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Observe users in their natural environment.

Contextual inquiry takes us out of the lab and into users’ natural environments, where we can observe how they use products and services in everyday life. We leverage ethnographic methods drawn from the social sciences to study people at work, home, and play. We have extensive experience running contextual inquiry studies for a variety of industries and know how to glean the best information out of the messy reality that is users’ daily lives.

We help answer questions like:

How do our users actually use our product?
What else are users doing when they use our product?
What would make our employees’ work lives better?
How do people use navigation systems in their cars?
How do museum visitors interact with labels within exhibits?
Why do people buy boats, and how do they use them?

What can I expect from contextual inquiry with Centralis?

We immerse ourselves in users’ environments to design better products and services that meet their needs.

Smooth Logistics

We’ll handle everything, including recruiting, scheduling, and equipment, to ensure valuable and realistic observation of your users in their natural environment.

Conversational Charm

We’re skilled conversationalists and enjoy getting users talking. We can talk to anyone about anything, and we always follow up on interesting leads to keep the conversation flowing.

Close Collaboration

We’ll work together at every step of this process, from developing a session plan to communicating the final findings.

Fresh Perspective

We are an unbiased third party, which encourages participants to speak freely. This also enables us to provide an external viewpoint to help break up your internal logjams.

    "You do a fantastic job of filtering this stuff and putting

    it together in a way that makes sense. It’s really actionable."

    - Centralis Client

FAQs about Contextual Inquiry

What is contextual inquiry?

Contextual inquiry is a semi-structured interview method that involves observing users in the true context where they engage with a product or service. This allows us to understand user needs and wants in a realistic, messy, uncontrolled environment, providing hard-to-get feedback on your offering.

What’s the outcome of contextual inquiry?

Contextual inquiry provides the necessary qualitative data to holistically understand user behavior, which we can illustrate via journey maps, persona sets, design principles, and new product ideas. We’ll take stock of our findings and decide together which deliverable will suit you best.

How many users do we need?

This depends on the scale of the question and the variability in your audience. Because this is a qualitative method, we often start with a small sample (6-8 people) and recruit more participants as needed.

Can I come with you?

Absolutely! We’ll provide some light training to your team on how to observe without influencing user behavior, and then you are more than welcome to ride along. We also provide video of the sessions if you’d rather watch after the fact.

Why Centralis

We have over 20 years of experience and the numbers to prove it:

    "The analysis and presentation were great. I was excited to hear people

      immediately start considering how we can incorporate the feedback!"

    - Centralis Client

Contextual Inquiry