[Sigia-l] Ethnographic research?

[George Schneiderman]

I try to spend as much time as possible with my users in their "natural 
environment", although getting this access can be difficult--there is 
often a lot of organizational resistance in corporate environments.  In 
practice I've focused mostly on research to understand their work and 
work environment, but I think that conducting usability tests in the 
field can also be very rewarding.

Two good references for this area:

_Contextual Design_ by Beyer and Holtzblatt presents a capital-M 
Methodology for researching users in the field.  What they mean by 
"contextual" is "in the context of the users' workplace".  Despite the 
title, the focus is more on what they call "contextual inquiry" 
(learning about users and their work) than it is on designing from your 
findings (although both areas are covered).  I have found the specific 
methodology to be a bit heavy for my projects, although the underlying 
principals are certainly useful.  I would definitely consider using 
their models for a larger scale project that required a team of IA/IxD 
folk working together on a system for a heterogeneous user population, 
where there is a real need to aggregate and reconcile the research 
findings of the various team members.

_Field Methods Casebook for Software Design_, edited by Wixon and 
Ramey, is a collection of case studies of applied ethnography for 
software design.  Well worth taking a look at.  Much more eclectic than 
the other volume, as you might imagine.

--George Schneiderman

On Monday, February 9, 2004, at 12:10  PM, Arthur Fink wrote:

> Most of us tend to test/refine our designs in lab settings.
>
> A friend of mine with a strong background in anthropological 
> ethnographic research asked me if these disciplines are ever used in 
> interaction design projects ... either in the US or abroad (perhaps at 
> places like Philips Design).  Now she's got me interested as well.
>
> So ... any knowledge of or thoughts about this?