An observational method tracking someone closely through his or her daily routines
- Observing a participant’s activities and decision patterns allows researchers to gather insights through firsthand, real-time exposure.
- Observations should be well documented, with photographs, detailed notes and sketches, or audio.
- Ideally, several team members will complete shadowing exercises across representative users, to begin crafting a general picture of patterns.
- Cooperation is necessary and a respectful distance should be maintained to avoid interruption to natural routines or behavior change as a result of being observed.
- Typically, interactions with the person being shadowed are kept to a minimum, asking pertinent questions about ...