This section is interested in some of the more practical aspects of fieldwork including discussions on the use of video and tool support.
Some general, practical issues are covered in our presentation 'Practicalities of ethnographic research' (the slide presentation is available here).
Use of Video:
'Recording Social Life: Reflexivity and Video Methodology' by Lomax, H. and Casey, N. (1998) in Sociological Research Online, vol. 3, no. 2,
"The degree to which researcher generated visual records (for example video texts) may be used to collect valid information about the social world is subject to considerable academic debate .... As we demonstrate, the activity of data collection is constitutive of the very interaction which is then subsequently available for investigation. A reflexive analysis of this relationship is therefore essential. Video generated data is an ideal resource in as far as it can provide a faithful record of the process as an aspect of the naturally occurring interaction which comprises the research topic."
Computer Support Tools:
Computer tool support for ethnography can be seen in various accounts of the use of The Ethnograph', 'Nudist' and the 'Designer's NotePad' (DNP). For those who are interested you can download demo versions of various qualitative analysis packages from the University of Surrey site: http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/caqdas/packages.htm
Nudist:
You can download a demo version of Nudist complete with a tutorial at:
http://www.sagepub.com/sagepage/NUDIST_download.htm
A review of Nudist is available at http://www.nyu.edu/acf/pubs/connect/summer97/StatsLoPrNudistSum97.html
Ethnograph:
A demo version of The Ethnograph is available at http://www.qualisresearch.com/download.htm
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JITE/v33n4/jite-v33n4.satchwell.html contains a review of The Ethnograph by Satchwell, R. (1996). Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 33(4), 78-82
ATLAS.ti: The Knowledge Workbench
Is described at http://www.atlasti.de/atlasneu.html and a demo is available from http://www.atlasti.de/prerelease.htm
'Designer's NotePad' (DNP):
Our experiences of using The Designer's Notepad (DNP) are outlined in a number of papers:
1. Ethnography, communication and support for design - Marc Rouncefield, Jon O Brien, John Hughes and Tom Rodden - a paper given at the 'Workplace Studies' workshop, Kings College, London.
" reflects on our experiences in supporting communication between fieldworkers and the designers of cooperative systems. We have investigated the nature of this communication by using a tool orginally designed to support the representation of software designs to present emerging results of ethnographic material. In this paper we discuss the tool used (the DNP) and the experiences of using the toolkit in the context of design. Our particular focus is on the use of the tool to represents results from a study of a UK financial institution where a series of prototyping exercises was underway"
2. ‘On becoming a DNP user’ - some reflections on the developing use of a computer support tool ' - David Calvey, John Hughes, Jon O’Brien, Tom Rodden and Mark Rouncefield - a paper given at IRIS'97.
" considers the development of a tool to support the presentation of the material forming an ethnographic report. The paper focuses on the way in which use of the system has evolved to offer appropriate facilities. The use of viewpoints to present material from a number of studies is described. The paper concludes by reflecting on the need to consider the way in ethnographers have become users of the tool."