When Critical Ethnography Leaves the Field and Enters the Engineering Classroom: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Critical ethnography studies power relationships in research settings through in-depth and sustained involvement in research contexts. It is a newly emerging methodological approach in engineering education and should be further explored and understood. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present how critical ethnography has been used in research in engineering classrooms and to discuss what methodological insights we can gain from reviewing this research. Scope/Method: The purpose of the scoping review is to map key concepts and types of evidence related to the use of critical ethnography in engineering education research from 2005-2020. We assessed articles on their (1) ethnographic methodological design, (2) topics of empirical study, and (3) critical orientation. Conclusions: We found that authors defined ethnography broadly and that a majority of articles centered on student experience and learning in engineering. We also found that out of 35 articles included in the analysis, one study expressly used critical ethnography and 21 other studies employed some form of critical approach or construct. Our review has implications for researchers to expand the use of critical ethnography to understand complex engineering classroom arrangements and interactions.

Understanding the Situated Workplace Practices and Habits of Engineers Using Agile Ethnography

“…Traditional ethnographic approaches originated from research in anthropology and sociology (e.g., [14], [15]) exploring cultural groups through participant observation. These approaches require long-term, extensive fieldwork to understand the day-to-day lives, patterns, behaviors, beliefs, and values of a culture-sharing group [16], [17]. Ethnography has been considered an "emerging" methodology in engineering education research [18, p. 86] as there are limited studies that have employed these methods.…”

“…Prolonged data collection that can span multiple years [5], [17] Short data generation timeline, e.g. 90 days, 120 days [4] Six months of data generation per engineer; data generated with eight engineers over a threeyear period…”

Thinking Critically about Critical Research with Military Undergraduates in Engineering Education

“…Toward this end, scholars are increasingly calling for and employing critical approaches to engineering education research [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Critical approaches are unique in their focus on transformative praxis using the knowledge developed in the research process.…”

“…Yet, despite unprecedented use of education benefits and strong potential to develop interests in STEM careers because of their military experience, military undergraduates continue to engage and persist in engineering degree programs at dishearteningly low levels. Very few (1 in 12) military veterans who enroll in college go on to study engineering [3]; even fewer complete entry level engineering degrees and become engineers in the workforce.…”