New Significance for an Old Method: CAS Theory and Ethnography

Abstract

This paper presents a new significance for an old method by describing the theory-method fit between complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory and ethnography. Using an example from an ethnographic study of intergroup conflict in joint product development, this paper supports the argument that doing ethnography is necessary to find and analyze empirical evidence for what CAS theory illuminates about the social world. I extend this argument by discussing its importance for communication research. A key question for communication researchers is how system-level events in complex social systems are grounded in and produced by local interactions among individuals. This paper describes and illustrates some important insights that researchers can gain into this question by paying attention to the parallels between CAS theory and ethnography in the investigations of complex communicative phenomena.