?
• Expertise — What shortcuts do you employ?
(Cooper et al, 2007)

14. Workflow-oriented questions
• Process — What did you do when you first came
in today? And after that?
• Occurrence and recurrence — How often do you
do this? What things do you do weekly or
monthly, but not every day?
• Exception — What constitutes a typical day? What
would be an unusual event?
(Cooper et al, 2007)

15. Attitude-oriented questions
• Aspiration — What do you see yourself doing five
years from now?
• Avoidance — What would you prefer not to do?
What do you procrastinate on?
• Motivation — What do you enjoy most about your
job (or lifestyle)? What do you always tackle first?
(Cooper et al, 2007)

16. User observations

17. Planning
• Establish objectives and information requirements
• Establish the times, places, and people who will be
observed
• Decide on the recording technique that you will
use

18. Running
• Make sure that those being observed are aware of
the study
• Run a pilot observation
• Try to be unobtrusive
• Take notes and clarify later, if needed
• If possible, take a photo of the observation area
• Write down first impressions immediately after
the observation

19. Literature review

20. Literature review
• Business documents: marketing plans, brand
strategy, market research, user surveys, customer
support data
• Technology specifications
• Research articles
• Related news in media, reviews
• Related posts and discussions in social media

21. Competitive review

22. Reasons for competitive
review
• Find out how other
people solved the same
design problems
• Validate desired
features and priorities
against a similar site
• Explore approaches to
solving similar
problems
(Brown, 2010)

23. Guidelines
• Focus: you can’t compare too many systems/
features/problems
• Create a set of criteria for comparison
• Choose meaningful systems for comparison

24. Competitive review structure
• Summary: objectives, study questions, and criteria
• Conclusions: one sheet/slide per conclusion, with
screenshot fragments
• Competitor profiles

25. Competitor profile
Beatport.com Release Page
Beatport release page displays additional
information that is important for dj’s.
What works:
• Track length and BPM are displayed
on release page
• Waveform and key are displayed on
track details page
• Release description
• More releases from the same label
What doesn’t work:
• Release title is displayed in capital
letters
• Price is displayed without taxes
Take-aways:
• Display detailed metadata
• Make metadata easy to copy
• The system could recommend tracks
with compatible key, tempo and style

26. References
• Beyer, H., & Holtzblatt, K. (1997). Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered
Systems. San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
• Brown, D. M. (2010). Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for
Design and Planning (2nd ed.). Berkley, CA: New Riders.
• Cooper, A., Reimann, R., & Cronin, D. (2007). About Face 3:The Essentials of
Interaction Design. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
• Leinonen, T., Toikkanen, T., & Silvfast, K. (2008). Software as Hypothesis: Research-
Based Design Methodology. In: Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on
Participatory Design 2008 (pp. 61–70). Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University.

27. Photos
• Brad Flickinger, http://www.flickr.com/photos/56155476@N08/6660040845/

28. Hans Põldoja
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
Interaction Design Methods
http://ifi7156.wordpress.com
Tallinn University
Institute of Informatics
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