Ethnographic field research
It is designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study. 1] the resulting field study or a case report reflects the knowledge and the system of meanings in the lives of a cultural group. Word 'ethnography' is derived from the greek ἔθνος (ethnos), meaning "a company, later a people, nation" and -graphy meaning "field of study". Franz boas (1858-1942), bronislaw malinowski (1858—1942), ruth benedict and margaret mead (1901-1978), were a group of researchers from the united states who contributed the idea of cultural relativism to the literature. Boas's approach focused on the use of documents and informants, whereas, malinowski stated that a researcher should be engrossed with the work for long periods in the field and do a participant observation by living with the informant and experiencing their way of life. He gives the viewpoint of the native and this became the origin of field work and field malinowski was very firm with his approach he applied it practically and traveled to trobriand island which was located off the eastern coast of new guinea. He was interested in learning the language of the islanders and stayed there for a long time doing his field work. The field of ethnography became very popular in the late 19th century, as many social scientists gained an interest in studying modern society. Again, in the latter part of the 19th century, the field of anthropology became a good support for scientific formation. Therefore, the field of anthropology moved into a discipline of social d friedrich müller developed the concept of ethnography as a separate discipline whilst participating in the second kamchatka expedition (1733–43) as a professor of history and geography. Known as the father of history had significant works on the cultures of various peoples beyond the hellenic realm such as nations in scythia, which earned him the title "barbarian lover" and may have produced the first ethnographic of ethnography[edit]. Characterized by van maanen (1988), it reflects a particular instance taken by the researcher toward the individual being studied. Ethnography: is a kind of ethnographic research in which the creators advocate for the liberation of groups which are marginalized in society. Critical researchers typically are politically minded people who look to take a stand of opposition to inequality and domination. The product of this is mainly verbal explanations, where statistical analysis and quantification play a subordinate ological discussions focus more on questions about how to report findings in the field than on methods of data collection and raphies focus on describing the culture of a group in very detailed and complex manner. The ethnography can be of the entire group or a subpart of involves engaging in extensive field work where data collection is mainly by interviews, symbols, artifacts, observations, and many other sources of researcher in ethnography type of research looks for patterns of the group's mental activities, that is their ideas and beliefs expressed through language or other activities, and how they behave in their groups as expressed through their actions that the researcher ethnography, the researcher gathers what is available, what is normal, what it is that people do, what they say, and how they work.
Ethnographic field studies
Perhaps how the group works need to be described, or a critical ethnography can expose issues such as power, hegemony, and advocacy for certain groups (qualitative inquiry and research design, 95). Types of information typically needed in ethnography are collected by going to the research site, respecting the daily lives of individuals at the site and collecting a wide variety of materials. Field issues of respect, reciprocity, deciding who owns the data and others are central to ethnography (qualitative inquiry and research design, 95). The researcher begins to compile a detailed description of the culture-sharing group, by focusing on a single event, on several activities, or on the group over a prolonged period of a working set of rules or generalizations as to how the culture-sharing group works as the final product of this analysis. The final product is a holistic cultural portrait of the group that incorporates the views of the participants (emic) as well as the views of the researcher (etic). Ethnographic method is different from other ways of conducting social science approach due to the following reasons:An ethnographer conducting field interviews, valašské muzeum v přírodě. It is conducted in the settings in which real people actually live, rather than in laboratories where the researcher controls the elements of the behaviors to be observed or is personalized. It is conducted by researchers who are in the day-to-day, face-to-face contact with the people they are studying and who are thus both participants in and observers of the lives under is multifactorial. It is conducted by a researcher who intends to interact with people they are studying for an extended period of time. It is conducted by a researcher whose interpretations and findings may be expounded on by the study’s participants while conclusions are still in the process of is holistic. It is conducted so as to yield the fullest possible portrait of the group under can also be used in other methodological frameworks, for instance, an action research program of study where one of the goals is to change and improve the situation. Ethnography museum (i̇zmir etnografya müzesi), izmir, turkey, from the raphy museum, budapest, ing to the leading social scientist, john brewer, data collection methods are meant to capture the "social meanings and ordinary activities"[13] of people (informants) in "naturally occurring settings"[13] that are commonly referred to as "the field. The goal is to collect data in such a way that the researcher imposes a minimal amount of personal bias in the data. These can include participant observation, field notes, interviews, and iews are often taped and later transcribed, allowing the interview to proceed unimpaired of note-taking, but with all information available later for full analysis. Secondary research and document analysis are also used to provide insight into the research topic. 14] in the 21st century, anthropology focuses more on the study of people in urban settings and the use of kinship charts is seldom order to make the data collection and interpretation transparent, researchers creating ethnographies often attempt to be "reflexive".
