Christine Kunzmann, Andreas Schmidt

Ethnographically Informed Studies as a Methodology

for Motivation Aware

Design Processes

MATEL 2011September 20, 2011

Palermo

http://mature-ip.euhttp://www.mirror-project.eu

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Outline

▪ Ethnographically informed study in MATURE

▪ Ethnographically informed study in MIRROR

▪ Conclusions

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Ethnographic research

▪ Immersion into the social environment▪ Focuses not only on what happens,

but also why and how

▪ Challenge: traditional ethnographic research is based on long periods of time

▪ As a consequence in CSCW and other fields:• Modified methods, such as „rapid ethnography“• More focused, combination of perspectives

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MATUREstudies

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Ethnographic research in MATURE

▪ Goals / Scope• Learn more about real-world knowledge maturing

practices• Seven organizations, two of them designated application

partners

▪ Ethnographic research team• established relationships with the respective company• mixed background, some experienced with methods,

other were coming from the software development side

▪ Structure• Week 1: Min. two researchers immersed into the work

practice and shadowed individuals• Week 2+3: Self-reporting• Week 3: Return of the ethnographic researchers

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Results and Experiences

▪ Results• rich qualitative data analyzed with structured text

analysis in a collaborative way• Results were amalgamated into structured persona

descriptions• Specific sections on motivational aspects• Fed into use case definition process

▪ Experiences• Empirical grounding led to a higher richness of

understanding• Particularly developers forming part of the ethnographic

teams has been very useful• Formed a shared understanding of real-world problems

(7 out of 12 partners participated)

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Lessons learnt

▪ Results were highly dependent on prior sensitization• future studies should include longer preparatory phases

▪ Personas have been useful at the beginning of the requirements process• But they have been replaced by the direct interaction

with real target users

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MIRROR Study

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MIRROR Ethnographically Informed Study

▪ Goal / Scope• role of affective aspects for

reflection• motivational barriers in the

transition between individual, team and organizational level

• combined with a sensor belt study

• one hospital

▪ Ethnographic team• 3 researchers, one with prior

experience in ethnography and domain experience

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▪ Structure• Four days of immersion in the work practice

(five persons observed, both nurses and physicians)• Analysis phase (five days)• One hour interviews

• Presented sensor data analysis• asked about interesting events from notes

in order to get the broader context

▪ Results• Analysis with a structured text analysis similar to the

method used in MATURE, but limited to a smaller group of researchers

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▪ Found interesting aspects, such as interference with existing coping strategies

▪ Shortened time prevented researchers from observing developments, which could be only partially compensated by the interviews• Might be problematic

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Integration into the design process

Conclusions

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Conclusions

▪ Ethnographic elements yield a richer and more holistic understanding, particularly for motivational aspects

▪ Ethnographic teams should be composed of both experienced ethnographers and developers

▪ Prior trust relationship and domain experience is beneficial to compensate for shortness

▪ Decide carefully on the time period▪ Design processes should make productive use

of narratives • communicate efficiently experiences made during the

ethnographic research• narratives should be preferred over formal models or

descriptions.

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Outlook & Contact

MATURE IP – http://mature-ip.euIdentifying and overcoming barriers to knowledgematuring in organizations

Christine KunzmannResearcher @ FZI and Kompetenzorientierte Personalentwicklunghttp://kompetenzen-gestalten.decontact@christine-kunzmann.de

Andreas SchmidtDepartment Manager Scientific Coordinator MATUREFZI Research Center for Information Technologiesandreas.schmidt@fzi.dehttp://andreas.schmidt.name