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Ethnographic methods

Ethnographic methods. observations and interviews. Interviews. First we’ll discuss the 3rd assignment… Using interviews in your research? Here are two questions that you need to think about:

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Ethnographic methods

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  1. Ethnographic methods observations and interviews INF5220 22.september 2005

  2. Interviews • First we’ll discuss the 3rd assignment… • Using interviews in your research? Here are two questions that you need to think about: • What status do you allocate to the data? I.e. what do you think about the relation between the interviewee’s accounts and the world(s) they describe? • What do you think about the relation between the interviewee and the interviewer? INF5220 22.september 2005

  3. What status do the data have? • Geertz, 1973; p.9: ”What we call our data are really our own constructions of other people’s constructions of what they and their compatriots are up to”. • Van Maanen, 1979: • Interviewee’s constructions: first-order data • Researcher’s constructions: second-order concepts, which rely on good theory and insightful analysis INF5220 22.september 2005

  4. What status do you assign to your data? • Are they facts (e.g. about attitudes and behaviour)? • That is, if you have designed and conducted the interview properly, and avoided problems such as bias. • Do the interview give you accounts of authentic experiences? • That is, if you have managed to engage emotionally and achieved understanding and ’depth’. • Are the interviews ’jointly constructed encounters of focused interaction’? • Do you have your focus on how participants actively create meaning and perform during the interview? INF5220 22.september 2005

  5. Corresponds to: • The three categories and their focus: • Positivism: prescheduled and standardised interviews • Emotionalism: open-ended interviews aimed at acquiring ’depth’ • Constructionism: also open-ended interviews, reflective • Not one correct category, choice depends on your purpose. • Your practical concerns should guide your analytic position • Ask yourself whether interviews really help you address your research topic (Refer to Silverman chapter 4) INF5220 22.september 2005

  6. A bit more on constructionism • Within this approach the interview is not (only) a source for data, but a research topic in itself • The ’how’ and the ’what’ issue (form and content). Ref. Silverman: • 4.6 Adolescent cultures • 4.7 Membership work • 4.8 Moral tales of parenthood INF5220 22.september 2005

  7. On interviewing and questioning • Ways to question: • Closed versus open questions • How and What-questions versus Why-questions • Some helpful phrases • Eliciting response without manipulating • Be aware of your own body language and engagement INF5220 22.september 2005

  8. Ethnographic research (1) • Origins: anthropology. • Focus: ’tribes’, subcultures, the public realm, organizations • In-depth and extended studies, ’immersion’ and ’thick descriptions’ • Aimed at exploration (”what is going on here?”) rather than testing of theories INF5220 22.september 2005

  9. Ethnographic research (2) • Participant observation: what is the researcher’s identity, what is known about the research? • Ethical issues (e.g. informed consent) • Theoretical and methodological choices (access, data collection methods, focus, analysis etc) INF5220 22.september 2005

  10. Ethical issues • Aim and focus: A scientific, but also an ethical issue: • The ’romantic’ impulse to focus on ’underdogs’ • Do you treat the ’heroes’ and the ’villains’ equally (in analytic terms)? • ’Overt’ versus ’covert’ observation • Informed consent • How do you handle the data? • Physically: locking up tapes and transcripts? • Analytically: how do you consider and treat those whom you write about? INF5220 22.september 2005

  11. Participant observation • Problematising the role of the participant observer: • Confusion: ’what’ is the site? • What is expected from the researcher? • What do we mean by ’intervention’? • Involvement into organisational politics • Using these tensions and confusions as an analytic resource – showing the multiple realities and interests in the case Teun Zuiderent: ”Blurring the center. On the Politics of Ethnography”. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 14, no. 2, 2002. INF5220 22.september 2005

  12. Deciding your theoretical basis • Read again section 2.6 in Silverman’s book, + section 3.4 • Take your field notes from the observations and attempt to do exercise 3.4, (3.5), 3.6. How did you work: • As a naturalist ethnographer? • As an ethnomethodologist? • With a grounded theory approach? INF5220 22.september 2005

  13. Using ethnography in IS research • Six misconceptions (1-3): • Is it just about common sense? No, you should problematize things that are taken for granted. • Is an ’insider’ view best? Not necessarily, the task is not to replicate the insiders’ perpsectives • ’Anything goes’ in terms of methods? Preformulated study design are avoided, but epistemological discipline and systematic method are pursued Diane Forsythe: ’”It’s just common sense”. Ethnography as invisible work’ Journal of CSCW, vol. 8 (March 1999), no. 1-2, pp. 127-145. INF5220 22.september 2005

  14. Using ethnography in IS research • Six misconceptions (4-6): • ”Doing fieldwork is just chatting with people and reporting what they say”. No, people’s views are data, not results. Understanding and analyzing. • ”To find out what people do, just ask them”. Well, the predictive value of verbal representations and the generality of short-term observations are questionable. Complement with extended observations. • ”Behavioural/organisational patterns exist, we must just discover them”. Not a matter of ’looking’, the expertise rests with the analyst, not in the recording technique. Diane Forsythe: ’”It’s just common sense”. Ethnography as invisible work’ Journal of CSCW, vol. 8 (March 1999), no. 1-2, pp. 127-145. INF5220 22.september 2005

  15. Bardram and Bossen • A case study using ethnographic methods, with the aim of ’informing design’ (i.e. not purely descriptive) INF5220 22.september 2005

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