systems design Systems design interfaces, and data for an electronic control system to satisfy specified requirements. System design could be seen as the application of system theory to product development. There is some overlap with the disciplines of system ...

, user analysis is the means by which

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

s and technical writers determine the characteristics of users which will influence the development of

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

systems or other technological products. During the process, developers in technical fields gather information about users of their products through

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

focus group A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

s and other forms of

qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

. This is typically performed by forming

use case In software and systems engineering, the phrase use case is a polyseme with two senses: # A usage scenario for a piece of software; often used in the plural to suggest situations where a piece of software may be useful. # A potential scenario ...

s based upon the actual work flow tasks which the

user Ancient Egyptian roles * User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty * Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User" Other uses * User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...

s will perform while using a given piece of technology. Such analyses are vital to the composition of

software documentation Software documentation is written text or illustration that accompanies computer software or is embedded in the source code. The documentation either explains how the software operates or how to use it, and may mean different things to people in ...

. Though very distinct, user analysis is related to

task analysis Task analysis is the analysis of how a task is accomplished, including a detailed description of both manual and mental activities, task and element durations, task frequency, task allocation, task complexity, environmental conditions, necessary cl ...

Approach

When developing new technology or software, identifying the potential users of a system and their attributes is necessary in order to ensure that said technology or software will be more user friendly. During this development, the user analysis is the basic research phase which takes place before actual drafting of the technology's

technical documentation Technical documentation is a generic term for the classes of information created to describe (in technical language) the use, functionality or architecture of a product, system or service. Classes of technical documentation Classes of technical do ...

. In this way, it's typically the first step of the document composition process. Such an analysis is intended to result in

tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...

, or a set of facts regarding the users' values, behaviors, knowledge of the documentation and product and motivation for using said documentation and product. Revealing the tacit knowledge of users' activities, as opposed to the simple operations which a given technology can perform, is often referred to as an unspoken but understood trick of the trade for the technical communicators who conduct user analyses. A good technical communicator will perform a user analysis aimed at finding both what exactly a user needs to do, and what the user would do with the technology in question. Some experts in the field of user analysis have emphasized the importance of understanding the

transfer of learning Transfer of learning occurs when people apply information, strategies, and skills they have learned to a new situation or context. Transfer is not a discrete activity, but is rather an integral part of the learning process. Researchers attempt to ...

during this process, though the concept itself is a controversial one.

Interacting with users

User analysis is a process which calls for qualitative research. Because such research usually (though not always) centers around human subjects, the degree of formality and personalness is an issue. In the modern era, users are often reached via virtual communities, which themselves often form around the use of a particular technology.

Statistical analysis of usage

Besides traditional way to interacting with users, analysis can be done with statistical analysis of the usage of log of users. With artificial techniques like machine learning, tremendous analysis results can be generated in parallel.H. Wang. Behavior analysis of low-literate users of a viral speech-based telephone servic

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Citations

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External links

User analysis checklist
at Writing Software Documentation. Technical communication Usability