Reflexivity refers to the researcher's aim "to explore the ways in which [the] researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research". Ethnographic research can range from a realist perspective, in which behavior is observed, to a constructivist perspective where understanding is socially constructed by the researcher and subjects. Research can range from an objectivist account of fixed, observable behaviors to an interpretive narrative describing "the interplay of individual agency and social structure. 18] critical theory researchers address "issues of power within the researcher-researched relationships and the links between knowledge and power. Ethnographic method is used across a range of different disciplines, primarily by anthropologists but also occasionally by sociologists. Cultural studies, (european) ethnology, sociology, economics, social work, education, design, psychology, computer science, human factors and ergonomics, ethnomusicology, folkloristics, religious studies, geography, history, linguistics, communication studies, performance studies, advertising, nursing, urban planning, usability, political science,[20] social movement,[21] and criminology are other fields which have made use of al and social anthropology[edit]. Anthropology and social anthropology were developed around ethnographic research and their canonical texts, which are mostly ethnographies: e. 23] ethnographers study and interpret culture, its universalities, and its variations through the ethnographic study based on fieldwork. The fieldwork usually involves spending a year or more in another society, living with the local people and learning about their ways of life. Neophyte ethnographers are strongly encouraged to develop extensive familiarity with their subject prior to entering the field; otherwise, they may find themselves in difficult situations. Aw malinowski among trobriand of the ethnographic collection of the međimurje county museum in croatia. In his fieldwork, geertz used elements of a phenomenological approach, tracing not just the doings of people, but the cultural elements themselves. Geertz, while still following something of a traditional ethnographic outline, moved outside that outline to talk about "webs" instead of "outlines"[30] of cultural anthropology, there are several subgenres of ethnography. Beginning in the 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bio-confessional" ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Famous examples include deep play: notes on a balinese cockfight by clifford geertz, reflections on fieldwork in morocco by paul rabinow, the headman and i by jean-paul dumont, and tuhami by vincent crapanzano. Writing culture helped bring changes to both anthropology and ethnography often described in terms of being 'postmodern,' 'reflexive,' 'literary,' 'deconstructive,' or 'poststructural' in nature, in that the text helped to highlight the various epistemic and political predicaments that many practitioners saw as plaguing ethnographic representations and practices.
That is, the ethnographer cannot escape the personal viewpoint in creating an ethnographic account, thus making any claims of objective neutrality highly problematic, if not altogether impossible. 36] this exploration of the relationship between writer, audience, and subject has become a central tenet of contemporary anthropological and ethnographic practice. In certain instances, active collaboration between the researcher(s) and subject(s) has helped blend the practice of collaboration in ethnographic fieldwork with the process of creating the ethnographic product resulting from the research. Ic lds and other major psychology in e and ogy is another field which prominently features ethnographies. Urban sociology, atlanta university (now clark-atlanta university), and the chicago school, in particular, are associated with ethnographic research, with some well-known early examples being the philadelphia negro (1899) by w. But even though many sub-fields and theoretical perspectives within sociology use ethnographic methods, ethnography is not the sine qua non of the discipline, as it is in cultural ication studies[edit]. In the 1960s and 1970s, ethnographic research methods began to be widely used by communication scholars. As the purpose of ethnography is to describe and interpret the shared and learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing group, harris, (1968), also agar (1980) note that ethnography is both a process and an outcome of the research. Studies such as gerry philipsen's analysis of cultural communication strategies in a blue-collar, working-class neighborhood on the south side of chicago, speaking 'like a man' in teamsterville, paved the way for the expansion of ethnographic research in the study of rs of communication studies use ethnographic research methods to analyze communicative behaviors and phenomena. Ethnographic work in communication studies seeks to explain "how" ordinary methods/practices/performances construct the ordinary actions used by ordinary people in the accomplishments of their identities. 