Ethnography

Ethnography or ethnographic evaluation is "a descriptive account of social life and culture in a particular social system based on detailed observations of what people actually do." (Johnson, 2000).

Ethnography involves the observer immersing themselves in the group or community in which they are interested. By participating in the community, the observer develops an understanding of how the community functions, who does what and how the goals are achieved. Data are normally collected via a series of techniques, including interviews and direct observational analysis. Data collection and analysis often occur simultaneously throughout the process.

When can ethnography be used?

Ethnography is often used when the community or context of work under enquiry is unfamiliar to the evaluator, or when the way in which the community operates will have a significant impact on the goals of that group. As such ethnography is best suited to: 1) concept development and testing; and 2) user implementation testing.

How to conduct an ethnographic evaluation

Ethnography is not a quick-fire evaluation tool. It is important that those being observed are comfortable with the presence of the ethnographer so that observed behaviour is natural and unbiased. As such, an ethnographer may spend weeks, months or even years observing the community.

Regardless of the duration of the evaluation, ethnography should follow the same series of steps and process, as described by Fetterman (1998). These are:

Define the problem

This first step, is perhaps the most important. It defines the shape of the research design, including the budget, the tools to conduct the research, and even the presentation of the research findings.

Identify the people

Having defined the problem, it is important to identify individuals who are likely to provide an insight into the questions raised. This stage is strongly linked with step one, and would often be developed at the same time as defining the problem.

Develop the approach

The next step is to identify the specific methods for data collection and develop the tools for the fieldwork. This involves more than simply deciding upon a particular tool for data collection, but also how you will gain acceptance and trust from those being observed, identifying how to deal with sensitive issues, agreeing areas and activities that are acceptable for observation and those that are not and agreeing how often and for how long people will be observed. The aim of this planning phase is to ensure that the fieldwork runs as smoothly as possible and that the people being observed are as comfortable as possible with the observation.

Conduct the fieldwork

The next stage is to actually collect the data. As mentioned above this doesn't happen quickly. "Classic ethnography requires from 6 months to 2 years in the field." (Fetterman, 1998).

The first stage of the fieldwork consists of a orientation phase during which the ethnographer aims to develop an understanding of the culture under study. Once this has taken place, the next step is to identify specific problems or gaps in the systems under observation.

The most important part of the field work is to be there, observe and record what is seen and heard and to ask questions regarding what is taking place. Data should be gathered in a series of different formats (i.e. written notes, video etc). Another important data-collection technique is to conduct interviews with individuals. These can be structured, semi-structured or open.

Finally, it is important to appreciate when it is time to end the evaluation. If the same pattern of behaviour is present time and again you should consider moving on to the next topic of investigation. Similarly, if the same overall picture of the community or task reappears over and over again, there is little additional benefit in continuing the evaluation beyond this point.

Analysing the findings

Having collected the data it is now time to analyse it. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of ethnography. Analysis of the data is more effective if sections of the ethnography are written during the fieldwork. This also allows you to move back and forth between the broad picture and specific questions during the fieldwork. Data should be analysed using a holistic approach, in which observations are reported within the broad context of the community recently observed. It is best practice to collate and digest your interim notes and then share these with informants. This can help improve the accuracy of the findings.

How many evaluators are needed for ethnography?

There are no hard or fast rules about the number of evaluators that should be involved in an ethnographic evaluation. However, there are a number of benefits to having several ethnographers, working as part of a team. These are: 1) you can compare observations among the evaluators, increasing the likelihood of complete and accurate data from the evaluation; and 2) you can focus on different people or different parts of the context, reducing the duration of the evaluation.

Advantages & disadvantages of ethnography

Advantages

Information is first hand and gained from the inside, so should be truthful and valid;
Can reveal issues the evaluator may not have considered;
Contributes strong information on attitudes of 'how', 'what' and 'why';
The open-ended and unbiased nature of ethnography allows for discovery;
It uncovers the true nature of the task;
The ethnographer can play the role of the end-user.

Disadvantages

There is a very large resource element to the fieldwork;
Analysis of the data is very time consuming;
The highly qualitative nature of results can make them difficult to present in a manner that is usable by designers;
Most ethnographic studies use a small number of participants and a small-scale environment (Hughes et al., 1995). Increasing the scale can be extremely difficult as it imposes a much greater amount of cost, communication, and effort.

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References

The information contained on this page was taken from the following sources:

Fetterman, D.M. (1998) Ethnography: Step by Step. 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hughes, J., King, V., Rodden, T. & Anderson, H. (1995) The role of ethnography in interactive systems design. Interactions, 2(2): 56-65.
Johnson, A.G. (2000) The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, 2nd Edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Preece, J., Rogers, Y. & Sharp, H. (2002) Interaction design: beyond human-computer interaction. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
University of Maryland (2001) CHARM: Choosing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Appropriate Research Methods: Ethnographic Methods [accessed 27/06/08].