Numbers Have Qualities Too: Experiences with Ethno‐Mining

. A comparison of designer activity using core design situations in the laboratory and practice. Design Studies, 34(5), 575--611. DOI: 10.1016DOI: 10. /j.destud.2013 A comparison of designer activity using core design situations in the laboratory and practice Philip A comparison of designer activity using core design situations in the laboratory and practiceIn 2011 one quarter of all articles published in Design Studies and the Journal of EngineeringDesign used experimental studies. However, there is little work exploring the relationship between laboratory and practice. This paper addresses this by detailing an analysis of designer activity in three situations commonly studied by design researchers: information seeking, ideation and design review. This comparison is instantiated through three complementary studies: an observational study of practice and two experimental studies.These reveal a range of similarities and differences that are described using a mixed methods approach. Based on this it is concluded that laboratory studies are important research tools and that clear and definable relationships do exist between design activity in practice and the laboratory.Keywords: experiment; designer activity; practice; laboratory; research methodsExperimental studies play a key role in design research, accounting for a quarter of all articles in Design Studies (7 out of 28) and the Journal of Engineering Design (9 out of 40) in 2011. However, practitioners often perceive there to be a dichotomy between fundamental experimental study and applied, practice based, design research. Friedman (2000) states that "Practitioners sometimes reject vital streams of research while seeking solutions that do work" (p.22). This perspective is further elaborated by Edmonds et al. (2005) who suggest that the underlying failing of experimental study is that the subject is not design practice itself but actually a simulation of practice in an contrived context. As such, a key point of contention can be characterised as the unknown affect that simulation and contrived context have on designer activity.This type of issue also appears in many fields related to design research. For example, Eifert et al. (1999), in behavioural research, state that the relevance of laboratory based research has been understated due to the gap in understanding external validity. Further, both Bonetti et al. (2010) in behavioural research andMarsden (2007) in education research have adopted the approach of developing intermediary studies -taking an experimental approach into a practice 2 context - in order to directly address this gap. Bolton and Ockenfels (2008) describe this as losing control in a controlled way. Although this approach can be important it is most effective when based on substantive theory, allowing key factors to be controlled as well as offering predictions to be examined (Levitt & List, 2007). As little predictive theory is currently available in design research the authors argue that as a field, we are not yet ready to fully adopt ...

show abstract

“…Figure 6) for clarity. This is based on the work of Anderson et al (2009). Figure 6 supports the previous findings i.e.…”

Section: Activity Over Timesupporting

confidence: 82%

A comparison of designer activity using core design situations in the laboratory and practice

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…What is mixed in Big-Thick Blending are analytical results that share a focus on observing physical behaviour with the implication that both the base of participants and its context are shared across the big and the thick approach leading to much more integrated analytical results in which the different contributions cannot easily be separated out nor exist by itself (cf. Anderson, 2009). This is described within the methodology as shared structure in the generic space.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our search for mixed method approaches with an attentiveness to the unique affordances of big and thick data, we managed to identify only one method termed as the 'ethnomining'. First suggested by Aipperspach et al (2006) and later further developed in Anderson et al (2009), ethno-mining sets out to combine thin big data collected from different sensors (data mining) with ethnographic descriptions of the same settings (ethnography). As in Big-Thick Blending, ethnomining takes seriously the possibilities of harvesting the complementarity between the heterogeneous data worlds and works to craft hybrids in which 'traces of each of the ingredients can still be seen' but the different inputs 'cannot be separated out' (Anderson et al, 2009: 125).…”

Section: Establishing a Framework For Blendingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…studied space usage within homes by mixing big data from behavioural tracking sensors with ethnographic observations (Anderson et al, 2009). Similar, tracking using mobile-embedded Bluetooth sensors was conducted by Girardin (2013) to study congestion and space usage at the museum of Louvre, using observations provided by the massive security staff guarding the values of the museum to qualify and extend the thin data traces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Big–Thick Blending: A method for mixing analytical insights from big and thick data sources