39] often this type of research results in a case study or field study such as an analysis of speech patterns at a protest rally, or the way firemen communicate during "down time" at a fire station. American anthropologist george spindler was a pioneer in applying the ethnographic methodology to the pologists such as daniel miller and mary douglas have used ethnographic data to answer academic questions about consumers and consumption. Companies make increasing use of ethnographic methods to understand consumers and consumption, or for new product development (such as video ethnography). Ethnographic methodology is not usually evaluated in terms of philosophical standpoint (such as positivism and emotionalism). Which is a method dedicated entirely to field work, is aimed at gaining a deeper insight of a certain people's knowledge and social raphy's advantages are:It can open up certain experiences during group research that other research methods fail to s that are taken for granted can be highlighted and can tap into intuitive and deep human understanding of and interpretations of (by the ethnographer) the accounts of informants (those who are being studied), which goes far beyond what quantitative research can do in terms of extracting raphy allows people outside of a culture (whether of a primitive tribe or of a corporation's employees) to learn about its members' practices, motives, understandings, and r, there are certain challenges or limitations for the ethnographic method:Deep expertise is required: ethnographers must accumulate knowledge about the methods and domains of interest, which can take considerable training and ivity: the ethnographer is an outsider and must exercise discretion and caution to avoid offending, alienating or harming those being : negotiating access to field sites and participants can be time-consuming and difficult. And cost: research can involve prolonged time in the field, particularly because building trust with participants is usually necessary for obtaining rich : ethnographers bring their own experience to bear in pursuing questions to ask and reviewing data, which can lead to biases in directions of inquiry and ptive approach: ethnography relies heavily on storytelling and the presentation of critical incidents, which is inevitably selective and viewed as a weakness by those used to the scientific approaches of hypothesis testing, quantification and alan fine argues that the nature of ethnographic inquiry demands that researchers deviate from formal and idealistic rules or ethics that have come to be widely accepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches in research.
Many of these ethical assumptions are rooted in positivist and post-positivist epistemologies that have adapted over time but are apparent and must be accounted for in all research paradigms. These ethical dilemmas are evident throughout the entire process of conducting ethnographies, including the design, implementation, and reporting of an ethnographic study. Essentially, fine maintains that researchers are typically not as ethical as they claim or assume to be — and that "each job includes ways of doing things that would be inappropriate for others to know". Is not necessarily casting blame at ethnographic researchers but tries to show that researchers often make idealized ethical claims and standards which in are inherently based on partial truths and self-deceptions. 47] based on these assertions, fine establishes three conceptual clusters in which ethnographic ethical dilemmas can be situated: "classic virtues", "technical skills", and "ethnographic self". Debate surrounding the issue of ethics arose following revelations about how the ethnographer napoleon chagnon conducted his ethnographic fieldwork with the yanomani people of south there is no international standard on ethnographic ethics, many western anthropologists look to the american anthropological association for guidance when conducting ethnographic work. 49] the code of ethics recognizes that sometimes very close and personal relationship can sometimes develop from doing ethnographic work. 49] the association acknowledges that the code is limited in scope; ethnographic work can sometimes be multidisciplinary, and anthropologists need to be familiar with ethics and perspectives of other disciplines as well. 50] the eight-page code of ethics outlines ethical considerations for those conducting research, teaching, application and dissemination of results, which are briefly outlined below. Research-when conducting research anthropologists need to be aware of the potential impacts of the research on the people and animals they study. When teaching the discipline of anthropology, instructors are required to inform students of the ethical dilemmas of conducting ethnographies and field work. Of results-when disseminating results of an ethnography, "[a]nthropologists have an ethical obligation to consider the potential impact of both their research and the communication or dissemination of the results of their research on all directly or indirectly involved. 55] research results of ethnographies should not be withheld from participants in the research if that research is being observed by other people. The kindly ethnographer" – most ethnographers present themselves as being more sympathetic than they are, which aids in the research process, but is also deceptive. When ethnographers find they intensely dislike individuals encountered in the research, they may crop them out of the findings. The honest ethnographer" – if research participants know the research goals, their responses will likely be skewed.
