A new guidance for medical-device field research has just been released: the Technical Information Report, AAMI TIR51:2014, "Human factors engineering – Guidance for contextual inquiry."

The primary authors of the document, produced by the AAMI Human Factors Engineering Committee, were Mary Beth Privitera of the University of Cincinnati, and Stephen Wilcox of Design Science.

The guidance provides a wealth of information on how to conduct contextual inquiry, also known as ethnographic research. Contextual inquiry is a form of research that focuses on observing people in real-life situations to better understand their motives, interactions, and experiences.

To see a brief introduction to Design Science’s ethnographic services, visit our ethnographic research page.