RESEARCH METHOD
20 Contextual Inquiry
Contextual inquiry is an immersive, contextual method of observing and interviewing that reveals underlying (and invisible) work structure.1
Before design teams can improve the ways in which people work, researchers must observe work where it happens. Spending time where work takes place is a precondition to understanding users’ tacit knowledge, and contextual inquiry provides a framework that places the researcher on-site as a participant in the inquiry, and begins the process of exposing underlying work structure.
There are four principles that define the contextual inquiry method:2
Context The most basic ...
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