Field Research Contextual Inquiry Methodology
summary | detail | contextual inquiry methodology | ethnographic interview methodology
The contextual inquiry process can take from four weeks to 3 months, depending on the requirements for participant recruiting, travel to participant sites, and results reporting.
Contextual Inquiry Design
The design of a contextual inquiry summarizes the issues of concern, the tasks to be observed, the questions to ask, and the criteria for screening the people who participate.
Tec-Ed meets with you to identify the concerns driving the research and the characteristics of the desired participants.
Tec-Ed then creates a research plan listing the goals of the research, the concerns to be addressed, and the tasks to be observed to explore the concerns.
Following review of the research plan, Tec-Ed creates a session protocol containing an introductory script for the facilitator, the high-level concerns, and sample probing or follow-on questions for each concern. The protocol is high level because the structure of each session is unique, dictated by the user and the user’s tasks. To prepare for the sessions, the researchers work closely with the product and hypothesize situations they might observe.
Contextual Inquiry Sessions
Tec-Ed conducts contextual inquiries with a team of two researchers.
- One researcher observes participant behavior and engages the participant in dialog.
- The other researcher observes and records participant behavior; takes detailed notes about the environment, artifacts, and discussions; records digital video and/or audio; and takes photographs of the environment and artifacts (with the participant’s permission).
Tec-Ed normally spends from 90 minutes to two hours with each participant.
Because contextual inquiries involve conversation as well as observation, they require a high degree of skill from the researchers. The researchers must ask appropriate questions without interrupting the participants’ work flow or influencing their responses.
The researchers sit in the room with the participant, who performs his usual tasks. By observing these tasks in the participant’s office or home, the researchers see how the environment—noise and other distractions, interactions with co-workers or family members, artifacts such as sticky notes or manuals, and so on—affects the tasks.
Contextual Inquiry Data Collection and Reporting
After completing the contextual inquiry sessions, the researchers create a text database of notes (including participant quotes) that reflect various aspects of the tasks they have observed. This method assists the initial data analysis and makes it easier to “mine” the data to address follow-up questions from the design team. Summarizing the sessions and compiling the qualitative data is much more time-consuming than tabulating data from more structured interviews.
Then Tec-Ed analyzes the data and presents the findings and recommendations in a final written report and a discussion meeting.
Contextual Inquiry Participants
Contextual inquiry often involves fewer participants than other methods, so we must be especially careful to choose representative ones. Tec-Ed works with you to identify the desired number and balance of participant characteristics, and summarizes the participant “profiles” in the research plan.
Even though contextual inquiry is a highly qualitative method, most contextual inquiry projects include at least three participants per profile, to help minimize the effects of individual differences.
Tec-Ed’s staff of experienced participant recruiters screens and selects participants who meet the agreed-upon criteria. Where participants are key customers, recruiting can occur more efficiently if your organization introduces the research study to them; Tec-Ed provides the written description to facilitate this introduction. We often need 20–50 candidate names for each actual recruited participant.
