Collecting User Needs: Interviews, Observation, and Surveys

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Collecting User Needs: Interviews, Observation, and Surveys

System Analysis and Design · Chapter 2: Business Analysis Tools and Development MethodsSection 2.5 · lesson 11 of 699 min · free with a free account

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In this lesson

Interviews, observation, and surveys.

  • Plan an interview, and distinguish structured, unstructured, and semi-structured formats
  • Distinguish open-ended from closed-ended questions
  • Distinguish passive from participant observation, and explain the Hawthorne effect
  • Apply questionnaire design principles, and explain why sampling matters

Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (1,205 words). Read along, or search it.

Business Analysis Tools and Development Methods

Collecting User Needs

Before a system can be designed, an analyst has to find out what its users actually need. That sounds simple. It rarely is. People forget steps, describe work inaccurately, and do not always know what to ask for. This section covers the three core fact-finding techniques. Interviews, observation, and surveys. We will look at how to plan and run each one, and the specific risks that come with each.

Figure 2.3

3 Fact-Finding Techniques

The three techniques differ mainly along one line. How much depth they give about any one person's experience, versus how many people they can reach. Interviews are deep, one-on-one conversations. Observation means watching work as it happens. Surveys ask short questions of many people. Interviews give the most depth per person, but reach the fewest people. Surveys are the reverse. Most projects use more than one of them together. An analyst might interview a handful of department heads, to understand the big picture. Then observe front-line staff, to see how the work actually happens day to day. And then survey a much larger group, to check whether what a few people described holds true more broadly.

Interviews

A Planned Conversation

Start with interviews. An interview is a planned conversation between an analyst and a stakeholder. It gathers detailed, first-hand information about how work is done, what problems exist, and what the stakeholder needs. Its big advantage is room to ask follow-up questions, and explore an answer in depth. That is hard to do with a survey. A useful interview is planned, not improvised. Planning means choosing who to interview, based on their role and knowledge. It means researching the person's area of the business beforehand. It means preparing a set of questions in a logical order. And it means scheduling enough time to let the conversation breathe, without running long. An analyst who walks in unprepared risks wasting the stakeholder's time, and getting shallow, disorganized answers.

Interview Formats

Structured, Unstructured, Semi-Structured

Interviews come in three formats. A structured interview uses a fixed list of questions, asked in the same order to every interviewee. It is best for comparing answers across many stakeholders, on the same set of topics. An unstructured interview has a general topic, but no fixed question list. The conversation follows whatever the interviewee raises. It is best for exploring an unfamiliar area, where the analyst does not yet know which questions matter. A semi-structured interview sits in between. It has a core set of planned questions, with room to follow up on interesting answers. Most day-to-day analyst interviews are semi-structured. They balance consistency, with the flexibility to dig deeper. Choosing a format is really a question of how much you already know about the area.

Question Types

Open-Ended vs. Closed-Ended

Within any format, individual questions come in two broad types. An open-ended question invites the interviewee to answer in their own words. It is useful for uncovering issues the analyst had not anticipated. For example, walk me through what happens when an order comes in with missing information. A closed-ended question asks for a specific, limited answer. It is useful for confirming a fact quickly. For example, how many orders does your team process on a typical day? Skilled interviewers move between the two. They use open-ended questions to explore, and closed-ended questions to pin down specifics. A common rhythm is to open wide, listen, and then narrow in on the numbers that matter.

Observation

Watching the Actual Work

The second technique is observation. Observation means watching people do their actual work, rather than asking them to describe it afterward. Why does that matter? Because people do not always remember, or accurately describe, every step of a task they perform routinely. Watching the work directly can surface details an interview would miss. There are two types. In passive observation, the analyst watches without taking part. For example, watching a call center agent handle calls from a nearby desk, without interacting with callers. In participant observation, the analyst takes part in the work alongside the people being observed. For example, processing a few customer orders alongside warehouse staff, to experience the process firsthand.

A Known Risk

The Hawthorne Effect

Observation carries one well-known risk. People often behave differently, simply because they know they are being watched. This is called the Hawthorne effect. It is named after a series of workplace studies. In them, productivity changed whenever workers were aware of being observed, regardless of what else changed. So what can an analyst do about it? One option is to observe over a long enough period that people settle back into their normal routine. Another is to combine observation with other techniques. That way, you can check whether what you observed matches what people report doing on their own. If the two stories disagree, that gap is itself worth investigating.

