CB.10:4.2 - Choose observations and people who can answer

Find where the promised result would become visible. A participant can report whether they felt welcome; a recipient can show whether a handover let them act; an operating record can show later completion or repeated help requests. Use an existing adequate observation when its meaning, period and access fit.

An indicator needs a recoverable unit and population. For returning participation, distinguish people from visits and say who could have returned during the period. For response, distinguish an initial acknowledgement from a useful answer. If the observation method changes, retain that difference before interpreting a trend.

Use activity patterns to find informative accounts. Include a relevant contrast: someone who returned, someone who left after one attempt, a quiet user, or a contributor whose work stopped. Select the contrast because it can change the explanation. A few purposeful conversations can expose a repair without representing the whole population.

Provide an appropriate way to answer. People may need a private conversation, an accessible format or someone other than their organiser to receive criticism. Explain how the account will be used, obtain permission for attributed reuse and retain only detail needed for the inquiry. A refusal or missing response remains missing evidence.

Keep collection proportionate. Start with a small number of useful observations and cases; expand when plausible alternatives still change the decision. If the question needs specialist sampling or causal identification, obtain that contribution instead of treating more informal interviews as an equivalent.