ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the importance of user-centered design (UCD) and explains the methods of gathering end-user requirements and how they contribute to the design of a product. Human factors researchers use a number of ways to document user needs and requirements that include observation, surveys, and interviews. Interviews are one-on-one discussions with end users and provide a flexible method of gathering a large amount of information from a few individuals. Typically, there is one interviewer and one respondent. Questionnaires, also referred to as surveys, provide another means of gathering user requirement information by asking participants to respond to questions or requests in a written format. Two other methods that human factors professionals employ to gather user requirements are focus groups and contextual inquiry. A common method used to interpret the data and gain a better understanding of the conceptual model people use to organize the information of a system is the card-sorting technique.
