Ethnographic
Approach / Contextual Inquiry
Primary Reference Sources
Blomberg, J., Giacomi, J., Mosher, A. & Swenton-Hall, P. (1993)
Ethnographic field methods and their relation to design. In: Schuler, D.
& Namioka, A. (eds.) Participatory Design: Principles & Practices.
New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Good, M (1989). Seven experiences with contextual field research.
SIG-CHI Bull, 20(4) 25-33.
Whiteside, J., J Bennet, and K Holzblatt (1988) Usability engineering:
our experience and evolution. In M Helander (Ed) Handbook of Human Computer
Interaction, 791-817. NY: North Holland Elsevier.
Summary description
The ethnographic approach emphasis the understanding of behaviour in context
through the participation of the investigator in the situation being studied
as an active member of the team of users involved in the situation. It
provides a descriptive report, utilising a range of approaches, mainly
informal interviews and observational techniques. The ethnographic approach
is essentially the traditional systems analysis approach enriched by contact
with sociology and social anthropology. A close variant has been adopted
by Digital, called ‘Contextual Inquiry’.
Typical Application Areas
In situations with the subject domain is unclear/unfamiliar to the team
or where context of work may be expected to have a significant effect.
Benefits
Provides a holistic view of tasks being studied with an emphasis on context
and as such helps in understanding work setting. Doesn’t require any prior
domain knowledge on the part of the investigator. Produces a written document
detailing work and culture.
Limitations
Only describes current work practice. The analysis of field notes, video
tapes and transcripts is time consuming and must often be completed by
the person who recorded them. Ethnography is not a rigorous approach as
it relies on inference by the ethnographer as to what is going on in a
particular situation. May be difficult to integrate results into a specification.
.
Cost of use
Requires the personal involvement of an investigator who must be open minded,
possess good social skills and have been trained in observational techniques.
May require considerable investment of time and effort in order to integrate
investigator into the environment to be studied.
Costs of Acquisition
Training or experience in observational techniques would be a prerequisite
for investigators.
Suitability for requirements engineering in Telematics:
Some RESPECT partners
have experience in this area. Useful as a first step in order to identify
issues and work practice in an unfamiliar domain.
How to get it
Detailed directions are given in Blomberg et al (1993), field experiences
are referenced in the other reading cited above.
Detailed description of method
Observation and contextual inquiry is best done by a group of researchers
who develop a medium- to long-term relationship with a group of organisations
who are interested in providing data. The following steps are modelled
on the Contextual Inquiry method of Holtzblatt et al:
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Identifying the customer: identify the groups that will be using the new
technology or are using similar technology, and arrange to access organisations
within the groups that give a cross section of the (potential) market.
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Arranging the visit: write to the targeted organisations identifying the
purpose of the visit, a rough time-table, and how much of the employees
time will be taken up by the exercise. Ensure that some feedback from the
day is possible before leaving. Ensure that the participating organisations
understand how many visits you intend to make over the time period of the
evaluations.
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Identifying the users: a software product will affect many people throughout
the organisation, not just the management or the end users. Ensure that
you understand the key users in the organisation whose work will be affected
by a new system or changes in the current one.
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Setting the focus: select what aspects of the users’ work you wish to make
the focus of each visit, and write down your starting assumptions. Make
a statement of purpose for each visit, and after the visit, evaluate to
what extent you have achieved your purpose.
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Carrying out the interview / observation: stay with the selected users
until you have managed to answer the questions you have raised in ‘setting
the focus’. Very often this may involve inviting the user to directly share
and comment on your notes and assumptions.
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Analysing the data: the process of analysis is interpretative and constructive.
Your conclusions and ideas from one round of observations are input to
the next round, and an evaluation of the results so far should be one of
the purposes of subsequent visits.