Contextual Inquiry
Observing people in their actual environment doing the actual thing.
What It Is
A fieldwork method where the researcher goes to where the work happens and observes while asking questions. Not a conference room interview about what someone remembers doing — watching them do it, in real time, in their real environment.
Four Principles
Context — go to the user's environment, not yours. Partnership — collaborate with the user to understand their work, don't just watch silently. Interpretation — develop a shared understanding of what you're seeing, check your assumptions in the moment. Focus — plan what to attend to based on your research questions so you're not just taking in everything.
How It Works
60-90 minute sessions, remote via screen share or in-person over the shoulder. Ask participants to work as they normally would. Capture observations with timestamps. Note hesitations, workarounds, copy-paste behaviors, verbal frustrations — the things people do without thinking about them.
What It Produces
Workflow maps showing how things actually get done. A pain point inventory with observed evidence. Direct quotes and behavioral data. And hypotheses to validate in subsequent research — because what you see in context always generates new questions.