The precise ethnographer" – ethnographers often create the illusion that field notes are data and reflect what "really" happened. The unobtrusive ethnographer" – as a "participant" in the scene, the researcher will always have an effect on the communication that occurs within the research site. Following are commonly misconceived conceptions of ethnographers:"the candid ethnographer" – where the researcher personally situates within the ethnography is ethically problematic. The chaste ethnographer" – when ethnographers participate within the field, they invariably develop relationships with research subjects/participants. These relationships are sometimes not accounted for within the reporting of the ethnography, although they may influence the research findings. The individual skills of an ethnographer influence what appears to be the value of the research. Denzin, ethnographers should consider the following eight principles when observing, recording, and sampling data:The groups should combine symbolic meanings with patterns of e the world from the point of view of the subject, while maintaining the distinction between everyday and scientific perceptions of the group's symbols and their meanings with the social methodology should highlight phases of process, change, and act should be a type of symbolic concepts that would avoid casual es of studies that can use an ethnographic approach[edit]. Of ethnography: a form of ethnography that involves conducting ethnographic studies on the ipant observation. From 'reading over the shoulders of natives' to 'reading alongside natives', literally: toward a collaborative and reciprocal ethnography", in journal of anthropologcal research, 57(2):137-149. Of the most influential ethnographies and anthropology raphic praxis in industry , michael (2003) a synthesis of ethnographic on of anthropology, american museum of natural history - over 160,000 objects from pacific, north american, african, asian ethnographic collections with images and detailed description, linked to the original catalogue pages, field notebooks, and photographs are available archive of african raphic material collection from northern anatolia and caucasus -photo zealand museum images of objects from pacific sity of pennsylvania's "what is ethnography? University library southeast asia raphy for the masses 2cv's practical application of ethnography in market polar research institute arctic material culture , otis tufton (1905). See our privacy policy and user agreement for to do ethnography and field this presentation? Related slideshares at to do ethnography and field ladner, senior hed on sep 26, lecture on ethnography. Versus covert
types of observation
overt
covert
ethnographer informs participants of their study and is transparent about research. Uncovered unmet needs in diabetes treatment
ethnography in asia and africa lead to “image only” cell phone design with long battery life
employs 24 full-time ethnographers to research computer use in the home, at work, and in the mobile space
. In ethnography
“going native” is identifying with your participants and ceasing to be a “researcher.
Techniques: visual course - linkedin ng techniques: creating multimedia course - linkedin ng future-ready course - linkedin raphic raphic research (2). Now customize the name of a clipboard to store your can see my nathanael boehm this article, i want to look at ways in which ux professionals can conduct research, usability testing, and evaluation for the upper rungs of the human-tech ladder—the social elements of technology design…. However, in this article, i want to look at ways in which ux professionals can conduct research, usability testing, and evaluation for the upper rungs of the human-tech ladder—the social elements of technology design and how people interact with a particular technology while working together within an my current project, i’m designing and implementing a framework for business that provides workflow management and supports information gathering and reporting. In my discussion of this topic, i’ll introduce ethnography as a social research tool in ux design—in part, through a review of the book writing ethnographic fieldnotes, by emerson, fretz, and shaw, which i read recently. I’ll start with a quotation from the book that introduces the topic of ethnography:“ethnographic field research involves the study of groups and people as they go about their everyday lives. First-hand participation in some initially unfamiliar social world and the production of written accounts of that world by drawing upon such participation [is the core of ethnographic research]. As ux designers, we’re primarily concerned with how we can use such research to solve a problem through the introduction or revision of design a system for teams, it’s important to first understand how the people on teams work design a system for teams, it’s important to first understand how the people on teams work together. Sometimes you won’t know what’s important until after your research is complete, when you’re analyzing your research notes and applying them to technology design. For example, while you may be interested in a specific team, you can’t ignore that team’s interactions with other teams, the rest of the organization, friends and family, customers and the public—though you should regard them as g ethnographic fieldnotes provides a few useful ideas about what information you should capture:Descriptions of the scene—describe the physical aspects of the work environment, including the layout of workstations, desk space and clutter, collaboration and conversation events and incidents—what happened, and who did what? Emerson fully supports the inclusion of your own thoughts and feelings in your research notes—as long as you clearly identify them as such and keep them separate from purpose of ethnographic research is to put yourself in the shoes of those you’re observing, get into their heads, understand their perspectives and expectations, and accurately