SYSDESI - Module 4: Information Gathering

Interviewing

An important method for collecting data on human and system information requirements

Feelings, Opinions, Goals

Interviews reveal information about:

Interview Preperation

1. Reading background material

2. Establishing interview objectives

3. Deciding whom to interview

4. Preparing the interviewee

5. Deciding on question types and structure

Open-Ended Questions

• Allow interviewees to respond how they wish, and to what length they wish.

• Are appropriate when the analyst is interested in breadth and depth of reply

Advantages of Open-Ended Questions

1. Puts the interviewee at ease

2. Allows the interviewer to pick up on the interviewee’s vocabulary

3. Provides richness of detail

4. Reveals avenues of further questioning that may have gone untapped

5. Provides more interest for the interviewee

6. Allows more spontaneity

7. Makes phrasing easier for the interviewer

8. Useful if the interviewer is unprepared

Disadvantages of Open-Ended Questions

1. May result in too much irrelevant detail

2. Possibly losing control of the interview

3. It May take too much time for the amount of useful information to be gained

4. Potentially seeming that the interviewer is unprepared

5. Possibly giving the impression that the interviewer is fishing for specific answers

Closed Interview Questions

• Limit the number of possible responses

• Closed interview questions are appropriate for generating precise, relatable data that is easy to analyze

• Efficient, and it requires little skill for the interviewers to administer

Advantages of Closed-Interview Questions

1. Saving interview time

2. Easily comparing interviews

3. Getting to the point

4. Keeping control of the interview

5. Covering a large area quickly

6. Getting to relevant data

Disadvantages of Closed-Interview Questions

• Boring for the interviewee

• Failure to obtain rich detailing

• Missing main ideas

• Failing to build rapport between interviewer and interviewee

Bipolar Questions

• Questions that may be answered with a yes or no / disagree or agree

• Should be used sparingly

Probes

• Elicit more detail about previous questions

• The purpose:

  • To get more meaning

  • To clarify

  • To draw out and expand on the interviewee’s point

• May be either open or closed-ended

Pyramid

• Method of arranging questions from starting with closed-ended questions and working toward open-ended questions

• Begins with very detailed, often closed questions

• Expands by allowing more open-ended questions and more generalized responses

• Useful if interviewees need to be warmed up to the topic or seem reluctant

Funnel

• Stating with open-ended questions and working towards closed-ended questions

• Begins with generalized, open-ended questions

• Concludes by narrowing the possible responses using closed questions

• Provides an easy, non-threatening way to begin an interview

• Useful when the interviewee feels emotionally about the topic

Diamond

• Started with closed, moving towards open, and ending with closed

• A diamond-shaped structure begins in a very specific way

• Then more general issues are examined

• Concludes with specific questions

• Combines the strength of both the pyramid and funnel structures

• Takes longer than the other structures

Closing the Interview

• Always ask, “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

• Summarize and provide feedback on your impressions

• Ask whom you should talk to next

• Set up future appointments

• Thank them for their time and shake hands

Interview Report

• To be written as soon as possible after the interview

• Provide an initial summary, then more detail

• Review the report with the respondent

Questionnaires

• Organization members are widely dispersed

• Many members are involved with the project

• Exploratory work is needed

• Problem solving before interviews is necessary

Questionnaire Language

• Simple

• Short

• Specific

• Free of bias

• Addressed to those who are knowledgable

• Technically accurate

• Appropriate for the reading level of the respondent

Nominal Scales

• Used to classify things

• The weakest form of measurement

• Data may be totaled

Interval Scales

• Used when the intervals are equal

• There is no absolute zero

  • ex: Likert Scale

Leniency

Cause by easy raters

• Solution is to move the average category to the left, right, or center

Central Tendency

Occurs when respondents rate everything as average

• Improve by making the differences smaller at the two ends

• Adjust the strength of the descriptors

• Create a scale with more points

Halo Effect

• When the impression formed in one question carries into the next question

• Solution is to place one trait and several items on each page

Designing the Questionnaire

• Allow ample white space

• Allow ample space to write/type in responses

• Make it easy for respondents to mark their clearly answers

• Be consistent in style

Order of Questions in a Questionnaire

• Place most important questions first

• Cluster items of similar content together

• Introduce less controversial questions first

Administering Questionnaires

1. Convening all concerned respondents together at one time

2. Personally administering the questionnaire

3. Allowing respondents to self-administer the questionnaire

4. Mailing questionnaires

5. Administering over the Web or via email

Ellectronically Submitting Questionnaires

• Best distribution method

• Reduced costs

• Collecting and storing the results electronically

Interviewing and Listening

One of the primary ways analysts gather information about an information systems project

Interview Guide

A document for developing, planning and conducting an interview

Effective Interviewing

• Plan the interview

• Listen carefully and take notes

• Review notes within 48 hours

• Be neutral

  • Seek diverse views

Group Interviews

Drawbacks:

• Contradictions and inconsistencies between interviewees

• Follow-up discussions are time consuming

• New interviews may reveal new questions that require additional interviews with those interviewed earlier

Advantages:

• More efficient use of time

• Can hear agreements and disagreements at once

• Opportunity for synergies

Direct Observation

• Watching users do their jobs

• Obtaining more firsthand and objective measures of employee interaction with information systems

• Can cause people to change their normal operating behavior

• Time-consuming and limited time to observe

Document Analysis

• Review of existing business documents

• Can give a historical and “formal” view of system requirements

Information to be Discovered

• Problems with existing systems

• Opportunity to meet a new need

• Organizational direction

• Names of key individuals

• Values of organization

• Special information processing circumstances

• Reasons for current system design

• Rules for processing data

Written Work Procedure

• For an individual or workgroup

• Describes how a particular job or task is performed

• Includes data and information used and created in the process

Potential Problems with Procedure Documents

• May involve duplication of effort

• May have missing procedures

• May be out of date

• May contradict information obtained through interviews

Formal Systems

The official way a system works as described in organizational documentation (ie work procedure)

Informal Systems

The way a system actually works (ie interviews, observations)

Business Form

• Used for all types of business functions

• Explicitly indicate what data flows in and out of a system and what data is necessary for the system to function

• Gives crucial information about the nature of the organization

Report

• Primary output of the current system

• Enables you to work backward from the report to the data needed to generate it

Joint Application Design

• Brings together key users, managers, and systems analysts

• Purpose: to collect system requirements simultaneously from key people

• Conducted off-site

Group Support Systems

• Facilitate sharing of ideas and voicing of opinions about system requirements