Concept Hygiene: Ethnography in User Research

Martha Kam (mada716@gmail.com) Zarla Ludin (zarlashtah.ludin@gmail.com)

Bentley University Design and Usability Center Spring 2009 UPA Boston Conference

About this session

•  The goal is not to draw conclusions on the use of ethnography in UCD, but rather to create a dialog and bring up important considerations on its use.

•  We want to point out that ethnography has a history outside the context of UCD that is full of debates and controversies.

•  We need to understand some of these issues when adopting the concept of ethnography into UCD.

Agenda

•  Get to know each other •  Educate

– Definitions of ethnography •  Debate

– Start a lively debate today on ethnography in user research

•  Understand – Ethnography’s advantages – Ethnography’s disadvantages – Your experiences

Who has conducted longitudinal/ethnographic fieldwork?

Is ethnography well understood in the field?

Who has conducted longitudinal/ethnographic fieldwork?

Is ethnography well understood in UCD?

How would you describe ethnography?

Definitions of ethnography

Theme •  As a genre of writing •  As a method •  As a methodology •  As a mode of representation

Definition “A series (of often overlapping) genres: expository essay, diary, novel, memoir, short story, life history, testimonio, self-reflexive narrative, biography, and autobiography” (Visweswaran, p. 183).

Definitions of ethnography

Theme •  As a genre of writing •  As a method •  As a methodology •  As a mode of representation

Definition “Firstly, ethnography is naturalistic. It is research that is conducted in natural environments and not in artificial ones. Secondly, it is observational. Ethnographers observe how meaning is constructed within and by social and cultural realities. Thirdly, ethnography is portraiture. It involves documenting and representing ontological findings by employing an illustrative or artistic discourse, such as filmmaking, photography or journal writing” (Agafonoff, p. 1).

Definitions of ethnography

Theme •  As a genre of writing •  As a method •  As a methodology •  As a mode of representation

Definition “a methodological strategy used to provide descriptions of human societies, which as a methodology does not prescribe any particular method (e.g. observation, interview, questionnaire), but instead prescribes the nature of the study (i.e. to describe people through writing)” (Maynard & Purvis, p. 76).

Definitions of ethnography

Theme •  As a genre of writing •  As a method •  As a methodology •  As a mode of representation

Definition “a mode of writing that seeks to represent the reality of a whole world or form of life” (Marcus & Cushman, p. 29).

Some existing concerns

•  Practice: –  Goals are different from those of its source disciplines (e.g.

Anthropology, Sociology) –  Communication directed towards a specific audience – speak “client

language” –  Many practitioners are making changes when applying ethnography to

UCD –  Partial interpretation vs. written representation

•  People: –  Deteriorated value of ethnography because of lack of expertise –  Illegitimate claims to expertise without standards and proper training –  Focus shifted from participant observation to a moderated environment

Crabtree et al, 2009 | Rosenstein, 2009 | Agafonoff, 2006

Debate

Why debate ethnography in UCD? “The term ethnography holds distinct

connotations for communities of scholars, thereby triggering specific expectations about its conduct and presentation which may not apply equally to all forms of qualitative fieldwork. As reviewers of qualitative work become more sophisticated, distinctions between ethnographic studies and other forms of qualitative fieldwork become more apparent and therefore more institutionally relevant. A well-done piece of qualitative work can sometimes be faulted because of certain unwarranted claims to be ethnographic. It is therefore becoming increasingly necessary to understand the distinctions between different traditions of qualitative research and to grasp the specific connotations held by the term ethnography itself” (Prasad, p. 102).

Do we need “ethnography?”

“…you don’t need ethnography to do that [gather user requirements]; just minimal competency in interactive skills, a willingness to spend time, and a fair amount of patience” (Anderson, p. 155).

Do we need to adopt ethnography?

Is qualitative fieldwork enough?

Who should do it?

