Information Gathering

Interviews

• a planned, formal, scheduled meeting. (make an appointment)
• used to gather information.
• interactive, flexible, adaptable, flexible.
• time consuming; non-standardized responses may be difficult to evaluate.
• The interviewer should have basic objectives.
• Explain objectives to subject.
• Give subject time to prepare.
• Interview should be held in subject's own office or department.
• Interviewer comments should be noncommittal; neutral, non-leading questions.
• Avoid premature conclusions, selective perception.
• Be careful not to accept negative responses too readily.
• Beware of subjects who try too hard to please.
• Listen!!

Questionnaires

• impersonal, often mass-produced.
• response rate may be low (discarded and not returned).
• suitable when number of respondents is large.
• cheaper, faster than interviewing when number of respondents is large.
• useful when the same information is required from all respondents.
• produces specific, limited accounts of information.
• if the population is very large, it can be sampled.
• samples must be random, not convenient.
• same information can be sought in different ways through multiple questions.
• redundant questions can be compared for consistency of information/responses.
• standardized responses: fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, rating scales, rankings.
• open-ended responses: more difficult to tabulate
• standardized responses can be tabulated rapidly and analyzed using statistical distribution techniques.

Observation

• a qualified person watches, or walks through, the actual processing associated with the system.
• performance of the people being observed may be affected by the presence of the observer.
• avoid taking notes: can affect the process performance if workers notice notes are being taken.
• information gathered relates directly to observed performance: facts, not opinion.

Reviewing Existing Documentation

• Often there is little to tell you what is happening within the current information system.
• Keeping documentation up to date is not always a high organizational priority. Documentation may be out of date.
• Many organizations have undocumented/informal procedures. (Formal organization chart vs. what is really happening)

The Work Environment

• Physical arrangement of work areas will provide additional details associated with work flows and job performance.
• Information gathered should describe the physical movement of documents, forms, people, or transmitted data within offices where work is done.
• One method is to depict the floor plan of the office and trace the work flow onto it.
• New systems may disrupt existing work flows.
• Human factors: personal realtionships may have developed around existing work flows.

Direct and Indirect Probes

• Direct probe (e.g., questionnaires, interviews, in-person observation)
• Indirect probe (review existing documentation; taking random samples)

Why indirect probes? Measurement itself can affect what is being measured. Direct investigation can be an interruption to the process or a distraction. Human factors: direct (overt) observation can impact on the performance of the workers.