Incubator: HCI Master's Capstone Project

While artifact walkthroughs provided us with high level information about the work our target users do, it did not give us the detail and sequences of steps they followed to complete their tasks. The diary study was designed by the project team as a solution to this difficult problem of identifying the sequence of tasks that characterize creative thought processes, like inventing new mechanical solutions. Particularly, the team was interested to get a perspective on the day-to-day activities of the target user group and, in general, these techniques paired to provide a better picture of what type of work can go on.

The diary study technique proved to be a good, non-obtrusive way to get a better understanding of the daily work of two Innovations team members. As part of the study, we distributed diary forms where participants were asked to record their daily activities. We also scheduled a set of interview sessions over the course of three weeks, in which we followed up on the entries we found in the forms.

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