디자인 연구방법으로서 문화인류학의 참여 관찰 연구

Since 1960s design as a discipline has been developed toward science of design, design researches adopt and apply quantitative methodologies used for social science and physical science. However quantitative researches can not explore context of users and society, qualitative inquiries are required to supplement the quantitative researches. Anthropology and ethnography are applied to design research as a principal qualitative methodologies. This study aims to examine the major characteristics of anthropology research methods for design research through literature research and case studies. Anthropology was introduced to study the cultural web and social interaction for European colonial region and American Indians. Malinowski established ethnographic fieldwork as the dominant paradigm for anthropological research. The Chicago School sociologists adopted ethnographic approaches to the collection of field materials and detailed exploration of particular modes of work. The effectiveness of filed researches has been proven through many case study including Xerox PARC, Lancaster University etc. Ethnographic researches in design make possible to obtain deeper insight into the desires, beliefs, habits, motivations and understandings of user's behavior in a given context. Field ethnographies are ideal in early exploratory stages to learn more about the people for whom designers are designing. Since traditional ethnographies take time, they rarely work well in a rapid placed development program. The solutions for social science and design collaboration is working towards the development of a robost, theoretically-informed, critical design research practice.