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Method

Contextual inquiry

A method in which people are observed and asked questions while they carry out their tasks in their own setting, like an apprentice beside a master.

In Spanish
Indagación contextual
Origin
Whiteside, Bennett and Holtzblatt (1988); systematized by Beyer and Holtzblatt (1998)
Output
Notes on how a person works in their setting, and why

What it’s for

Discovering how things are really done, including the details no one would mention in an interview.

Key elements

  • Context

    Go where the person works and watch them work.

  • Partnership

    The person is the expert; the researcher learns as an apprentice.

  • Interpretation

    Check your understanding with the person as you go.

  • Focus

    Go with a clear purpose and test your assumptions.

An example

Two ways to understand how staff at a bank branch work.

In a meeting room“usually…”
They are asked how they serve a customer. They describe the ideal process.
At their desknotewhy…?
They are accompanied while they serve customers and asked questions at key moments. The shortcuts and paper notes appear.

In their context, people show tricks and problems they take for granted and would never mention.

How it’s done

  1. You accompany the person while they do their real work.

  2. You ask in the moment, without interrupting too much.

  3. You interpret with them what you have observed.

Applications in design

  • When to use it

    To understand a job or a task as it is really done, where it happens.

  • Avoid

    Turning it into a sit-down interview far from where everything happens: ask the person to show you how they do it, as if you were going to learn their job.

  • Don’t fall for it

    Notice the papers, notes and shortcuts they have created: they reveal what the system doesn’t solve.

Connections

Builds on

Related to

Authors and works

  1. 1988

    John Whiteside, John Bennett and Karen Holtzblatt

    Described the method in an account of their usability engineering work.

  2. 1998

    Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt

    Systematized it, with its four principles, in Contextual Design.

Sources

Original sources

  • Whiteside, J., Bennett, J., & Holtzblatt, K. (1988). Usability engineering: Our experience and evolution. In M. Helander (Ed.), Handbook of human-computer interaction. North-Holland.
  • Beyer, H., & Holtzblatt, K. (1998). Contextual design: Defining customer-centered systems. Morgan Kaufmann.

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