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Contextual inquiry is a method belonging to the field of User Centered Design (UCD). It is related to the Contextual Design methodology. The contextual inquiry takes place during the initial design phase of a software development project and yields important inputs for the user interface design, requirements analysis, specification and the implementation phase. The contextual inquiry comprises observations of end users in their natural environment or context as well as one-on-one interviews to complement results from the observations. Benefits of Contextual Inquiry One key advantage is the optimization of interface design and usability of software products due to the detailed knowledge gathered about the end users’ daily routines and work habits. This will enable you to understand key problem areas and urgent needs much better. In addition, contextual inquiry is less time-consuming on the interviewee. Often, it is difficult to find interviewees due to time constraints, but with contextual inquiry, you take up only very little of the participant’s time as you are mostly just observing or shadowing him. The Core Principles of Contextual Inquiry There are three core principles that should guide you in conducting contextual inquiries: (1) You should start with the proposition that an understanding of the context in which a product will be used enables more suitable design. (2) You should work with the understanding that the user is your partner during the user interface design process. (3) You should try to stay focused during the interface design process, whether you use contextual inquiry or other methods, in order to achieve the best usability for your product that’s possible. What are the different stages of Contextual Inquiry? The ultimate goal of the contextual inquiry method is to gather as much detailed data on the end users tasks, habits, and work flows as possible, including his daily challenges, fears, and priorities. In contextual inquiry, you want to understand how and why things are done or why certain things are not done. The idea is to gather raw data during contextual inquiry for later analysis. The main stages are thus the planning or preparation stage which serves to identify the right participants for a contextual inquiry study and to set a focus for the study, the evaluation stage during which you perform the actual contextual inquiry, and the analysis stage. During the evaluation stage, you first get two know your interviewee, then you observe and try to learn from your interviewee while sticking with your focus, and finally you discuss and summarize your learnings with your interviewee. Analysis is carried out after the actual interviews and observations have taken place. What to pay attention to during Contextual Inquiry The things to look for during contextual inquiry naturally differ by product and end user. But some examples can be helpful. Let’s assume you are trying to optimize the user interface design of a wireframe software, i.e. a software tool for creating wireframes or website prototypes. Using the contextual inquiry method, you would first select whom to involve, e.g. a user interface designer. You would go visit this person and follow his work for half a day. You could observe what tasks he has to complete, how he uses his wireframes, what input he receives to create a wireframe, with whom he corresponds, what tools he has at his disposal to create wireframes, how they function together with other interface design tools. But you would also notice other conditions, such as the tight schedule assigned by the project manager or the constantly changing requests for his wireframes from clients and the incomplete specifications he obtains from non-technical project partners. And then you might ask the interface designer what would make his job easier, which changes in the interface design of his tools would help him create wireframes quickly and more productively. All this information will be immensely helpful in improving your software. When to use Contextual Inquiry You should opt for contextual inquiry when you need to understand in which context an end user of your interface design works. The work environment and the conditions it imposes on end users have a significant impact on how they will use your software. Contextual inquiry can be especially helpful when you are working on interface designs in domains that are unfamiliar to you as a usability expert or interface designer. Usually, contextual inquiry should be used as early in the product development lifecycle as possible, ideally when no specific design of the software has been proposed yet. As an exploratory method, contextual inquiry relies on subjective information by individual end users that will likely have a strong influence on the design not only of the user interface, but perhaps of the entire system in question. So, having to make changes later on based on unexpected results from contextual inquiry can be a real pain. Remember: The quality of your user interface design is likely to dictate the success of your software. ==================== About the Author: ==================== Pidoco.com – Interface Design, Wireframe Software, Interface Design Software, Clickable Wireframe and GUI Prototyping Tool. A GUI Design Interface Software for Clickable Wireframes! Wireframe creating and GUI prototyping tool. Fast wireframe creation and remote website usability testing lead to an improved conversion!
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