Mixing oil and water?: Ethnography versus experimental psychology in the study of computer-mediated communication

Abstract

The study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) has brought together investigators from very different research traditions. Investigators coming from Sociology and Anthropology have been trained in the tradition of ethnography, whereas investigators coming from Experimental Psychology and Human Factors think more in terms of the hypothetico-deductive tradition of experiment and quantitative measurement. Clearly, each of these viewpoints has something to offer in the practical quest for understanding what makes for effective CMC. There are however some potential contradictions in the concepts used and the assumptions made by investigators from these two traditions.