Surveys

Reach Over Depth

The third technique is the survey, also called a questionnaire. It is a set of written questions, distributed to a group of people. Surveys trade the depth of a conversation for the ability to hear from a much larger group. Because there is no chance to follow up, the design of the questions matters enormously. Use clear, simple wording. Ambiguous or technical wording produces answers that mean different things to different people. Avoid leading questions. A question should not hint at the answer the analyst expects, or wants to hear. Mix closed and open questions. Closed questions, like multiple choice and rating scales, are easy to tally. A few open questions let respondents raise something unexpected. Order questions logically. Group related ones together, and move from general to specific. And keep it reasonably short. A long survey lowers response rates, and makes respondents more likely to stop paying close attention.

Sampling

Who You Ask Decides What You Learn

Finally, sampling. It is rarely practical to survey every single person in a large population, such as every customer, or every employee. Instead, analysts survey a sample. A smaller group selected from the full population. For the results to be trusted as representative, the sample has to be chosen carefully. For example, through random selection. The tempting alternative is to survey whoever happens to be easiest to reach. But that can produce a sample that does not reflect the population as a whole. And then the survey answers a question about the wrong group of people. A large number of responses cannot fix a sample that was chosen badly.

Key Terms

The Vocabulary of This Section

Let's lock in the key terms. A semi-structured interview combines planned core questions, with room to follow up. An open-ended question is answered in the interviewee's own words. A closed-ended question asks for a specific, limited answer. Participant observation means the analyst takes part in the work being studied. The Hawthorne effect is the tendency of people to change their behavior, because they know they are being observed. And a sample is a smaller group selected from the full population being surveyed.

Key Takeaways

What to Carry Forward

To pull this together. Interviews, observation, and surveys trade off depth of insight against reach, and projects often combine all three. Interviews can be structured, unstructured, or semi-structured, and they combine open-ended and closed-ended questions. Passive observation watches without participating. Participant observation takes part in the work. The Hawthorne effect means people may change their behavior simply because they are being observed. And good questionnaire design uses clear, unbiased wording and a logical order. With a sample that represents the broader population, not just whoever is easiest to reach.

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Universities that work with NCCRS

System Analysis and Design carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Collecting User Needs: Interviews, Observation, and Surveys

What are the main fact-finding techniques in systems analysis?
The three core fact-finding techniques are interviews, observation, and surveys, and they trade depth against reach. Interviews give the most depth per person but reach the fewest people, while surveys reach many people with less depth. Observation shows how work actually happens. Projects often combine them, for example interviewing department heads, observing front-line staff, and then surveying a larger group to check the findings.
What is the difference between structured, unstructured, and semi-structured interviews?
A structured interview asks a fixed list of questions in the same order to everyone, an unstructured interview follows a general topic wherever the interviewee leads, and a semi-structured interview combines planned core questions with room for follow-up. Structured suits comparing answers across many stakeholders, unstructured suits exploring an unfamiliar area, and semi-structured, the most common analyst format, balances consistency with flexibility.
What is the Hawthorne effect in observation?
The Hawthorne effect is the tendency of people to change their behavior because they know they are being observed. It is named after a series of workplace studies in which productivity changed when workers were aware of being watched. Analysts reduce its impact by observing long enough for people to settle into their normal routine and by comparing observations with what people report through other techniques.
How do you design a good survey questionnaire for requirements gathering?
A good questionnaire uses clear, simple wording, avoids leading questions, mixes closed and open questions, orders questions logically from general to specific, and stays reasonably short. Because there is no chance to follow up, ambiguous wording produces answers that mean different things to different people. The sample matters too: a randomly selected group represents the population better than whoever is easiest to reach, and more responses cannot fix a badly chosen sample.

About the System Analysis and Design course

How many college credits is System Analysis and Design?
System Analysis and Design (Computer Science 390) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does System Analysis and Design cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 69 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
Which universities accept UPI Study credits?
UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does System Analysis and Design take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 69 lessons total about 9 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
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