Requirements Engineering

Ethnography & Repertory Grid by Sefat Chowdhury

OCT 2nd, 2012

Ethnography

Questions:

1. Explain what Ethnography is and how it is performed?

2. How do you use Ethnography in the process of Requirements Engineering?

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Ethnography

An observational technique that uses a naturalistic perspective.

Ethnography...

- Has its roots in Anthropology and is a relatively recent addition as a wider social research method.

- Literally means “writing about people groups”

- Formulated in the 1800’s as a method for studying “native” cultures

- Applied to Market Research in the 1980’s

- Research conducted in a natural context: i.e. in the home, in a store, in an airport, in a workplace

- A qualitative research technique

Characteristics of ethnographic research

- Takes place “in the field”

- Observation is primary data collection technique

- Interviews are used to clarify observations

- Attention is paid to context and artifacts

- Field notes coded and analyzed for themes and variables

Designer vs Anthropologist

- Designer looks for specifics; Anthropologist looks for generalities

- Designer is concerned with synthesis and is required to make judgments; The anthropologist is concerned with analysis and avoiding making judgments

- Designer needs information quickly; The anthropologist looks at prolonged activity

- Designer interprets data and looks for behaviors; The anthropologist collects data

Why Use Ethnography?

- An important element of the creative thinking process is problem finding, an area where ethnographic research is a valuable tool.

- Ethnographic research allows the designer to understand consumers, including how they act, what they want, and what their attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors are. The designer can discover unmet needs and understand the impact of a product within a specific context.

- Nothing can substitute the designer’s experience of seeing participants using a product in the context in which it is intended to be used.

- One of the The Ten Faces of Innovation, Tom Kelly (2005)

When To Use Ethnography?

- Identify fundamental experience factors

- Innovate the mundane

- Operationalize key concepts

- Discover the unspeakable

- Plan cultural variations

Tip: Read Ethnography case studies for quick understanding...

Ethnography Project Structure

- Preparation

- Field Study

- Analysis

- Reporting

Data Collection method(s)

- Observation

○ Emic- Insider approach, being a part of the experience

○ Etic- Distant approach, unobtrusive observation

A video camera is a valuable tool that allows an independent researcher to focus on the larger context, sketch, make notes, and take pictures while in the environment.

-Supplemental research methods

○ Artifact analysis

○ Context mapping

○ Digital Ethnography

Data Analysis & Reporting

- Analysis

○ Compile the collected data in numerical, textual, and multimedia databases

○ Quantify data and compile statistics

○ Reduce and interpret the data

○ Refine the goals and the process used

- Reporting

○ Consider multiple audiences and goals

○ Prepare a report and present the findings

Ethnography

References:

1. Kelly, Tom (2005). The Ten Faces of Innovation. Doubleday Press, New York

2. Skaggs, Paul, Ethnography in Product Design - Looking for Compensatory Behaviors, Utah

3. Thomas N. Headland, Kenneth L. Pike, & Marvin Harris, (1990) Emics and Etics: The Insiders/Outsiders Debate, Frontiers on Anthropology, Volume 7, Sage Publications

4. McCleverty, Amy (1997). Research Methodologies

5. Rose A., Shneiderman B., Plaisant C., An Applied Ethnographic Method for re-designing User Interfaces , Maryland

Repertory Grid

Questions:

1. What is repertory Grid and how to use them?

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Repertory Grid- An unobtrusive interviewing technique used for data extraction and analysis that has as its basis the Personal Construct Theory, which George Kelly developed in the 1950s.

- Originated in clinical psychology and is useful in a variety of domains

George Kelly

Personal Construct Theory- People organize their experiences with the world into conceptual classifications that we can differentiate and describe using attributes of those classifications called constructs.

- Each individual has his or her own unique set of constructs that are important to that person.

- The differences in people’s construct systems contribute to our different perceptions of the world and our behavior in it.

Why use PCT? - The inherent difference in construct systems between people that introduces bias in research: The researcher has one set of constructs, and each participant has another

- Even the most well-intentioned researcher, drafting questions that are as open-ended and unbiased as possible, still might lead some participants down an irrelevant path.

Hence, its crucial to minimize the construct bias of the interviewer and systematically extract constructs for a particular domain that are important to participants. The Repertory Grid is a technique to implement PCT effectively.

Repertory Grid- An unobtrusive interviewing technique used for data extraction and analysis that has as its basis the Personal Construct Theory, which George Kelly developed in the 1950s.

- Originated in clinical psychology and is useful in a variety of domains

George Kelly

Repertory Grid- Repertory comes from the word repertoire, which refers to a participant’s repertoire of constructs.

- The Grid refers to the data extraction and analysis procedure researchers use to gather and compare information from a number of participants in a study.

- The Repertory Grid Process:

1. Selection

2. Triading

3. Rating

4. Analysis

Repertory Grids

What?

● Items● Statements● Ratings

How?

●

Repertory Grids

What?

● Items● Statements● Ratings

How?

●

Apply Repertory Grid to UX?- To identify the key constructs or considerations people have when interacting with systems (we don't see the world the way others see it)

- To understand a product; it's competitor and positioning in the marketplace

- To quickly generate a large number of attributes, or constructs, that are useful in comparing different examples

- To elicit differentiating attributes in the participants’ vocabulary and to provide a structure process for eliciting feedback that is easy for participants to understand

Repertory Grid

References:

1. Kelly, George. The Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York: Norton, 1955.

2. Jankowicz, Devi. The Easy Guide to Repertory Grids. New York: Wiley, 2003.

3. Hawley, Michael(2007) The Repertory Grid: Eliciting User Experience Comparisons in the Customer’s Voice. www.uxmatters.com(last accessed on Sep 26, 2012)

4. Persson, H.I., Repertory Grid Technique - a window to professional thinking?, Stockholm

Questions..?

Thank You@sefat