“…the work of scientifically trained observers, once seriously applied to the study of this aspect, will, I believe, yield results of surpassing value. So far, it has been done only by amateurs [missionaries, colonialists, travelers], and therefore done, on the whole, indifferently” (Malinowski, p. 19).

Are we amateurs?

Do we need training in ethnographic writing/methodology?

How much should we write?

“…nowadays every ethnographer has to decide for him or herself how much information is necessary for the reader to be able to evaluate the results of the research” (O’Reilly, p. 11).

What do we include in an ethnography?

Who are we writing for?

What are we writing?

“…producing ethnography is as much about writing as it is about data collection and analysis…In doing this, ethnography is also primarily committed to insight over prediction” (Prasad, p. 108).

What should be the ethnography guidelines in UCD?

Domain expertise?

“…the ethnographic tradition strongly favors the method of participant observation where researchers spend extended periods of time in the site and sometimes even take on the roles of inhabitants within the site” (Prasad, p. 108).

How much do we need to know about the group of people we are observing?

Do we need to speak the “language” and be experts in the domain?

Should we care what they think?

“…ethnography-based information systems research produced is likely to be rejected by the source disciplines as naive if not highly contentious” (Prasad, p. 219).

“…communication in the real world is what is important” (Rosenstein, 2009)

“…giving it the name ethnography gives you the right direction” (Rosenstein, 2009).

Should we?

Ethnography’s advantages and disadvantages in UCD

Advantages and Disadvantages

+ •  The immersion aspect provides very

important information regarding the complexities and dynamics of any phenomenon of study.

•  People often have a hard time providing the details of what it is they do, observation helps with that.

•  Develop empathy for the users. •  It’s just good research. •  There is a plethora of data collected. •  A skilled researcher will uncover

certain phenomena that might have an impact on the design.

- •  Time-intensive. •  Costly. •  Access can be difficult and tricky. •  The definition of ethnography. •  It is sometimes hard to draw clear

design implications from field work. •  Requires a separate interpersonal

skill set to engage “subjects.” •  Practitioners often understand the

method (fieldwork), but not the theory behind ethnography.

•  Some purists in anthropology and sociology feel it’s a misuse of the term.

Considerations

•  Learn about ethnography in the context of its source disciplines to better understand it

“Return to the debates in the source discipline’s historical contexts in order to contribute to the debates on ethnography in the adapted context of information systems research” (Prasad, p. 209).

•  There are advantages and disadvantages: does one outweigh the other in your situation?

•  Learn from each other

Share your experiences

References •  Agafonoff, N. (2006, May). Ethnography - from buzz word to swear word. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from AMSRS:

http://www.amsrs.com.au/index.cfm?a=detail&id=2141&eid=122 •  Anderson, R. J. (1994). Representations and requirements: the value of ethnography in system design. Hum.-

Comput. Interact. 9, 3 (Jun. 1994), 151-182. •  Clifford, J. (1986). Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. University of California Press. •  Crabtree, A., Rodeen, T., Tolmie, P., & Button, G. (2009). Ethnography Considered Harmful. CHI 2009 (pp.

879-888). Boston: ACM. •  Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Waveland Press. •  Marcus, G. E. and Cushman, D. (1982). Ethnographies as Texts. Annual Review of Anthropology. 11:25-69. •  Maynard, M. & Purvis, J. (1994). Researching women's loves from a feminist perspective. London: Taylor &

Frances. •  O’Reilly, K. (2005). Ethnographic Methods. Routledge, New York, NY. •  Prasad, P. (1997). Systems of Meaning: Ethnography as a Methodology for the Study of Information

Technologies. In A. Lee, J. Liebenau & J. DeGross (Eds.), Information Systems and Qualitative Research. 1997. London: Chapman & Hall.

•  Rosenstein, A. (2008, November 7). Fake Ethnography vs. Real Ethnography. Presented at the User Research Friday 2008 Conference , San Francisco, CA.

•  Visweswaran, K. (2003). Ethnography. From Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories. (ed) Code, L. Routledge, New York, NY.