Jørgensen¹,

Due²

2018

Big Data & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent works have suggested an analytical complementarity in mixing big and thick data sources. These works have, however, remained as programmatic suggestions, leaving us with limited methodological inputs on how to archive such complementary integration. This article responds to this limitation by proposing a method for 'blending' big and thick analytical insights. The paper first develops a methodological framework based on the cognitivist linguistics terminology of 'blending'. Two cases are then explored in which blended spaces are crafted from engaging big and thick analytical insights with each other. Through these examples, we learn how blending processes should be conducted as a rapid, iterative and collaborative effort with respect for individual expertise. Further, we demonstrate how the unique, but often overlooked, granularity of big data plays a key role in affording the blending with thick data. We conclude by suggesting four commonly appearing blending strategies that can be applied when relying upon big and thick data sources.

show abstract

“…We have new ways to 'do' verstehen-new forms of data (Anderson 2009), new ways of engagement with people ('crowdsourcing'/'mob'/mobile-device methods), new ways to do sensemaking (advancements in visualization), and new theories and understanding of human behavior. Some of this finds its way into the domain of impact (design, change management, etc.)…”

Section: Other Forms Of Knowingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Framed by Experience: From user experience to strategic incitement

Venkataramani¹,

Avery²

2012

Ethnographic Praxis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ethnographic and other related practices in industry focus -for a variety of historical reasons -primarily on studying the experiences of individuals/institutions as consumers/users. We suggest that this framing limits our work to descriptive forms of knowledge, and renders invisible larger social and institutional changes that nevertheless have an impact on the domains we study, and whose invisibility curtails the forms of innovation we can support. While a variety of practitioners are indeed broadening the range and scope of their work, we contend that for this expansion to succeed sustainably in our community it must also incorporate a discourse on values, and engage with other forms of knowing outside the frame of consumers and users, by encompassing context and engaging in a values discourse. INTRODUCTIONThe practice of ethnography in the corporation has most commonly been justified with a narrative something like this: "You make products for people. A better understanding of people will help you make better products. But it isn't enough to just ask people what they want, in a lab or focus groupyou need to understand them in their context-their homes and workplaces. You need to understand how they see and experience the world. Guess what? We ethnographers know how to do exactly that! Hire us! We'll show you what people are really like. How do we do that? Well, we observe people, participate in their activities, interview them in a certain style, and we have our own special ways of doing analysis."Now this is not to say that this is what ethnography is, but this baseline formulation is how it's now commonly understood by non-ethnographers. Note that this is a formulation based largely on methods: the most tangible and measurable aspect of our work, and historically the least contested and the least alien to corporate ways of knowledge-making. It is the one that least surfaces epistemological differences from other disciplines in the corporation, and appears to be the most scientific and "objective." Notice the focus on experience: the claim made here is the nature of people's experiences vis a vis a domain can be understood in terms of their behaviors, beliefs, values and, occasionally cultures -and ultimately expressed, prioritized and related to in terms of 'needs'; in many cases, "ethnography" is used as a short-hand for contextual, qualitative research. It is thus outward facing: the ethnographer is positioned as the intermediary between the corporation and the real, helping the corporation understand the world of its customers.This format is by no means the only version of ethnographic practice: indeed, inward-looking ethnographies of work were one of the earliest strands of corporate ethnographic research [e.g. Suchman 1983;Zuboff 1989;Heath and Luff 1996;Orr 1996]; paralleling the shift in management ideologies, the focus of ethnographic research has since shifted from improving process and practice RENEWING OUR DISCIPLINE EPIC 2012 Proceedings| 279to enabling innovation. Lately, ethnographic practit...

show abstract

Numbers Have Qualities Too: Experiences with Ethno‐Mining

Cited by 58 publications

References 18 publications

A comparison of designer activity using core design situations in the laboratory and practice

A comparison of designer activity using core design situations in the laboratory and practice

Big–Thick Blending: A method for mixing analytical insights from big and thick data sources

Framed by Experience: From user experience to strategic incitement

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About