Understanding users in context: An in-depth introduction to fieldwork for user centered design

Abstract

There is increased awareness of the need for design to be driven by deep understanding of users, their activity patterns, processes, needs and external influences-understanding that can only be gained by studying user behavior in the user's context. This requires that practitioners know how to plan and carry out observational studies of users, which in turn is a new skill for many. In addition, fieldwork is bigger than any one methodology. Therefore, in this tutorial, we will take a fresh and deeper look at fundamental principles, teaches a range of techniques, and examines important issues on which methods differ. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2007.