ETHNOGRAPHY

- Ethnography came from anthropology- Need to get to a more deep understanding of other cultures- Example: looking only at the picture, what we can understand about these people?

- Culture? Language? Routine? Behavior? Values? Habits? Diet? Religion? Worldview?

- What is life like for these people?- Ethnography originated in anthropology

- We need to go there and spend time with them- Ethnography, informally speaking, is the type of research that you do spending time with other people and going deep into their culture

“Ethnography is about the adoption of a cultural lens to observe and interpret events, actions, and

behaviors, ensuring that they are placed in a relevant and meaningful context."

”

Passos, Carol et al. Challenges of applying ethnography to study software practices. In:Proceedings of the ACM-IEEE international symposium on Empirical software

engineering and measurement. ACM, 2012. p. 9-18.

And What About Software Engineering?

- How does an inception works? What is a self-organised team in that company? What is a horizontal company, and how does that influences the business? How does pair-programming works? How can you test and develop at the same time? How is relating to the remote client in a daily basis?

E T N O G R A P H Y

The result of an ethnographic study is usually a rich description of the

community being studied that helps to build a detailed picture of that community’s

culture.

Easterbrook, Steve, et al. "Selecting empirical methods for software engineering research." Guide to advanced empirical

software engineering. Springer London, 2008. 285-311.

“Ethnographic research takes an explicit constructivist stance.”

"don’t seek to prove hypotheses and theories" "create local theories to

improve understanding"

Easterbrook, Steve, et al. "Selecting empirical methods for software engineering research." Guide to advanced empirical

software engineering. Springer London, 2008. 285-311.

Holistic

Semiotic

Critical

Hidden agendaGo native!

Ritual, words, images… There are many others

Types of Ethnography

- Why this slide? Is interesting to show that there are variations- Several different points of view on how to do ethnography

- Holistic: go native - merge in the culture- Semiotic: don’t need to go native, focus on signs - images, words, rituals, etc..- Critical: understand what is in the background of institutions, practices, rituals..

S E L E C T I O N A N D

S A M P L I N G

Preparation

E N T R Y

Based on the research problem:- Selection and Sampling: What is the best sample to observe? The best group? People?- Entry: How can I get in their middle?

D ATA C O L L E C T I O N

PA R T I C I PA N T O B S E R VAT I O N

S U R V E Y P R O J E C T I V E T E C H N I Q U E S

S U P P O R T E Q U I P M E N T

F I E L D

N O T E S

D E S C R I P T I O N , T H E O R Y,

G E N E R A L I Z AT I O N

R E F L E X I V I T Y

W R I T I N G

T E S T S O F S U C C E S S E S

Execution

Close why ethnography is cool for software engineering

T R I A N G U L AT I O N

PAT T E R N S

K E Y E V E N T S

M A P S , F L O W C H A R T S

M AT R I C E S

S TAT I S T I C S

Analysis

D E TA I L E D P I C T U R E

N O T A R T I F I C I A L

M U LT I -A S P E C T S

L O N G T I M E S T U D Y

S U B J E C T I V E V S .

O B J E C T I V E

H I G H LY D E M A N D I N G

S T O R Y-T E L L I N G

V S . A N A LY S I S

T O O S P E C I F I C

N O T W E L L -E S TA B L I S H E D

Perceptions on the method

"Is ethnography is ‘proper’ research?"

Oates, Briony J. Researching information systems and computing. Sage, 2005.

- Because the outcomes of an ethnography are so dependent on the researcher as the research instrument, some people find it hard to accept that ethnography is ‘proper’ research. Critics point out that the researcher is not detached and objective, and the findings are unlikely to be repeated by someone else, because someone else would, no doubt, experience different things during their time in the studied culture. - This argument arises from different ideas about what we mean by research and knowledge, and how we should carry out research to produce knowledge. In other words, the argument is about the underlying philosophical paradigm of different research strategies. Ethnographers tend to be based in the interpretative or critical paradigms, whereas their critics are usually based in the positivist paradigm.

"Some […] argue that an ethnography should be undertaken to produce a theory, one that is grounded in the detailed observations that occur."

Oates, Briony J. Researching information systems and computing. Sage, 2005.