Ideally, upper management should also be involved. The main phases of contextual inquiry. Most contextual inquiry sessions focus on the flow of people, things, and information. The team tracks goals, tasks, end-user characteristics, and all aspects of the use environment. Such inquiries, however, can be problematic in the medical environment because of its hectic pace and concerns about confidentiality.
Further observations center on the way existing devices are used and integrated.
After the inquiry sessions, data reduction and analysis involve collecting and organizing issues and observations and producing flowcharts of end-users, data, and devices. The entire team interprets the data. Flowcharts can be combined from different sites, or major types can be placed side by side for comparison. Teams can use affinity diagrams in which members write single issues and observations on Post-Its, group the notes to combine similar ideas, and then label the groups and subgroups. These experiences and materials can be used to uncover designs and product-shaping issues that do not come to mind when users respond to simple interviews or surveys.