In chapter seven relevant points regarding data collection were mentioned. The book goes through three different methods for data gathering, interviews, questionnaires and observations. Whichever method you use, it's important to consider: Who the participants (population) should be and how to proceed in selecting them. In most cases having a contract for the participant stating what will be done with their information and how e.g. the interview will go is also good practice. Doing a pilot study to ensure that all issues that could be are taken care of.
Interviews are good for some people who may need encouragement (incentives) to answer questions while questionnaires are more suitable when the participant is unreachable and when you want to reach more participants which results in more data. Both interviews and questionnaires can use open and closed questions. Focus groups are optimal for studies where social interaction matters. They also help getting more data as the participants encourage each other to discuss.
Observations are used during any state in development. These are good at the beginning for setting upp goals for the developers. They are also a great addition to interviews and questionnaires as these do not always provide answers for all situations. During observation it's also recommended that the participant tells you what he/she is thinking (think-aloud technique) instead of just being quiet.
Chapter eight talks about how the gathered data should be handled. It is important not to let your own personal assumptions and bias influence the the results and also to be as objective as possible so that you conclusions are supported by what you gathered during the study.
Analyzing quantitative data (data in form of numbers), the most common approaches are using tables and graph to identify trends. Questionnaires and closed questions are optimal methods for this type of data. Means, medians and modes are also calculated. For quantitative analysis, using patterns, themes and categorizing data are more adequate methods.
When developing a project some requirements has to be set. These are important at the early stages to prevent large expenses if the project has to be modified later on. Task descriptions are also used through out the development, these consist of three types of descriptions, scenarios, use cases and essential use cases.
What is the best approach to continue the project if the requirements are starting to become too difficult to accomplish?
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