Database Reference
In-Depth Information
you've selected a specific subject to discuss. Also note that the question is open-ended; it
prompts the participant for details related to the subject you've selected (sales orders) and
allows you to establish the focus of the participant's subsequent responses.
Now, assume that the participant gives the following reply:
“Well, I enter all the client information first, such as the client's
name,address,phonenumber,andemailaddress.ThenIenterthe
itemstheclientwantstopurchase.AfterI'veenteredalltheitems,
I tally up the totals and I'm done. Oh, I forgot to mention: I enter
the client's fax number and shipping address—if they have one.”
AnalyzethisresponsewiththeSubject-IdentificationTechniquetodeterminewhetherthere
are subjects suggested within the response. Then add the new subjects to your list of sub-
jects. Remember: List only those nouns that represent person, place, thing, or event.
Afteryou'vefinishedidentifyingnewsubjects,beginlookingfor
details
regardingthesub-
ject under discussion. Your objective here is to obtain as many facts about the subject as
possible.
Now
you're interested in nouns that represent
characteristics
of a subject—they
describe
particular aspects of that subject. You can identify these nouns quite easily be-
causetheyareusuallyinsingularform(“phonenumber,”“address”).Incontrast,nounsthat
identify subjects are usually in possessive form (“the
client's
phone number,” “the
com-
pany's
address”).
Tryto account foras many characteristics ofthe subject as possible. Use a single underline
to mark a noun that represents a characteristic, as in this example:
“Well, I enter all the client information first, such as the client's
name
,
address
,
phonenumber
,and
emailaddress
.ThenIenterthe
itemstheclientwantstopurchase.AfterI'veenteredalltheitems,
I tally up the
totals
and I'm done. Oh, I forgot to mention that I
enter the client's
fax number
and
shipping address
—if they have
one.”
As you identify the appropriate nouns within a response, list them on a sheet of paper; this
becomes your
list of characteristics
.
You'll add more characteristics to the list as you work
through the design process, and you'll use this list later when you're determining the fields
forthedatabase.
Use a separate sheet of paper for the list of characteristics. Do not list the
subjects and characteristics on the same sheet!
(The reason for keeping them on different
Here are the characteristics (shown in alphabetical order) that are represented in the previ-
ous response:
