46 Requirements Engineering for Software and Systems
the scientist in the study of some phenomenon. In the strictest sense, ethnographic
observation involves long periods of observation (hence, an objection to its use as a
requirements elicitation technique).
To illustrate ethnographic observation, imagine the societal immersion of an
anthropologist studying some different culture. e anthropologist lives among the
culture being studied, but in a way in which he is minimally intrusive. While eating,
sleeping, hunting, celebrating, mourning, and so on within the culture, all kinds of
direct and indirect evidence of how that society functions and its belief systems are
collected.
In applying ethnographic observation to requirements elici ...