The Critical Incident Method
The objective of the critical incident method is to identify both desirable and undesirable behaviors that resulted in either a very good outcome or a very bad outcome on the job. For example, a job analyst might ask a company’s customer service employees to describe incidents that led to either a good or bad outcome with a customer. The following are examples of questions that might be asked:
• What happened?
• How did the incident happen?
• Did the incident have a good or bad outcome?
• What led to the outcome?
• What actions were effective or ineffective?
• What would you do differently if the situation occurred again?
