Center for japanese Studies

Contextual Inquiry Consulting Project

Process

Interviews

Our team conducted a total of 5 interviews with individuals involved in the Japanese Internship Initiative. This included 2 students who applied to the program, 2 University of Michigan internship coordinators, and 1 internship coordinator from one of the employers.  All interviews were conducted in pairs, one team member assuming the role of interviewer and the other as note taker. Each interview lasted roughly 60 minutes.

INTERPRETATION Sessions

After every interview all team members met and the two members that conducted the interview shared what they had learned. Using the notes collected from the interview along with the recordings, we extracted individual pieces of qualitative data that would later be used for our analysis. Each data point, or affinity note was discrete and distinct from each other.

QUALITATIVE Data Analysis

When all interviews had been conducted we constructed an affinity diagram with the roughly 250 discrete data points we had collected. Each affinity note was written on a yellow sticky note and then arranged into clusters of notes containing similar content. Each cluster was then labeled with a blue note that provided a one or two sentence description of the notes included. We then repeated the process, grouping the blue notes and labeling them with a pink note that described the blue notes contained. The affinity diagram illuminated core issues within the Japanese Internship Initiative that served as the basis for our recommendations.  

Findings & Recommendations

We found that the CJS staff was experiencing email overload because they were relying on it to facilitate every stage of the process. Email was the primary way to disseminate information to stakeholders, collect application materials and schedule interviews.  The competitive analysis I conducted revealed that other international internship programs handled the process differently, and using this we brainstormed for possible solutions. We created a rubric evaluate the proposed solutions and determine which should be presented as recommendations.