Notes on Information Gathering: Interactive Methods

Information Gathering: Interactive Methods

Learning Objectives

  • Interviewing: Construct meaningful questions and conduct effective interviews.

  • User Stories: Understand the significance of listening to user experiences in systems analysis.

  • Joint Application Design (JAD): Grasp the concept and application of JAD.

  • Questionnaires: Design and administer effective questionnaires.

  • Requirements Prioritization: Learn methods of prioritizing requirements.

Interactive Methods to Elicit Human Information Requirements

  • Interviewing

  • Joint Application Design (JAD)

  • Questionnaires

  • Requirements Prioritization

Interviewing

  • Importance: Collects data on human and system information requirements.

  • Reveals: Opinions, feelings, goals, and key HCI concerns.

Five Steps in Interview Preparation

  1. Reading background material.

  2. Establishing interview objectives.

  3. Deciding whom to interview.

  4. Preparing the interviewee.

  5. Deciding on question types and structure.

Question Types

  • Open-ended Questions: No limits on responses, encourages detailed feedback.

    • Advantages:

    • Puts interviewee at ease.

    • Reveals detail and avenues for further questioning.

    • Disadvantages:

    • Potential for irrelevant detail and loss of control.

  • Closed Questions: Limit responses, easier to analyze.

    • Advantages:

    • Efficient for obtaining precise data.

    • Disadvantages:

    • May not build rapport, lack rich details.

  • Dichotomous Questions: Yes/No responses, should be used sparingly.

  • Probing Questions: Elicit more detail.

Arranging Questions

  • Pyramid: Closed to open questions.

  • Funnel: Open to closed questions.

  • Diamond: Specific to general narrows down and concludes.

Closing the Interview

  • Ask if there's any additional information.

  • Summarize and provide feedback, seek next contacts.

User Stories

  • Importance of Stories: Provide context, relay information, can solve issues related to information systems.

  • Elements: Call to adventure, quest, struggle, transformation, resolution, moral, epilogue.

  • Types: Experiential, explanatory, validating, prescriptive stories.

Joint Application Design (JAD)

  • Purpose: Group technique to analyze requirements and design the user interface.

  • Conditions:

    • Users are eager for new ideas.

    • Supportive organizational culture.

  • Benefits:

    • Saves time, promotes user ownership, and creative ideation.

    • Drawbacks: Requires preparation and suitable organizational readiness.

Questionnaires

  • Usefulness: Assess attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and characteristics of organizations.

  • Writing Questions: Open-ended and closed format.

  • Measurement Scales:

    • Nominal Scales: Classification (e.g., types of software).

    • Interval Scales: Equal intervals without a true zero.

Validity and Reliability

  • Validity: Measures what is intended.

  • Reliability: Consistency in responses.

Problems with Scales

  • Leniency: Bias of easy raters.

  • Central Tendency: Averaging ratings.

  • Halo Effect: Answers influenced by previous impressions.

Requirements Prioritization

  • Methods:

    • Simple Ranking: Short lists ranked by importance.

    • 100-Token Method: Vote distribution reflecting priority.

    • MoSCoW Method: Categorizing requirements.

    • Urgent/Important Matrix: Based on urgency and importance.

    • Analytic Hierarchy Processing (AHP): Comparative importance analysis.

    • Q-Sorts: Placing items in order of importance.

Summary

  • Interviewing: Preparation, types of questions, arranging, and reporting.

  • JAD: Group involvement and location benefits.

  • Questionnaires: Designing effective surveys, scales, administering.

  • Stories: Understanding elements of business stories.

  • Prioritization: Methods for effective requirements prioritization.