Contextual Inquiry
Design Anthropology
Definition
Contextual inquiry is essentially a very structured set of interviews and probes that happen in the context where the work is taking place. Making sure to get a true recording of the interactions you are looking for is the goal.
“Contextual inquiry is a field data gathering technique that studies a few carefully selected individuals in depth to arrive at a fuller understanding of the work practice across all customers.”
— Hugh Beyer & Karen Holtzblatt, Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems
Procedure
Preparation
Research the place that you are going to be observing so the you do understand what you are watching
Set up interviews with selected individuals
Create interview questions
Create a shorthand for note taking
Bring recording and note taking devices
In person
If you are interviewing follow the procedure I outlined in the interview sections.
If you are observing make sure to explain the purpose of your research and ask question when necessary, but try not to get in the way.
The goal is to understand how the product or service you are researching is being used and why so take special note of any way that users are using it abnormally and ask why. Hacks and workarounds are often fertile areas of inquiry.
Make sure to thank your participant for their time.
Analysis
Immediately after each session, write down your reflection and specifically take note of things that you were not expecting and how the user felt while talking about your product.
With your notes in hand, playback your recording and see if there were any insights that you missed or quotes that you think might be helpful.
Use Case
While researching the on boarding process of a charting software called Lucidchart, my team did a few contextual inquiries to see how people chart at home and work.
Strengths
Contextual inquiry is especially useful for iterating on a current product because it lets you see how people are using your product and how you can improve upon it.
It is also helpful for planning the design of a new product because you can see how people are using other similar products or how they are completing the task you want to design for.
Weaknesses
As with any interview / interviewer based method there is the risk of observation bias. People want to tell you what you want to hear so it is easy to end up with a lot of positive feedback.
