tutorial

Using ethnographic methods in software engineering research

Authors:

Helen Sharp,

Cleidson deSouza,

Yvonne DittrichAuthors Info & Claims

ICSE '10: Proceedings of the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 2

Pages 491 - 492

https://doi.org/10.1145/1810295.1810445

Published: 01 May 2010 Publication History

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Abstract

This tutorial provides an overview of the role of ethnography in Software Engineering research. It describes the use of ethnographic methods as a means to provide an in-depth understanding of the socio-technological realities surrounding everyday software development practice. The knowledge gained can be used to improve processes, methods and tools as well as develop observed industrial practices. The tutorial begins with a brief historical account of ethnography in the fields of Software Engineering, CSCW, Information Systems and other related areas. This sets the stage for a more in-depth discussion of methods for data collection and analysis used in ethnographic studies. It then describes how these methods can be and have been used by software engineering researchers to understand developers' work practices, to inform the development of processes, methods and tools and to evaluate the applicability of current processes, methods and tools. Finally, some practical issues concerning the selection and use of ethnographic methods by software engineers are discussed. Throughout the tutorial, examples from the presenters' experience illustrate the points made.

References

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Cited By

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Ahmad ASandahl KHasselqvist DSandberg PHong JPark J(2024)Information Needs in Continuous Integration and Delivery in Large Scale Organizations: An Observational StudyProceedings of the 39th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/3605098.3636035(1262-1271)Online publication date: 8-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605098.3636035
Garousi VFelderer MMäntylä MRainer A(2020)Benefitting from the Grey Literature in Software Engineering ResearchContemporary Empirical Methods in Software Engineering10.1007/978-3-030-32489-6_14(385-413)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32489-6_14
Fucci DRomano SBaldassarre MCaivano DScanniello GTurhan BJuristo NOivo MMéndez DMockus A(2018)A longitudinal cohort study on the retainment of test-driven developmentProceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement10.1145/3239235.3240502(1-10)Online publication date: 11-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3239235.3240502
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Using ethnographic methods in software engineering research
1. Social and professional topics

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Published In

ICSE '10: Proceedings of the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 2

May 2010

554 pages

ISBN:9781605587196

DOI:10.1145/1810295

General Chairs:
Jeff Kramer
Imperial College, London, UK
,
Judith Bishop
Microsoft Research, Redmond
,
Program Chairs:
Prem Devanbu
University of California at Davis
,
Sebastian Uchitel
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Imperial College London, UK

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 May 2010

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ICSE '10

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SIGSOFT

ICSE '10: 32nd International Conference on Software Engineering

May 1 - 8, 2010

Cape Town, South Africa

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Overall Acceptance Rate 276 of 1,856 submissions, 15%

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Cited By

View all

Ahmad ASandahl KHasselqvist DSandberg PHong JPark J(2024)Information Needs in Continuous Integration and Delivery in Large Scale Organizations: An Observational StudyProceedings of the 39th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/3605098.3636035(1262-1271)Online publication date: 8-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605098.3636035
Garousi VFelderer MMäntylä MRainer A(2020)Benefitting from the Grey Literature in Software Engineering ResearchContemporary Empirical Methods in Software Engineering10.1007/978-3-030-32489-6_14(385-413)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32489-6_14
Fucci DRomano SBaldassarre MCaivano DScanniello GTurhan BJuristo NOivo MMéndez DMockus A(2018)A longitudinal cohort study on the retainment of test-driven developmentProceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement10.1145/3239235.3240502(1-10)Online publication date: 11-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3239235.3240502
Bruckner TRepa VChlapek D(2014)Consistency Issues in Large Business Process Model Environment, a Case StudyPerspectives in Business Informatics Research10.1007/978-3-319-11370-8_13(172-186)Online publication date: 2014
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11370-8_13
Pahl C(2013)The Life and Times of a Learning Technology SystemInternational Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies10.4018/ijwltt.20130701038:3(24-41)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/ijwltt.2013070103
Passos CCruzes DDybå TMendonça MRuneson PHöst MMendes EAndrews AHarrison R(2012)Challenges of applying ethnography to study software practicesProceedings of the ACM-IEEE international symposium on Empirical software engineering and measurement10.1145/2372251.2372255(9-18)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2372251.2372255
Hidayah IWahyuni Lukito Edi Nugroho (2012)Process model and software process improvement for small software organization: An ethnographic study in Indonesia2012 International Conference on Computer & Information Science (ICCIS)10.1109/ICCISci.2012.6297145(852-856)Online publication date: Jun-2012
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCISci.2012.6297145

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