An Ethnographic Approach to Design Blomberg, Burrell and Guest

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An Ethnographic Approach to DesignBlomberg,
Burrell and Guest

• IE 8541 Intelligent Decision Support

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Observation

• People do not actually do what they say they do.
• Ethnographic studies are aimed at observing what
  people actually do, in their typical settings.

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Ethnographic Approaches

• Observational approaches for identifying
  quantitative information about the big picture
  in which work is performed, and computer tools
  are used.
• Roots in anthropology for observing cultures
  from a participants view.
• There are many views on what ethnography is
  actually a family of approaches.

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History

• Ethnographic approaches experienced a renewal of
  interest in the 1980s
• Computer tools moved from lab to office, factory
  and home,
• Needed better insights into how people used
  computer tools in everyday practice.

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Uses of Ethnographic Methods

• Identify what people actually do on a daily
  basis, in natural settings.
• Observe interactions between people engaged in a
  single task.
• See how groups work on tasks jointly,
• Learn about issues which you may not have forseen
  or planned-for in advance.