Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-1 Interactive Methods to collect Information Requirements Interviewing Joint Application Design (JAD) Questionnaires

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-2 Interviewing Interviewing is an important method for collecting data on human and system information requirements Interviews reveal information about: Interviewee opinions Feelings about the current state of the system Organizational and personal goals Informal procedures

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-3 Interview Preparation Reading background material Establishing interview objectives Deciding whom to interview Preparing the interviewee Deciding on question types and structure

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-4 Types Of Interviews Open-ended Closed

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-5 Open-Ended Interview Open-ended interview questions allow interviewees to respond how they wish, and to what length they wish i.e., they don't select "yes" or "no" or provide a numeric rating, etc.) Open-ended interview questions are appropriate when the analyst is interested in detailed reply

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-6 Advantages of Open-Ended Interview Puts the interviewee at ease Allows the interviewer to pick up on the interviewee’s vocabulary Provides more interest for the interviewee Useful if the interviewer is unprepared

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-7 Disadvantages of Open-Ended Interview May result in too much irrelevant detail Possibly losing control of the interview May take too much time for the amount of useful information gained Potentially seeming that the interviewer is unprepared

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-8 Closed Interview Closed interview questions limit the number of possible responses. where all interviewees are asked the same questions and asked to choose answers from among the same set of alternatives Closed interview questions are appropriate for generating precise, reliable data that is easy to analyze The methodology is efficient, and it requires little skill for interviewers to administer

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-9 Benefits of Closed Interview Saving interview time Easily comparing interviews Getting to the point Keeping control of the interview Covering a large area quickly Getting to relevant data

Disadvantages of Closed Interview Boring for the interviewee Failure to obtain rich detailing Missing main ideas Failing to build rapport between interviewer and interviewee

Attributes of Open-Ended and Closed Interviews (Figure 4.5)

Interview Report Write as soon as possible after the interview Provide an initial summary, then more detail Review the report with the respondent

Joint Application Design (JAD) Joint Application Design (JAD) can replace a series of interviews with the user community JAD is a technique that allows the analyst to accomplish requirements analysis and design the user interface with the users in a group setting

Personal interviews are time consuming and subject to error, and their data are prone to misinterpretation. An alternative approach to interviewing users one on one, called joint application design (JAD), was developed by IBM. The motivation for using JAD is to cut the time (and hence the cost) required by personal interviews, to improve the quality of the results of information requirements assessment, and to create more user identification with new information systems as a result of the participative processes. Why to use JAD ?

JAD Personnel Analysts Users, executives, … (8 to 12) Observers (technical experts) A scribe: write down everything A session leader Senior person: visible symbol of organizational commitment May be outside management consultant

When to Use JAD Users are restless and want something new The organizational culture supports joint problem-solving behaviors Analysts forecast an increase in the number of ideas using JAD Personnel may be absent from their jobs for the length of time required

Benefits of JAD Time is saved, compared with traditional interviewing Rapid development of systems Improved user ownership of the system Creative idea production is improved

Drawbacks of Using JAD JAD requires a large block of time to be available for all session participants If preparation or the follow-up report is incomplete, the session may not be successful The organizational skills and culture may not be conducive to a JAD session

Questionnaires Also called Surveys Respondent: person answering a questionnaire (or survey) Useful in gathering information from key organization members about Attitudes: what people say they want (in the new system) Beliefs: what people think is actually true Behaviors: what organizational members do Characteristics: properties of people or things

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-20 Planning for the Use of Questionnaires Organization members are widely dispersed Many members are involved with the project Exploratory work is needed Problem solving prior to interviews is necessary

4-21 When to Use Questionnaires Organization members are widely dispersed Many members are involved with the project May be used in conjunction with interviews Follow-up unclear questionnaire responses with interviews Design questionnaires based on what was discovered in interviews

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-22 Questionnaire Language Simple: use the language of respondents whenever possible Specific and short questions Free of bias Technically accurate Right question to the right person: addressed to those who are knowledgeable Appropriate for the reading level of the respondent

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-23 Question Types Questions are designed as either: Open-ended the respondent to formulate his own answer Closed has the respondent pick an answer from a given number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-24 Trade-offs between the Use of Open-Ended and Closed Questions on Questionnaires (Figure 4.12)

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-25 Designing the Questionnaire Allow white space Allow space to write or type in responses Make it easy for respondents to clearly mark their answers Be consistent in style

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-26 Order of Questions Place most important questions first Cluster items of similar content together Introduce less controversial questions first

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-27 Administering Questionnaires Administering questionnaires has two main questions: Who in the organization should receive the questionnaire How should the questionnaire be administered

Kendall & KendallCopyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall4-28 Ways to Capture Responses When Designing a Web Survey (Figure 4.13)