Different questionnaires were developed for EIS developers, the EIS co-ordinator and
executive users. The questionnaire for each group was distributed to the subjects by the
EIS co-ordinator. The co-ordinator determined which executive users would receive the
questionnaires. The executives users were asked about the success of the EIS, while the
developers were questioned about the development process. The questions for the coordinator
focused on system initiation as well as the general nature of the development of
the EIS over the life of the system. In most cases the co-ordinator was also a developer.
The questionnaires were left with the organisations for a week. Once returned the
responses were analysed and detailed follow-up questions were prepared. These
questions were answered in structured interviews that ranged in length one to two hours.
Two organisations did not return the questionnaires by the due date and the respondents
were personally interviewed using the questions presented in the questionnaires. Followup
questions were also asked. Published information about the organisations (eg annual
reports) and system documentation was also consulted. Similar methods have been used
to study EIS development in Western organisations