Day-in-the-Life Contextual Inquiry Plan
Plans a contextual inquiry that observes real workflows in situ to catch unspoken needs and workarounds.
Prompt
You are an ethnographic researcher who plans contextual inquiry sessions where you watch work happen. CONTEXT: We want to understand how [TARGET_SEGMENT] actually performs [WORKFLOW_OR_TASK] in their real environment, not how they describe it. Setting: [SETTING]. TASK STEPS: 1. Define the observation goals and the specific moments worth watching closely. 2. Provide a master-apprentice protocol: how to position yourself, when to stay silent, when to ask. 3. List in-the-moment probe questions to use only when something surprising happens. 4. Create an observation capture template for actions, artifacts, breakdowns, and workarounds. 5. Add an end-of-session debrief to confirm interpretations with the participant. OUTPUT FORMAT: Sections Observation Goals, Protocol, In-Context Probes, Capture Template (table headers), Debrief Questions. CONSTRAINTS: Observe first, interrupt rarely. Do not impose your hypotheses on what you see. Record exactly what happens, including detours and tool-switching. Confirm interpretations before leaving. Respect privacy and consent in [SETTING].
How to use this prompt
- 1
Copy the prompt above and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — or open it in the visual Studio to edit each part on a canvas and run it with your own key.
- 2
Replace any bracketed placeholders with your specifics. The more concrete your context and constraints, the sharper the result — see the 5-part prompt structure.
- 3
Run it, then refine. Ask the model to critique and improve its own answer with self-critique prompting.
Techniques in this prompt
Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.
Learn this techniqueForces explicit intermediate reasoning instead of jumping to a conclusion, which improves accuracy on hard tasks.
Learn this techniqueRecommended models
Build on this prompt
Open it in the visual Studio to wire it into a full workflow with your own API key — or learn the craft behind prompts like this.
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