The place of ethnographic methods in information systems research

Abstract

AbstractThe IS research community was formed around the problems and questions raised by organisations’ attempts to exploit the new Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The subject is concerned with both the ‘hard’ characteristics of the ICT application under study and the social context of the organisation within which it is to be or is being deployed. Mixed methods are designed to deal with both these somewhat disparate situations in a single study and are likely to be of particular value for IS research. Ethnography is a research method that can make a powerful contribution in mixed methods studies. However as yet, both mixed methods and ethnography form only a small number of empirical IS paper. Ethnographers seek to immerse themselves in a social situation and become part of the group being investigated in order to understand the meanings that actors put upon phenomena or situations. It is the data collection methods that distinguish this method from other qualitative research methods. Th...