Information Gathering: Interview Methods

• Interactive methods are valuable for information gathering
• Key interactive methods for eliciting human information requirements are interviewing, Joint Application Design (JAD), and questionnaires

Interviewing

• Used to collect data on human and system information requirements
• Reveals opinions, feelings, goals, and information about HCI (ergonomics, usability, enjoyability, and task support)

Interview Preparation

• Read background material, like the company website and annual report
• Establish interview objectives related to HCI, information processing, and decision-making behavior
• Decide whom to interview, prepare the interviewee and choose the question types/structure

Question Types

• Open-ended questions allow interviewees freedom in their response
• A strength of open-ended interview question is that they provide richness of detail, and reveal avenues of questioning that may of been untapped
• Some disadvantages of open-ended questions are the possibility of too much irrelevant detail, possibly losing control, may take too much time, give the impression the interviewer is unprepared or on a fishing expedition
• Closed questions limit the possible responses
• Closed interview questions are appropriate for generating accurate, dependable, and easy to analyze data
• A benefit of closed interview questions is that they save time
• Some downfalls to closed interview questions are that they can be boring, fail to get rich detailing, miss main ideas and fail to build rapport
• Bipolar questions are a specific kind of closed question
• Bipolar questions can be answered with a 'yes', 'no', 'agree', or 'disagree' and should be used sparingly
• Probing questions obtain more detail about previous questions
• The strongest probe is "Why?"
• A probe can be either open or closed

Arranging Questions

• Pyramid structure starts with closed questions then moves to open-ended questions, useful if interviewees need to warm up
• Funnel structure starts with open-ended questions and works toward closed questions, useful when interviewees feel strongly about the topic
• Diamond structure starts with closed questions, through open-ended questions, and ends with closed questions
• The diamond structure combines the strengths of pyramid and funnel structures

Closing and Reporting

• When closing ask, "Is there anything else that you would like to add?"
• Close by summarizing, giving feedback, asking whom to talk to next, setting up future appointments and thanking the interviewee
• Interview reports should be written as soon as possible after the interview
• Interview reports should provide an initial summary, the details, and it should be reviewed with the respondent

Joint Application Design

• Joint Application Design (JAD) replaces interviews with the user community
• JAD lets analysis of requirements and designs for user interfaces be done with users in a group setting
• Conditions that support JAD usage:
  • Restless Users
  • Organizational culture support
  • Forecast in the number of ideas being used
  • Length of time required without the personnel
• JAD Saves time, allows rapid development, improves user ownership, and improves creative idea production
• Drawbacks of using JAD:
  • Needing a block of time
  • Preparation and follow report being incomplete
  • Skills and organizational skills are not conducive to JAD session

JAD Involvement

• All team members must be committed to the JAD and become involved
• JAD includes an executive sponsor, IS analyst, users, a session leader, observers, and a scribe
• JAD meetings should be held offsite, comfortable surroundings and distraction free
• Schedule it when participants can attend and have an agenda and orientation meeting

Questionnaires

• Questionnaires gather information from key organization members about attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and characteristics
• Plan questionnaires for use when members are dispersed, many members are involved, exploratory work is required, and to find problems in the current system
• Questions can be open-ended or closed for questionnaires

Trade-offs for Questionnaires

• Open-ended Pros:
  • Well suited for opinions
  • Try to anticipate the response
• Closed Pro’s:
  • Use when all are listed
  • Mutually Exclusive

Questionnaire Language

• Use simple, specific, short, non-patronizing, and unbiased language
• The language should be for those with knowledge and is technically accurate
• The language should be appropriate for the reading level of the respondent

Measurement Scales

• Nominal scales classify things and are the weakest form of measurement; data may be totaled
• Interval scales have equal intervals with no absolute zero
• Reliability refers to the consistency in response if the same questionnaire was administered again
• Validity is the degree to which the question measures what the analyst intends to measure

Problems with scales

• Leniency is caused by easy raters, fix this by moving the “average” category to the left or right of center
• Central tendency occurs when respondents rate everything as average
• Can improve by making the differences smaller at both ends,Adjust the strength of descriptors, and create a scale with more points
• Halo effects occur when a impression is formed on one question and carries to the next
• The solution is to place one trait and several items on each page

Designing Questionnaires

• Allow for ample white space
• Allow Respondents to write in answers with ease
• Have questionnaires be consistent in style
• Place the most important first and similar together
• Introduce less controversial questions first

Questionnaire Administration

• Administer questionnaires by convening respondents, personally administering, allowing self-administration, mailing, and via the Web or email
• Electronically submitting questionnaires reduces costs and collecting/storing results electronically