Database Reference
In-Depth Information
J
OHN
: “Okay, let's talk about the Students table. How would you describe a
'student'?”
F
RITS
: “A student is a private individual who comes in for one of our classes.”
S
ARA
: “That's only partially true. A student can also be an individual that an
organization sends to our classes. For example, many of our students
come from local banks and insurance companies, and those organiza-
tions pay for the students' tuitions.”
M
ARK
: “Yes, you're quite right. I guess we can simply say that a student is an
individual who comes in for one of our classes.”
(John makes a note of what Mark just said.)
J
OHN
: “Good—got it. Does everyone agree with Mark?”
(Everyone nods in approval.)
“Great. Now, how would you explain to someone why student informa-
tion is important to this organization?”
C
AROLINE
: “Without students, we don't have a business!”
F
RITS
: “If we can keep track of the students who attend our classes, we can
send them information regarding our new classes.”
S
ARA
: “Keeping track of this information allows us to keep billing and contact
information current. This is especially true for organizations that send
their employees to our classes. Training coordinators move on to other
positions, and we have to know the name of the new person we'll be
dealing with.”
J
OHN
: “Good point. Does anyone have anything further to add? No? Okay,
does everyone agree with what has been said so far?”
(Everyone onceagain nodsinapproval. Because noadditional comments aremade,
John jots down some final notes and moves on to the next table.)
As you can see, conducting this type of interview is a fairly straightforward affair. Notice
how John attempts to get a consensus as he recognizes that no one has anything else to say
about the topic at hand. He then makes note of the points that will help him compose the
description and moves on to his next topic.
After John has finished conducting the interview, he uses his notes to develop a table de-
scription for each table on the Final Table List. He'll have to interpret and study the parti-
cipants' responses in order to develop a suitable table description. Based on his examina-
tion, John writes the following description:
