Local Government GIS Demonstration Grant - NCGIA Buffalo

Needs Assessment 41
8 CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS
Individual interviews are the most effective way of finding out from users their potential GIS
applications. Before starting interviews, a briefing session for all potential users should be held.
During this meeting, the interviewers should describe the entire needs assessment procedure to all
participants. The main activities will be:
• Conduct "start-up" seminar or workshop
• Interview each potential user
• Prepare documentation (forms) for each application, etc
• Review each application description with the user
• Obtain user approval of and sign-off for each application description
An introductory seminar or workshop with all potential users in attendance is useful to prepare the
way for user interviews. At the beginning of a project, many users may not have much knowledge
about GIS or how it might help them. Also, the interview team may be from outside the
organization and may not be very familiar with the structure of the particular local government.
The start-up seminar should address the following topics:
• Definitions:
What is a GIS?
How is a GIS used by local government? (Typical applications)
• Interview procedure to be followed:
What the interviewee will do?
What is expected from the interviewee?
Who approves the application descriptions?
How the information from the application descriptions will be used?
• Group discussion: It is often useful to have the group identify an initial set of GIS
applications as candidates for further documentation. The discussion of possible
applications between interviewers and users will start to reveal what is suitable for a
GIS application. One or more applications can be described in the process by the group
so everyone sees how the process will work.
It is preferable to interview users individually rather than in groups. This provides a better
opportunity to explore the ideas of each person and also prevents other individuals from
dominating any particular meeting. Group meetings easily lose focus on specific GIS applications
and therefore do not provide the detailed information needed to adequately describe the GIS
applications.
Conducting an interview is not an easy task. Some potential users may have a good grasp of GIS
and how they might use one. However, often potential users do not have complete knowledge of
the capabilities of a GIS and therefore may not be able to readily identify GIS applications. In these
cases, the interviewer (GIS analyst) needs to help the user explore his/her job activities and
responsibilities to identify GIS opportunities. The GIS analyst should usually begin an interview
with a review of the procedure, then ask the user to identify and describe potential applications.
When specific GIS applications cannot be easily identified, it is helpful if potential users describe,
in general, his/her job functions and responsibilities and the role their department plays in the
whole organization. From this discussion, the GIS analyst can usually identify potential GIS
applications and then explore these for possible inclusion in the needs assessment.