record and share that gained knowledge in an objective way that you can then use to support design decisions later down the might consider this type of research to be contextual inquiry, but i think people usually associate that term with watching someone use a computer. Although you could perhaps combine the two ing the information you passive / active stance in ethnography can also influence how you record your observations at the time you perform your passive / active stance in ethnography can also influence how you record your observations at the time you perform your research. If taking notes from a video recording could replace your idea of field research, you aren’t taking advantage of this opportunity to better understand people. Spend time with them, understand how they work together—or how they don’t—and record your observations in a way that can support objective, evidence-based choices later g ethnographic fieldnotes. While it has an anthropological focus, the information it provides is still very relevant to ux design and user research. You need to be able to analyze your notes and present your analysis—in an enlightening, meaningful, and credible way—to your peers and others who may need to take advantage of your insights from field e, kim. Reading and discussing issues with other ux professionals and subject-matter experts can help; but, especially when designing new things with new technologies and capabilities, it’s best to begin by taking an open mind to where the action researchers are responsible for learning about users, their goals, challenges, and activities, and for bringing that understanding to the organization.
When you notice gaps in your knowledge or understanding, it may be time to get out of the office and investigate, watch, and is a field study? Field studies are research activities that take place in the user’s context rather than in your office or range of possible field-study methods and activities is very wide. Field studies also vary a lot in terms of how the researcher interacts (or doesn’t) with participants. Some field studies are purely observational (the researcher is a “fly on the wall”), some are interviews in which the questions evolve as understanding increases, and some involve prototype feature exploration or demonstration of pain points in existing es of field studies include:Flexible user tests in the field, which combine usability testing with adaptive interviews. In an adaptive interview, you refine the questions you ask as you er visits can help you better understand usability issues that arise in particular industry or business contexts or those that appear at a certain observation is useful for conducting design research into user processes, for instance to help create natural task flows for subsequent paper prototypes. Direct observation is also great for learning user vocabulary, understanding businesses’ interaction with customers, and discovering common workarounds — for example by listening in on support calls, watching people moving through amusement parks, or observing sales staff and customers in raphic research situates you in the users’ context as a member of the group. Group research allows you to gain insight into mental models and social situations that can help products and services fit into people’s lives. This type of research is particularly helpful when your target audience lives in a culture different from tual inquiry is a method that structures and combines many of these field-study research is usually done with one of the following goals in mind:Gather task information. Early design research can help prevent big mistakes when creating products and tand people’s needs and discover opportunities for addressing data for journey maps, personas, use cases, and user stories. Field studies help you to understand your users in depth, so you can better describe them for your systems under realistic conditions. Contextual research helps discover things you wouldn’t know to ask about, such as problems that crop up when new tools or processes are introduced into existing work to leave the lab for the of the following are good reasons for running a field study:You need big-picture insights. Field studies can be done at any time, but it often makes sense to do them before design (or redesign) begins, because such research can lead to fundamental shifts in understanding your users and can change what you would design for don’t know enough about your actual or prospective need to understand how people normally do their work and how they set up their environment to support their tasks. Field studies that focus on specific tasks help researchers learn how to improve the experience of doing don’t know enough about your users’ context:Cultural context: for example, your users may live in a different region or t of use: your customers may be using the interface or engage in a behavior of interest in a particular location or circumstance that is hard to replicate in the lab (for example, while walking, shopping, attending an event, riding the bus, or when it’s raining). For example, you may need to go where the users are when you’re conducting research with people with physical or transportation challenges, extremely limited availability (doctors or others who can’t leave work), or children at research might bias your results, for example because the tasks can’t all be done in a lab, the lab context is too unrealistic, intimidating, or otherwise excludes people whom you want to observe. Familiar surroundings and normal equipment are often preferred because they come closest to natural user need to work with systems you can’t access in the lab, such as b2b applications, specialized equipment (anything from bulldozers to battleships), or secure you might want to use other money were no object, we would probably all do much more field research. Unfortunately, field methods have not become cheaper at the same rate as other usability methods, and they can be challenging to budget or schedule.
