Approaching Contextual Inquiries

When tasked with a contextual inquiry in my UX Bootcamp, I got nervous. Asking someone I didn’t know if I could observe them felt uncomfortable, and to be honest, a little bit creepy to me. To give you some context, the project my team was working on had to do with the library and how it is a third-place in a community. We wanted to understand how people used the library for career and skill advancement and what services they might use there.

For my contextual inquiry, I went to the library and initially started by sitting and observing the actions that were happening around me; people-watching if you will. However, I knew that the requirement for the project was for me to ask someone if I could watch them and ask them a couple of questions. I looked at the computers to see if there was anyone who might be open to it. I bit the bullet and walked over. The first woman I asked was working with a younger man and I quietly asked if I could observe her and ask a couple of questions. She politely declined but said that she was helping this man find a job on indeed using the library computers. I then asked another woman who was sitting there, and she declined as well. I promptly left the library because I thought I may have made people uncomfortable. Feeling defeated, I ended up reaching out to a friend to watch her look for jobs on her computer. Due to the time constraints when the assignment was due, I had to just get it done.

For me, the most difficult part of a contextual inquiry is the ask. Once the person says yes, I feel more at ease. I do believe the place in which I wanted to conduct the contextual inquiry may have had an effect on it, given is it a quiet space where people don’t typically want to be disturbed, but I can’t be the only one that struggles with this. It can be nerve-wracking to ask someone you don’t know for their time. After that day, I looked up some tips on how to better approach people to conduct contextual inquiries in the future and here is what I found:

Understand the space

Visit the place where you will conduct your contextual inquiry once or twice ahead of time to understand where is the best spot to approach people and to get a better idea of the people you will meet in that space.

Choose the time and day

Knowing what time and day of the week when the location is busier can be helpful in terms of having options of different people to approach.

Incentivize

Offering people something in return can be an option that makes you more comfortable asking for someone’s time.

Go with a teammate

Though this isn’t always an option, it can be helpful to bring someone with you for support. It may make you feel more at ease, and they can take more comprehensive notes during the interview.

Empathize

Remember to put yourselves in their shoes before you approach them. Understand that not everyone has the time or is comfortable with being observed and asked questions. It will make it easier to brush it off when they decline.