1. Observations contextual inquiry
CSCI 4163/6610 WINTER 2014
Observations contextual inquiry

2. Housekeeping Group membership update
Tutorial conflicts (6610 students)
me details of your conflicts
We will work together to make sure that you are not at a disadvantage (alternatives to participation points, experiential learning, etc.)
Seminars
Pairs (~30 minutes) or Individual (~15 mins)?

3. PSA: Toast Masters Time Location Cost Additional Information
Tuesdays - 6:30 pm
Location
Council Chambers, Student Union Building
Cost
Free (for 4 meetings)
Additional Information

4. Interviews are: Verbally asking participants questions
Hearing their point of view in their own words
Both A & B
d) Neither A nor B

5. Which type of interview allows you to probe participants’ responses?
Structured
Unstructured
Semi-Structured
D) Unstructured and Semi-Structured

6. Which type of interview allows you to quantitatively compare responses?
Structured
Unstructured
Semi-Structured
D) Structured and Semi-Structured

7. Active listening is…
Making a conscious effort to hear the words a person is saying
Making an effort to understand the complete message being sent
Paying attention to the other person very carefully
D) All of the above

8. Observation Exercise
Research topic: Rituals of on-line information seeking behaviour
Questions: What types of information sources are regularly checked? Is it a push or pull paradigm? What is the frequency? What prompts a session to begin? How long does a session usually last? What brings a session to an end (time? Information found? All sources seen?)? Is there multi-tasking?

9. Observation Watching people, programs, events, communities, etc.
Used to:
Provide information about real-life situations and circumstances
Assess what is happening
Valuable because you cannot rely on participants’ willingness and ability to furnish information

10. When is observation useful?
When you want direct information
When you are trying to understand an ongoing behaviour or process
When there is physical evidence, products, or outcomes that can be readily seen
When other data collection methods seem inappropriate

11. Observations Advantages Disadvantages Most direct measure of behavior
Provides direct information
Easy to complete (?)
Saves time (?)
Can be used in natural or experimental settings
May require training
Observer’s presence may create artificial situation
Potential for bias
Potential to overlook meaningful aspects
Potential for misinterpretation
Difficult to analyze

12. (If unobtrusive…) Can see things in their natural context
Can see things that may escape conscious awareness, things that are not seen by others
Can discover things that may have been taken for granted
Can learn about things that people might not be willing to talk about
Low potential for generating observer effects

13. Major limitations Potential for bias Reliability
Observer bias
Cultural bias (during observation and interpretation)
Reliability
Ease of categorization
Often used in combination with other methods to provide a more thorough account

14. Types of observation
Structured (looking for)
Unstructured (looking at)
Observing what does not happen may be as important as observing what does happen

15. Planning Determine who/what to observe
Determine what aspects will be observed (characteristics, attributes, behaviours, etc.)
Determine when/where observations will be made
Develop the observation record sheet
Pilot test the observation record sheet
Train the observers, practice
Collect information, analyze and interpret

16. Observations need to be credible
Observation guide
Recording sheet
Checklist
Field notes
Pictures
Video
Some combination of the above

17. Ecological validity
Is what you are observing representative of usual behaviours?
Unobtrusive?
Task?
Setting?
Tools?

18. If unobtrusive…
Can be hard to understand why….

19. Today’s reading What was the motivation?
What were the research questions?
What was their approach?
Critique their study (what was good? What was bad?)
Recruitment, running the study, analysis
Do you think that their findings are valid?
What would you do differently if you wanted to replicate/extend this research?

20. Contextual inquiry
Interviewees are interviewed in their context, when doing their tasks, with as little interference from the interviewer as possible.
Allows probing of “why?”
Can be real-time or record interesting actions for later discussion

21. “Typical” 4 phased approach
Traditional interview
Get an overview, establish trust, start recording
Switch to a master-apprentice relationship
Tell them what you want to observe
Make sure to establish when ok to interrupt
Observe, ask questions
Take notes
Balance need to understand with impact of interruptions
Summarization
Go over observations and your understanding with participant
Make sure that you go it right

22. Other ways of providing context
If natural observation not possible, can ask them to demonstrate specific tasks of interest
Can provide task scenarios and ask them to perform
“Think aloud” aloud protocols

23. Other ways of getting observational data
Logging
Screen recording (check out Camtasia)
Trace data

24. Homework Advertising Diary exericise for Thurs
Assigned reading w/ questions for Thurs
Read McGrath’s Methodology Matters (submit questions) for Tues