Ethnomethodology

Our work practice research is ethnomethodological in nature. Ethnomethodology is a social scientific discipline that arose through the the work of Harold Garfinkel and his and his contemporary Harvey Sacks. Ethnomethodology is an analytic orientation that seeks to understand and explicate the practices that people use to organise their activities. Many researchers now see parallels between ethnomethodology and the later philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. This approach translates into a deeper than usual form of fieldwork analysis, where we go beyond describing the 'scenic' features of work, to explicate the complex ways in which work is organised and understood by those carrying it out. In practice we proceed to fieldsites without employing hypotheses or prior judgements - we want to understand work in its own terms rather than through a theoretical lens. Consequently in our analyses of work we focus on topics such as the following:

• The social organisation of work in general
• Peoples' orientation to procedures and other aspects of organisational accountability
• Peoples' interaction with, through and around technologies
• The relationship between the ecology of workplaces and the organisation of work
• The purposes and achievement of coordinated work
• Practical reasoning, and skill and knowledge 'in action'

By conducting these types of studies and working in a multi-disciplinary team through an interactive process of design, assessment and review, where design is based on a sound understanding of user practices and needs we believe we can deliver technology that really fits in organisational contexts, meshing with user practices and needs, and delivering a high quality service.

References

Garfinkel, Harold (1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.

Sacks, Harvey (1992) Lectures on Conversation. Vol. 1 and 2. Gail Jefferson (ed) Oxford: Blackwell.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1958). Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell