Computer consultants' views of user participation in the system development process

Abstract

The form of user participation adopted in any system development process is commonly argued to be an important determinant of its outcome. This study investigated computer consultants' experiences and views of different forms of user participation in the system development process. Thirty-four consultants from 14 Swedish companies of three different sizes filled out a questionnaire (response rate 47%). The results indicated that the consultants viewed both external factors and their own roles as guiding the degree of user participation. The consultants reported that reference groups, seminars/meetings and user testing were common forms of user participation in projects introducing existing programs into organizations and that seminars/meetings, users in project groups and reference groups, were the most common user participation forms in projects developing new programs for an organization. In both contexts, user testing was reported to be most common in the operation/administration phase of the project. The majority of consultants considered union participation to be fairly unimportant. Further, it was found that questionnaires were seldom used for data collection in projects. Finally, the consultants did not appear to categorize development projects by the type of user participation employed in the projects.