An ethnographic case study

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‘Instead of opposing the individual level to the mass, or agency to structure, we simply follow how a given element becomes strategic through the number of connections it commands, and how it loses its importance when losing connections’ (Latour 1991, p. 372)

Latour proposes a number of directives that should discipline the data collection process. Latour grants some significance to the analysis of discourse but is critical of an extreme privileging of the researchers’ interpretations (Latour, 1993). Instead Latour’s emphasis on the social is summed up in his attention to “following the actors” and seeing what they do rather than what they say. Latour (1987, p. 258) offers seven guidelines for studying ‘the fabrication of technical artifacts’:

- We study science in action and not ready made science or technology; to do so, we either arrive before the facts and machines are black boxed or we follow the controversies that reopen them.

- To determine the objectivity or subjectivity of a claim, the efficiency or perfection of a mechanism, we do not look for their intrinsic qualities but at all the transformations they undergo later in the hands of others.

- Since the settlement of a controversy is the cause of Nature’s representation, not its consequence, we can never use this consequence, Nature, to explain how and why a controversy has been settled.

- Since the settlement of a controversy is the cause of Society’s stability, we cannot use Society to explain how and why a controversy has been settled. We should consider symmetrically the efforts to enroll human and non-human resources.

- We have to be as undecided as the various actors we follow as to what techno science is made of; every time an inside/outside divide is built, we should study the two sides simultaneously and make the list, no matter how long and heterogeneous, of those who do the work.

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- Confronted with the accusation of irrationality, we look neither at what rule of logic has been broken, nor at what structure of society could explain the distortion, but to the angle and direction of the observer’s displacement, and to the length of the network thus being built.

- Before attributing any special quality to the mind or to the method of people, let us examine first the many ways through which inscriptions are gathered, combined, tied together and sent back. Only if there is something unexplained once the networks have been studied shall we start to speak of cognitive factors.

Rule 2 states that in determining the “objectivity or subjectivity of a claim” one should look to trace

“all the transformations they undergo later in the hands of others” (Latour, 1987, p. 258). As a result of rule 2 it becomes essential to “follow actors” around the organisation in order to attempt to establish the transformations which are taking place. Only in this way is it possible for the research process to provide evidence of the interactions among human actors and technological actants.

These interactions provide contributions, conscious and unconscious, to the network that forms around the system implementation.

According to Garson (2002) ANT may be seen as a subtype of grounded theory insofar as it seeks to assess the semiotic environment using ethnographic methods focused on meanings as defined by the actors themselves, rather than using predefined behavioral methods of data collection. ANT may also be seen as a subtype of situational theory, insofar as social interactions are interpreted as determined by networks as situational contexts. Concerning the notion of ethnographic methods, the notion of ethnography is based on a curiosity about others, about how people (or non humans in an ANT perspective) construct their world. Wolcott (1999) defines the purpose of ethnography as:

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‘... to describe what the people in some particular place or status ordinarily do, and the meanings they ascribe to what they do, under ordinary or particular circumstances, presenting that description in a manner that draws attention to regularities that implicate cultural processes. One can do ethnography anywhere, anytime and of virtually anything, as long as human social behaviour is involved (Wolcott, 1999, p. 68).

ANT is ethnographic in that it is occupied with particular places and ordinary everyday activities.

The approach does, however, grant more agency to non-humans than what is proposed above by Wolcott. Non-humans are also to be viewed as actors in their own right and not just in the form of being artifacts disciplined by human intentions. Ethnography in organisations points to

qualitatively-oriented research methods, in particular the case study (Ahrens & Dent, 1998; Modell, 2005, Scapens, 1990). According to Yin (1994), a case study is defined as “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the

boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident” (ibid. p.13). The case study is a research strategy that focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings, and it can be either single or multiple cases, and numerous levels of analysis. According to Scapens (1990) case studies offer the possibility of understanding the nature of management accounting in practice; both in terms of the techniques, procedures, systems, etc. which are used and the way they are used.

According to Mitchell (1983) and Yin (1989) the case study method has six major attributes. First, a case study investigates a contemporary phenomenon. Normally a significant attribute of case study research is the examination of a social situation as it unfolds. Second, a simple narrative account of any contemporary phenomenon examined should be of theoretical significance. This does not mean that a case study must always be based on a prior theory, only that it should be concerned with a subject of research interest. Third, a case study method involves the detailed examination of the phenomenon within its real-life context. The aim is to provide depth of analysis, which includes not only the phenomenon itself but also the context in which it is located. This often involves a trade-off against breadth of analysis. Fourth, this recognition of context involves more than just the specification of antecedent and moderating variables, but the recognition that any phenomenon is

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embedded in its context. Fifth, the detailed examination of the phenomenon and its context usually involves longitudinal analysis. The concern with the unfolding of a social situation leads to an emphasis on the phenomenon in process, and thus the explicit attention to the time dimension in case study method. Finally, case study research usually makes use of multiple sources of data.

There is no prior fixed commitment to any particular form of data collection or analysis. However, the commitment to depth of analysis usually means that qualitative methods dominate.

The case study is, though, not necessarily equal to ethnography. According to Yin (2003) the case study strategy should not be confused with ‘qualitative research’ (e.g. Denzin & Lincoln, 1994).

Some qualitative research follows ethnographic methods and seeks to satisfy two conditions: (a) the use of close-up, detailed observation of the natural world by the investigator and (b) the attempt to avoid prior commitment to any theoretical model (e.g. Jacob, 1989). However, the ethnographic research does not always produce case studies, nor are case studies limited to these two conditions.

Instead, case studies can be based on any mix of quantitative and qualitative evidence.

The above considerations position the method applied in thesis as an ethnographic case study. The objective in this thesis is to be able to capture the existence/performance of the LPS and its constituting elements throughout potentially many, various and unforeseeable organisational instances in an exploratory fashion. The qualitative research perspective is therefore arguably relevant since it emphasizes the investigation of processes in the setting studied. Using the ethnographic case study strategy carries with it some advantages and disadvantages. The advantage consists of the depth and flexibility of analysis of a social situation that it makes possible. By concentrating research effort on the detailed study of a specified occurrence of a phenomenon, the analysis can pay attention to context, consider a large range of variables simultaneously as they unfold in the situation, adapt the research design as understanding of both the questions and answers develop, and thereby provide a rich explanation of the subject of interest.

The use of case study method is though, also subject to common criticism concerning issues of validity. Case studies are argued to be hard to replicate, provide no comparative data for single case

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designs or data that may be difficult to compare in multiplied case designs. These concerns are enhanced by the possibility of research bias, which is particularly argued to be relevant for qualitative data (e.g. Duncan, 1979). The methodological issues of validity, reliability and generalizability are thoroughly discussed in section 3. First, though, it is considered appropriate to outline how the particular data collection process has taken place. In the following section the data collection process is therefore outlined, in order to discuss issues of validity, reliability and generalizability in section 3 and 4.