Methodology and Explanation XX50125

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Methodology and ExplanationXX50125
Lecture 5 Ethnography Dr. Danaë Stanton Fraser
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Ethnography by date

• Anthropology (c. 1920s)
• e.g. E. E. Evans Pritchard
• Workplaces (c. 1950s)
• Chicago School
• E. C. Hughes, Becker etc.
• Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (c. 1990s)
• J. Hughes, C. Heath

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Ethnography

• Long history with its roots in anthropology
• Is ethnography a method?
• certainly NOT a methodology
• does not predefine a theoretical or conceptual
  status
• has been used in support of many methodological
  standpoints, e.g. ...

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Ethnography by theory

• Ethnography has been used to support
• Soft Systems analysis
• Participative design
• Activity theory
• Cognitive task analysis
• Distributed cognition
• Ethnomethodology

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Ethnography basics (1)

• assume human activities are socially organised
• commit to inquiring into patterns of interaction
• go into the field
• learn the ropes (question, listen, watch, talk,
  etc., with practitioners)
• take your time
• write a report

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Ethnography basics (2)

• Ethnography is naturalistic
• studies should be studies of real people and
  their activities, operating in their natural
  environment
• doesnt deal with artificial worlds controlled
  versions of work
• but what is artificial?
• Mike Lynch "Stop talking about science. Go to a
  laboratory - any laboratory will do - hang around
  a while, listen to conversations, watch the
  technicians at work, ask them to explain what
  they are doing, read their notes, observe what
  they say when they examine data, and watch how
  they move equipment around..."

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Ethnography basics (3)

• Ethnography understands the world from the point
  of view of those who inhabit it
• it is behavioural, i.e. interested in the detail
  of the behaviour to a greater or lesser extent
• it is not behaviourist, i.e. it does not consider
  the behaviour itself as the appropriate level of
  analysis

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Ethnography basics (4)

• Ethnographic data can include
• general descriptions of behaviours, descriptions
  of physical layouts, close descriptions of
  conversation, thoughts and feelings, work
  sequences, anecdotes, examples, common
  occurrences etc.
• analysis is skilful (but not complex)
• ethnographer usually provides 'examples'

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Carrying out an ethnographic study (1)

• individuals and organisations have ideas,
  expectations and fears about ethnography
• Gaining access and an ability to be
  simultaneously likeable and anonymous will help
• Gaining acceptance may include working, sharing
  conditions, a non-intrusive manner, sharing dress
  codes, but not sharing opinions unless absolutely
  necessary

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Carrying out an ethnographic study(2)

• Initial phase includes
• familiarising yourself with the situation
• collect information that you are exposed to
• make notes on everything that you see and hear
• sketch plans of spaces
• tape record

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Carrying out an ethnographic study (3)

• Choice between the innocent ethnography and
  informed ethnography
• How theoretically/strategically informed should
  you be at the outset?
• One choice is progression from one to the other

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Technology support for ethnography (1)

• Technologies mostly used for data collection
• Questions, notebook, pen
• Tape recording
• less intrusive than video but data is less
  detailed
• awareness of being recorded not a problem
• useful to record long explanations, especially
  highly technical or domain-specific kinds

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Technology support for ethnography (2)

• Video
• Data can be analysed repeatedly off-site
• Time-consuming data collection and analysis
• Difficulty setting up and using equipment in some
  domains
• Missing visual actions that are peripheral to the
  video field-of-view
• Programs to support analysis
• e.g. Ethnograph, NUDIST

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Ethnography for design

• Ethnography used to generate requirements
• Detailed reports
• Ethnographers as part of a design team
• Ethnographers partnering with programmers

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Consecutive v concurrent ethnography for design

• Concurrent process
• Ethnographic study goes hand-in-hand with system
  development
• Highlights key surface features of organisation
• High contribution of fieldwork to design per hour
  spent

• Sequenced process
• Ethnographic study precedes system development
• Thorough insight into the subtleties of the
  organisation
• Declining rate of usefulness for fieldwork to
  contribute to design

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Example study

• Heath and Luff (1992), Crisis Management and
  Multimedia Technology in London Underground Line
  Control Rooms, CSCW journal, 1 (1-2)
• Peripheral monitoring
• Designing actions for their visibility by others
• Technologies in public workplaces

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References

• Cheverst, K., Dix, A., Fitton, D., Friday, A.,
  Rouncefield, M. Exploring the Utility of Remote
  Messaging and Situated Office Door Displays.
  Mobile HCI 2003 336-341
• Crabtree, A. (2003) Designing Collaborative
  Systems A Practical Guide to Ethnography,
  London Springer-Verlag
• Heath, C.C., Hindmarsh, J. P. Luff. (1999)
  Isolation and interaction thefragmented world
  of the train driver on London Underground.
  Sociology 33,3, pp. 555-575
• Heath, C.C. and P. Luff (2000) Technology in
  Action Cambridge CambridgeUniversity Press. pp
  1-269.
• Hemmings T, Crabtree A, ( 2002 ) Ethnography for
  design?. The 1st International Workshop on
  "Interpretive" Approaches to Information Systems,
  pages 122--124. Association of Information
  Systems
• Hughes, J. A., King, V., Rodden, T., and
  Andersen, H. (1994) "Moving out from the control
  room Ethnography in system design". In
  Proceedings of CSCW 94, Chapel Hill, North
  Carolina.