Field studies are still worthwhile, for example when you’re researching how and whether to make a new product, but it’s best to gather as much data as possible with cheaper methods. Beyond reasons of resource constraint, you might decide to stay out of the field in certain other ch in the lab or ’s sometimes best to conduct in-person research in labs, conference rooms, or other spaces that are not where people normally do the activity you want to study. For example: when what you are testing or researching is particularly confidential, sensitive, or private; when you have many observers for the research sessions; when you need to record but you can’t do that where participants work; when you’re testing systems or prototypes; or when the research focus is mainly on the usability of the system, rather than on people’s context, nature, and , attended usability researchers can get some of the advantages of both field and lab studies by conducting research live, using various audio–visual tools, with participants and facilitators each in their chosen locations. The remote, interactive approach can often be cheaper and faster than field or lab studies. Tradeoff with remote research is that you can’t see what the user’s camera doesn’t show you. That missing context is often important when you are trying to understand people and their , attended studies make sense: when your participants are all over the map, and traveling to meet in person is too difficult or expensive; when it’s important to get some specific answers quickly and cheaply, and you already understand the people, tasks, and contexts in depth; when you need to conduct sessions a few at a time, for example when testing early designs with only a couple of users for each to plan a field a research on. You may need to get permission in advance to conduct research in public or commercial ipants. Depending on the research method you use, you might need a professional recruiter or a team member to help you screen and schedule ers. Although it’s often strategically important and desirable to involve stakeholders in observing user research, it’s not always possible with field mes observers won’t fit in the space, or they would make the research situation too intimidating or otherwise create a weird situation for the users. When that happens, you won’t get to observe the most natural behavior and you might not get the candid information that you the other hand, with b2b site visits to customer companies, it’s common for stakeholders from both companies to want to be present for the research sessions to some extent. Sometimes outside researchers can’t be left alone with participants, so observers must be present. Observers may also need guidance in how to observe and how to help collect data, so they won’t behave you encounter problems or behavior that you don’t understand around existing products or services, field studies can help you take a step back and find a new perspective, in order to correct your own mental research where people are can be crucial to understanding whether new products and services will help, hinder, or fall flat for the people you aim to assist. We can come to your team and teach a full-day course on how to conduct ethnographic field studies in your ux projects. It describes, either explicitly or implicitly, e of the qualitative research, the role of the researcher(s), the stages ch, and the method of data analysis. Here, four of the major ches are ethnographic approach to qualitative research comes largely from the field pology. As ed theory, there is no preset limiting of what will be observed and no real in an ethnographic enology is sometimes considered a philosophical perspective as well as ch to qualitative methodology.
That is, the phenomenologist wants to understand world appears to research can also be considered either a broad approach to qualitative a method of gathering qualitative data. The essential idea is that the "into the field" to observe the phenomenon in its natural state or in such, it is probably most related to the method of ation. The field researcher typically takes extensive field notes which uently coded and analyzed in a variety of ed theory is a qualitative research approach that was originally developed and strauss in the 1960s. The research begins raising of generative questions which help to guide the research but are ed to be either static or confining. Initially one does open coding,Considering the data in minute detail while developing some initial , one moves to more selective coding where one systematically codes t to a core g is a process for recording the thoughts and ideas of the researcher evolve throughout the study. This integrative work is best done in group sessions ent members of the research team are able to interact and share ideas to ally one approaches conceptually dense theory as new observation new linkages which lead to revisions in the theory and more data collection. Trochim, all rights se a printed copy of the research methods revised: 10/20/ble of contentsnavigatingfoundationssamplingmeasurementconstruct validityreliabilitylevels of measurementsurvey researchscalingqualitative measuresthe qualitative debatequalitative dataqualitative approachesqualitative methodsqualitative validityunobtrusive measuresdesignanalysiswrite-upappendicessearch.