Fact Finding Techniques
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008
Fact Finding Techniques
To study any system the analyst needs to do collect facts and all relevant information. the facts when expressed in quantitative form are termed as data. The success of any project is depended upon the accuracy of available data. Accurate information can be collected with help of certain methods/ techniques. These specific methods for finding information of the system are termed as fact finding techniques. Interview, Questionnaire, Record View and Observations are the different fact finding techniques used by the analyst. The analyst may use more than one technique for investigation.
Interview
This method is used to collect the information from groups or individuals. Analyst selects the people who are related with the system for the interview. In this method the analyst sits face to face with the people and records their responses. The interviewer must plan in advance the type of questions he/ she is going to ask and should be ready to answer any type of question. He should also choose a suitable place and time which will be comfortable for the respondent.
The information collected is quite accurate and reliable as the interviewer can clear and cross check the doubts there itself. This method also helps gap the areas of misunderstandings and help to discuss about the future problems. Structured and unstructured are the two sub categories of Interview. Structured interview is more formal interview where fixed questions are asked and specific information is collected whereas unstructured interview is more or less like a casual conversation where in-depth areas topics are covered and other information apart from the topic may also be obtained.
Questionnaire
It is the technique used to extract information from number of people. This method can be adopted and used only by an skillful analyst. The Questionnaire consists of series of questions framed together in logical manner. The questions are simple,
Fact Finding Techniques
To study any system the analyst needs to do collect facts and all relevant information. the facts when expressed in quantitative form are termed as data. The success of any project is depended upon the accuracy of available data. Accurate information can be collected with help of certain methods/ techniques. These specific methods for finding information of the system are termed as fact finding techniques. Interview, Questionnaire, Record View and Observations are the different fact finding techniques used by the analyst. The analyst may use more than one technique for investigation.
Interview
This method is used to collect the information from groups or individuals. Analyst selects the people who are related with the system for the interview. In this method the analyst sits face to face with the people and records their responses. The interviewer must plan in advance the type of questions he/ she is going to ask and should be ready to answer any type of question. He should also choose a suitable place and time which will be comfortable for the respondent.
The information collected is quite accurate and reliable as the interviewer can clear and cross check the doubts there itself. This method also helps gap the areas of misunderstandings and help to discuss about the future problems. Structured and unstructured are the two sub categories of Interview. Structured interview is more formal interview where fixed questions are asked and specific information is collected whereas unstructured interview is more or less like a casual conversation where in-depth areas topics are covered and other information apart from the topic may also be obtained.
Questionnaire
It is the technique used to extract information from number of people. This method can be adopted and used only by an skillful analyst. The Questionnaire consists of series of questions framed together in logical manner. The questions are simple,