Chapter 4: Information Gathering: Interactive Methods

Joint Application Design (JAD)

Process to accelerate the generation of information requirements by having end users and information systems specialists work together in intensive interactive design sessions.

Funnel Structure

Starting with open-ended questions and working toward closed questions; useful when interviewee feels emotionally about the topic.

Validity

The degree to which a question measures what the analyst intends for it to measure.

Interviewee Feelings

The interviewer can better understand the organization's culture more by listening to the interviewee's feelings about the current state of the system, organizational and personal goals, and informal procedures for interacting with information technologies.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

A discipline concerned with the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and the study of major phenomena surrounding them.

Leniency

A problem caused by respondents who are easy raters. A systems analyst can avoid the problem of leniency by moving the "average" category to the left (or right) of center.

Halo Effect

A problem that arises when the impression formed in one question carries into the next question. The solution is to place one trait and several employees on each page rather than one employee and several traits on a page.

Central Tendency

A problem that occurs when respondents rate everything as average. The analyst can improve the scale: (1) Make the differences smaller at the two ends, (2) Adjust the strength of the descriptors, and (3) Create a scale with more points.

Bipolar Closed Questions

A subset of closed questions that can be answered in two ways only, such as yes or no, true or false, and agree or disagree.

Closed Questions

A type of question used in interviews or on surveys that closes the possible response set available to respondents, such as multiple-choice exams.

Open-Ended Questions

A type of question used in interviews or on surveys that opens up the possible response set available to respondents.

Informal Procedures

Agency modes of handling matters that are not specified by laws or other legal documents and are performed without formality, such as negotiated settlements and friendly persuasion.

Questionnaire

An information-gathering technique that allows systems analysts to study attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and characteristics of several key people in the organization who may be affected by the current and proposed systems.

Interval Scale

Any scale of measurement possessing magnitude and equal intervals, but not an absolute zero, such as the Fahrenheit or Centigrade scale.

Nominal Scale

Any scale that contains no magnitude. Often nominal is thought of as name only, meaning that the variables of a nominal scale can be identified but not measured. Used to classify things; weakest forms of measurement.

Interviewee Goals

Goals are important information that can be gleaned from interviewing. Facts that you obtain from hard data may explain past performance, but goals project the organization's future. Try to find out as many of the organization's goals as possible from interviewing. You may not be able to determine goals through any other data-gathering methods.

Diamond-Shaped Structure

Starting with closed (specific) questions, moving toward open-ended (general questions), and ending with closed questions; takes longer than other structures.

Pyramid Structure

Starting with closed questions and working toward open-ended questions; useful if interviewees need to be warmed up to the topic or seem reluctant to address the topic.

Reliability

The property by which tests measure consistently what they are trying to measure. If the questionnaire was administered once and then again under the same conditions and if the same results were obtained both times, the instrument is said to have external consistency.

Stories

Engage organizational participants by reacting to stories, matching one story to another by recounting it to other participants, and even collaborating with the participant to reframe and understand organizational stories. It is a good way to deeply understand some of the problems associated with information systems use, systems development, systems adoption, and designing for your intended audience.

Probes

Follow-up questions primarily used during interviews between analysts and users.

Survey Respondents

Responses gained through questionnaires (also called surveys) using closed questions can be quantified.

Interviewee Opinions

Seek the opinions of the person you are interviewing. Opinions may be more important and more revealing than facts.