방법 비교

	Contextual Inquiry	Card Sorting
분야	인간-컴퓨터 상호작용	인간-컴퓨터 상호작용
계열	Hypothesis test	Hypothesis test
기원 연도	1993	1990s
창시자	Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt	Information Architecture Practitioners
유형	In-situ user research method capturing real work practices	Participatory technique for validating or designing information structures
원전	Beyer, H., & Holtzblatt, K. (1998). Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN: 1-558-60722-X	Spencer, D. (2009). Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories. Rosenfeld Media. ISBN: 1-933820-36-5
별칭	CI, Contextual Design, Work-centered Design	Card Sort, Open Card Sorting, Closed Card Sorting
관련	4	4
요약	Contextual Inquiry is a field research method for understanding users by observing and interviewing them in their real work environment. Developed by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt at Applied Research and Technology, this method combines ethnographic observation with targeted questioning to capture not just what users say they do, but what they actually do—including workarounds, informal practices, and priorities often invisible in lab settings. Contextual Inquiry uncovers the context, constraints, and real-world complexity of user tasks, providing rich insights for user-centered design.	Card Sorting is a participatory design technique where users organize content items (represented on cards) into logical groups and categories. Used primarily for information architecture design, card sorting reveals how users naturally think about and categorize content, providing empirical data for navigation hierarchies, menu structures, and taxonomy design. The method exists in open form (users create their own categories) and closed form (users organize cards into predefined categories), each revealing different insights about user mental models and organization preferences.