Open AccessThe QAME of Trans‐disciplinary Ethnography: Making Visible Disciplinary Theories of Ethnographic Praxis as Boundary Object
Author(s) -
TUNSTALL ELIZABETH DORI
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-8918.2008.tb00107.x
Subject(s) - praxis , ethnography , discipline , sociology , boundary object , object (grammar) , value (mathematics) , epistemology , domain (mathematical analysis) , anthropology , social science , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , negotiation , mathematical analysis , machine learning
Framed by the idea that ethnography is a trans‐disciplinary praxis, this paper adopts Alan Barnard's framework of the theory as questions, assumptions, methods, and evidence (QAME) to compare how ethnographic praxis is approached across the domains of anthropology, marketing, and design. The companies Intel, Cheskin, and IDEO serve as exemplars for each domain, respectively. Through a content analysis of academic journals and popular media, the paper explores the discursive meanings of ethnography as a “boundary object” across many domains. The paper concludes with how Barnard's QAME framework can be used to make visible ethnography's multiple meanings so that practitioners can improve interdisciplinary collaborations within organizations and better articulate ethnography's value to business.