Data Gathering

Data gathering is collecting the relevant data to the project from the relevant stakeholders. Data gathering is key point of the analysis. Data gathering is performed mainly to identify the user requirements, their expectations from the system also to identify the current system of how it work, how users perform their work, what are the main steps of performing the particular task, also to identify who are the people responsible of it, what are the current problems and are there any benefits from current system?

There are various ways of performing a data gathering. Following are the main methods of data gathering.

1. Observations

2. Interviews

3. Document Reviews

4. Workshops or focus groups

5. Questionnaires

[ 30 ] 3.2.2.1 OBSERVATIONS

Observation is an excellent method of gathering data from working environment. Generally observations are done in order to gather the data about the current system, because some users may not express their ideas freely to another person; but observing their behavior at work will give a good idea about the current system. For the most part observation is done in combination with another data gathering method such as interviews to fill the gaps.

Observations will help to verify the user comments about the current system and to verify the way that the current system works. It is always good to have an expert nearby so the expert can say what to look for. There are many advantages as well as disadvantages in observation.

Kendall et al,(nd)

Advantages

 Can gather the data about the current system

 Can collect the data about how the people react to the situations

 Can Verifies the observed data from other sources

 Can collect the data about the peoples relationships with works

 Can gather the true feedback of the users when they use the system

 Can identify the steps of how the things done currently Disadvantages

 Users will be nervous during the observation time.

So the real behavior will not be able to identify form the users.

 Communication errors with the user will lead the analyzer to wrong conclusion.

 Selecting observing sample is very tricky.

 Ethical issues. (Mainly with women‟s) Kendall et al,(nd)

[ 31 ] 3.2.2.2 INTERVIEWS

Interview is another good method of gathering the data from the user. Interviews are conduct on one-on-one or with a small group of user. It is always good to have a small number of groups so everyone will ave a space to express their ideas.

Interviews can be performed in any stage of the data gathering but is good to have interviews in the stage of the performance analysis stage. Even though the interviews take lots of time of the employees it is really good technique because it give the space to gather specific information from the users.

It is always advised to prepare questionnaire before the interview take place and let the user to answer the questions by taking their own time. Interviews always fail because the interviewer tries to prove his opinion to the interviewee and always try to get the desired answer form the interviewee. Kendall et al,(nd)

Main steps to have a good interview

1. Selection of the correct person to interview and inform him about the interview.

2. Make questions for the interview.

3. Do the interview with the person.

4. Document the fact and information gathered during the interview in proper way.

5. Recheck the data gathered during the interview.

6. Do the necessary corrections in documentation and sign-off the interview.

Main goals of an interview

1. To gather information about the company 2. Can Provide information to the user

3. Can gather information about the functions of the current system 4. Can verify the data which are gathered previously

5. Can identify the problems in current system 6. Can gather information about the processes.

[ 32 ]

Things should do in an interview and things should not do in an interview 1. Do not guess anything before perform an interview.

2. Do not get in to pre opinion.

3. Do not give your opinion to the user.

4. Ask both open and closed questions during the interview.

5. Make the verifications at the right moment.

6. Do not argue with the interviewee anytime and respect to his ideas.

7. Be professional and the same time try to be friendly with the interviewee.

8. Never interpret when the interviewee express their ideas.

9. Listen actively in order to give an impression to the user that the facts are really important.

10. Let the interviewee do the majority of the talking 11. Always control the interview and target on the subject.

12. Finished the interview during the allocated time period.

13. Finished the interview in positive manner Advantages

 Enable to learn things that cannot be directly observed.

 Allow inquiring if the answers are not clear.

 High response rate.

 Can see the real user expression.

 Increase the accuracy of data gathering.

 Allow more detail questions to ask

 interviewees are not influenced by others

 Can gather the sensitive data.

[ 33 ] Disadvantages

 Time consuming.

 Sometimes costly.

 Communication errors.

 Sometimes people will not express their real feeling.

 Can only interview limited users (focus group is low).

Kendall et al,(nd)

3.2.2.3 DOCUMENT REVIEWS

Most of the organizations keep records of their activities such as bills, user manuals, and reports.

Review of these records will provide lots of details about the company. These records will provide the data about the current system and how the current system works and what are the reports, outputs which current system generate to the user and what are the inputs that should give in order to get the valid output from the system and what are the steps that user should follow to perform a activity. Document review is somewhat like an observation, however document review will give valid details about the current system and sometimes these documents will provide very sensitive data about the previous systems.

Kendall et al,(nd) Advantages

 The documents will give a plenty of details about the current system.

 Data will be valid.

 Data will be in details.

Disadvantages

 The documents might be not valid.

 The documents might be Outdated.

 The documents may be changed.

[ 34 ] 3.2.2.4 WORKSHOPS OR FOCUS GROUPS

This is also a good way to gather data from the stakeholders; this is also a part of observation process. Focus group discussion will provide wide-angle views of what people think about the current system and what their common needs.

Workshops usually involved in small number of people around 8-12 and its main purpose is to discuss a one particular topic and gets the feedback from everyone. Participants will be free to express their ideas and this will be really good to identify the common and sensitive issues that system has.

Kendall et al,(nd) Advantages

 Will give a good idea about the user requirements.

 Data will be in details.

 Can see the real user expression.

 Increase the accuracy of data gathering.

 Allow more detail questions to ask

 Can gather the sensitive data.

Disadvantages

 Time consuming.

 Sometimes costly.

 Communication errors.

 Sometimes people will not express their real feeling in front of others.

[ 35 ] 3.2.2.5 QUESTIONNAIRES (SURVEYS)

Questionnaires are used to gather data from the large number of people and when it is impossible to meet every one of them face to face. Like interviews, surveys can also be conduct in formal or informal way. Questionnaires are built in very simple way that people can understand questions very easily. There are main three types of the questions which will be described in the latter part of this documentation.

Kendall et al,(nd)

Advantages

 Can have a good idea about the question because it will have various feedbacks from the user.

 People will express their ideas freely in open end questions.

 Can get the feedback from large group of people in a smaller time. (sample group is high)

 Low cost.

 Interviewee can answer the question by taking his own time Disadvantages

 People might not response.

 No control over the response

 Low probability of getting detailed feedback.

 No space to clarify the doubts.

 People will give the wrong feedbacks

 Language communication errors will direct to a wrong answer.

 May be time and recourse consuming.

[ 36 ]

THE METHODS OF MAKING QUESTIONS FOR SURVEYS/INTERVIEWS

In Surveys and interviews main thing is questions. If the questions are incorrect and they are prepared in ineffective manner then the output will never be successful. So it is a waste of money and the time of both interviewer and the interviewee. For that reason questions has an immense value in surveys and interviews. There are mainly 3 type‟s questions.

1. Multiple-choice question

2. Open-end questions

3. Close-end questions

Kendall et al,(nd)

3.2.2.6 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTION

Multiple-choice questions are made in order to get a certain answer from the user. User will not express their ideas about the question because user only has to pick an answer from the set of given answers. These questions are really important when evaluating the questioners and interview details.

Kendall et al,(nd)

[ 37 ] 3.2.2.7 OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

“According to Changing Mind website (2010) an open question is likely to receive a long answer”

Open end questions are designed to get a long and meaningful answer from the user. These types of questions will lead the user to give a long answer about the topic so the user will take some time to answer the questions. Open questions are great tool to promote creative thoughts and problem solving skills, for the reason that these questions will give reasonable response time to the interviewee and also these questions will make a strong bond between the interviewer and the interviewee. By using the open-end questions interviewer can gather lots of data about the current system and interviewee will express their views freely.

Open-end questions typically begin with words like “Why”, “Describe”, “how”, As a example

 Describe me what you think about the current system?

 What is it you like about the proposed system?

 Why would you say this system is a good one?

 How do you plan to accomplish your business plans?

Let the interviewee to talk more and listen to their ideas and their view points.

Interviewee will control the interview most of the time.

Advantages

 Can gather the interviewee's words which are a sign of his education, values, and attitudes.

 Provide lots of details

 Give more attention for the interviewee.

 Valuable if the interviewer is not ready for the interview.

[ 38 ] Disadvantages

 Might take too much time to gain relevant information

 May provide too much unrelated data about the system

 Perhaps lose the control of the interview.

3.2.2.8 CLOSE-ENDED QUESTIONS

“According to Changing Mind website (2010) a closed question can be answered with either a single word or a short phrase”.

Closed end questions are designed in order to get a straight forward answer from the user. These questions will limit the number of possible answers from the user and these questions are mostly used in order to prove a point or to clarify a user given answer.

These questions will give precise details that are required. These questions will not reveal much about the users but these questions will test their understanding about the current and proposed system.

Close-end questions typically begin with words like “Is”, “Do”, “When”, As a example

 Do you like the current system?

 Do you like the proposed system?

 Is the current system good?

 Do you have a business plans?

Let the interviewee to talk more and listen to their ideas and their view points. Interviewee will control the interview most of the time.

Advantages

 Possibly will save the interview time.

 |Be able to control the interview

 Can easily compare interviews with other

[ 39 ]

 Only will get the relevant data.

 Be able to cover a huge area quickly.

Disadvantages

 Boring for the interviewee.

 Will not be able to get detailed information.

 Fail to build a bond between interviewer and interviewee.

Following table will give a good idea about the close-ended questions and open-ended questions.

(Authors work)

Open-Ended Question Close-Ended Question

Describe me what you think about the current system?

Do you like the current system?

What is it you like about the proposed system? Do you like the proposed system?

Why would you say this system is a good one? Is the current system good?

How do you plan to accomplish your business plans?

Do you have a business plans?

[ 40 ] Source: Kendall et al, (nd)

THE STRUCTURES OF MAKING QUESTIONNAIRES FOR SURVEYS/INTERVIEWS There are main 3 types of structures, which are

1. The pyramid structure

2. The funnel structure

3. The diamond structure

[ 41 ] 3.2.3 THE PYRAMID STRUCTURE

The pyramid questions are start with very detailed close-ended questions and end in open-ended questions. These questions are really important to warm up the interviewees about the particular topic

(Source: Authors work)

Close-ended Questions

Open-ended Questions Start

End

[ 42 ] THE FUNNEL STRUCTURE

Funnel structured questions are start with general open-ended questions and Concludes in close-ended questions. Provide an easy way to start the interview and interviewee will be more relaxed. These questions are really important when the interviewees are really emotional about the topic.

(Source: Authors work)

Close-ended Questions

Open-ended Questions

Start

End

[ 43 ] THE DIAMOND STRUCTURE

The diamond structured questions are starting with close-ended questions and then more general issues are examined and conclude in close-ended questions. These types of questions are combination of pyramid and funnel structure and these questions will take time to get an answer.

(Source: Authors work)

Close-ended Questions

Open-ended Questions

Close-ended Questions

Main Point

End Start

[ 44 ]

In document HCI Final Document (Page 29-44)