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9.4 Conducting ethnographic research 247

the phenomena being studied. Others reject this viewpoint, arguing that researcher
participation in deciding what should be observed and how it should be analyzed in-
evitably leads to bias (Shapiro, 1994; Sharrock and Randall, 2004). Of course, if the
goal of your ethnographic research is to understand requirements for a system that
will be built, you will probably find yourself building a model of some sort.
If you decide to use your ethnographic research to develop models, you should
strive to develop robust explanations and descriptions that are based on all of your
data. As you analyze the data, you should try to make sure that you are not “cherry-
picking” the data. If there are observations that are not consistent with your model,
then you should consider revising your model or looking for other potential models.
If you seek out, but do not find, data points that disagree with your model, you can
be more confident of the correctness of the model.
Because all ethnography is inherently interpretive and qualitative, there are often
legitimate questions as to why one model is better than the other. Comparison with
alternative models can also help in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of
your model, because you could potentially argue that your model fits the data better
than other alternative interpretations.
Other measures that you might take to improve the validity of your findings include
the use of multiple informants and multiple observers. Multiple informants help you
avoid the distortions that might occur from talking to only one member of the group.
Interacting with members who differ in background, perspective, experience, or demo-
graphic factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity, can help you understand the diver-
sity of perspectives. Having another colleague (or two or three) study the group can
minimize the impact of biases of any individual researcher. If your colleagues come to
the same conclusions as you, despite having interviewed different people or observed
different events, you can have increased confidence in those results. Just as with infor-
mants, diversity of observers can be a useful strategy. (Angrosino, 2007).

9.4.6 REPORTING RESULTS
Ethnographic reports are similar to case study reports (Chapter 7). You want to de-
scribe your goals and methods, along with a justification of the specific groups—how
were they chosen and why? You should describe your methods of data collection
and analysis, along with presentation of raw data and analytical results. Matrices,
charts, and figures can be very helpful, particularly for analyses involving quantita-
tive data. Another important similarity with case study reports involves discussion of
rival explanations: if you've considered and rejected alternative models because your
preferred models were better suited, say so, and explain.
Like case studies, ethnographic reports tell a story. You should consider interest-
ing incidents and include direct quotes where appropriate.
Ethnography also often involves consultation with participants. When appropriate,
you might consider sharing your report with group members before it is published.
This gives them a chance to understand what you've done and why, thus increas-
ing the chances that they have positive feelings about the experience. Your infor-
mants can also provide important reality checks—if they think you've misinterpreted