Ethnographic field research: interpreting one's entrance into the field as thrownness
Ethnographic field research: interpreting one's entrance into the field as thrownness
The field is where an ethnographer does the fieldwork, yet a discussion of one´s entrance into the field is essentially overlooked in the IS research literature. This paper suggests that entrance into the field can be seen as a rite of passage into a practice world. Using phenomenological hermeneutics, we direct the focus to everyday being-in-the-world to develop a practical understanding of the field as a fusion of horizons where an ethnographer is thrown. The concept of thrownness suggests including one´s historicity and prejudices as one enters the field. We provide some empirical evidence from an ethnographic field study at a large scale IT services organization. This paper is intended as a contribution to the discussion about qualitative research methods in information systems.
philosophy of is, qualitative research methods, ethnography, fieldwork, hermeneutics
1-12
Chughtai, Hameed
e8600973-9db8-4649-be67-def5f2a83a72
Myers, Michael David
6ef59212-863e-4b09-9802-0afc1d64ac71
Te'eni, Dov
18247c33-0962-4b24-9280-3c13282cc128
Avgerou, Chrisanthi
b9e35ad9-5dce-450f-afe1-9f70854d7d43
Chughtai, Hameed
e8600973-9db8-4649-be67-def5f2a83a72
Myers, Michael David
6ef59212-863e-4b09-9802-0afc1d64ac71
Te'eni, Dov
18247c33-0962-4b24-9280-3c13282cc128
Avgerou, Chrisanthi
b9e35ad9-5dce-450f-afe1-9f70854d7d43
Chughtai, Hameed and Myers, Michael David
(2014)
Ethnographic field research: interpreting one's entrance into the field as thrownness.
Te'eni, Dov and Avgerou, Chrisanthi
(eds.)
22nd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
08 - 10 Jun 2014.
.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
The field is where an ethnographer does the fieldwork, yet a discussion of one´s entrance into the field is essentially overlooked in the IS research literature. This paper suggests that entrance into the field can be seen as a rite of passage into a practice world. Using phenomenological hermeneutics, we direct the focus to everyday being-in-the-world to develop a practical understanding of the field as a fusion of horizons where an ethnographer is thrown. The concept of thrownness suggests including one´s historicity and prejudices as one enters the field. We provide some empirical evidence from an ethnographic field study at a large scale IT services organization. This paper is intended as a contribution to the discussion about qualitative research methods in information systems.
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More information
e-pub ahead of print date: June 2014
Venue - Dates:
22nd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, 2014-06-08 - 2014-06-10
Keywords:
philosophy of is, qualitative research methods, ethnography, fieldwork, hermeneutics
Organisations:
Centre of Excellence in Decision, Analytics & Risk Research
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 398016
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/398016
PURE UUID: 11f902ef-da7a-4e30-95d7-ab1fd1bfecf0
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Date deposited: 14 Jul 2016 11:16
Last modified: 08 Jan 2022 03:25
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Contributors
Author:
Hameed Chughtai
Author:
Michael David Myers
Editor:
Dov Te'eni
Editor:
Chrisanthi Avgerou
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