Contextual Interview Protocol

During the interview, we will ask the informant to conduct relevant tasks, explaining what is being done, why it must be done, and how it is done. As the informant continues through the task, the interviewer(s) will ask for clarification, pose questions about contextual factors, and generally attempt to build an understanding of the work. Therefore, the interview will be unstructured and much of the discussion will be determined by the events that occur as the informant completes their tasks.

Below is some broad structure for the interview. However, no ordering of these questions is implied - rather, they can be asked when convenient during the course of the discussion.

Recording

All sessions should be audio-recorded with the participant’s permission, either via web conference software or portable digital audio recorder. Written notes will be taken as well. If interviews are conducted via web-conference, screen captures will be recorded as well. We will use GoToMeeting for web conferencing. Artifacts such as data files would also be useful when available.

Steps will be taken to avoid protected health information (PHI). We will try to remove PHI data entirely from consideration. We will only observe what participants do if it does not involve any PII. If any displays or artifacts involving PHI are inadvertently introduced into the discussion, any screen capture or recording modes that might capture the PHI will be disabled immediately.

Interview Introduction

The introductory component of the discussion is designed to provide basic context and to start conversation:

Introductory script:

"Hello. My name is XXXX. As you know, you’re here today to participate in a contextual inquiry study to understand the requirements for the visual analytics tools we will be developing. These tools will help researchers explore and interpret phenotype data that will be extracted with our software. We would like to understand users’ information and workflow needs to maximize the usefulness of the software.

During the session, you will be questioned and observed. We will ask some general questions about your work, and more detailed questions about specific tasks. Data will be collected in the form of notes and artifacts. With your permission, the session will be audio-recorded and captured via screen capture software. The session will last approximately one hour.

In this session, we would like to understand your broad research and clinical goals, and then explore in detail how you currently identify, store, and manipulate specific phenotype data and link this to genotype data in your work. We’d like to understand how this work is done, any challenges you face, and what you would hope for in a new tool to make work more efficient and easier to accomplish. If possible, we’d like you to demonstrate the tools that you currently use on some meaningful data. We’d like you to identify a representative dataset and task that you are currently working on or have worked on previously to demonstrate how you currently do things.

Do you have any questions?

Before we begin, do we have your permission to record this session? (IF YES, BEGIN RECORDING)

To start off, we’d like to get a sense of your background and research."

Respondent background:

1. What is your training? What degrees have you obtained, and in what areas?
2. What is your current position? How long have you been at this position?
3. How much of your time do you spend on cancer data analytics?
4. If applicable: How much of your time is spent on clinical work?

Problem Description

1. What questions are you currently trying to answer related to cancer analytics?
2. What sort of data are you dealing with?
3. Is this a research or clinical effort?
4. Who is this effort supported by?

Data

1. Which tools do you currently work with for your data?
2. What are the major data challenges that you struggle with?

Major Non-data Challenges:

1. What are the major challenges that you struggle with that are not data related?

Task Identification

Now we’d like you to identify a specific dataset and tasks that fit within the scope of the work. This should be representative of your work and illustrative of difficulties you encounter. Please choose something that does not involve sensitive data.

• Have you selected a task or tasks? Please explain the task.

• Will demonstrating this task involve any protected health information? (IF YES, WE WILL NOT OBSERVE BUT JUST HAVE THE PARTICIPANT EXPLAIN HOW THEY DO THEIR WORK)

• Note: If participants identify multiple important tasks, they should be prioritized so that the session will start with the highest priority and continue from there as time allows.