Critical Incident Technique

Blog Eight: Date
3/08/2019

What is the Critical Incident Technique?

TheCritical Incident Technique means “to identify specific incidents that are significant,
and then to focus on these and analyze them in detail, using the rest of the
data collected as context to inform interpretation” (Preece, Rogers & Sharp, 2015). In other words, a careful observation followed by the recording and reporting of data and information that is deemed important by the observers.

Reflection

When gathering data, an observer will likely record a lot of data through means of video or audio recording. However, not all data collected is usually needed. For example, if I were to observe a user testing an application and noticed that they got confused or delayed their actions for a prolonged period of time, this could be considered a critical incident. The number of times this person blinks, exhales, or other little movements throughout this extended period of confusion, would not be considered critical. Thus, that data would not need to be reported. Critical incidents “may be identified by
the users during a retrospective discussion of a recent event, or by an observer either through studying video footage, or in real time” (Preece, Rogers & Sharp, 2015). Again, whether or not an event is considered a critical incident depends on the judgement of the observers and the activity in question. Critical incident analysis is effective for “improving a very infrequent but important task that otherwise might get ignored by a standard task analysis” (“Usability First – Usability Glossary – critical incident analysis | Usability First”, 2019).

My Thought

“As we observe users using various methods and techniques, the goal behind the observation remains the same. With critical incident analysis we narrow down the observation towards what needs to be fixed or improved upon most” (McMillan, 2019).

Reference List

1. Preece, Rogers & Sharp, (2015). Interaction and Design: Beyond human-computer interaction. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
2. Usability First – Usability Glossary – critical incident analysis | Usability First. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/critical-incident-analysis/
3. What is qualitative analysis? Metrics, data and examples. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.rankmyapp.com/market/what-is-qualitative-analysis-metrics-data-and-examples/