2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Investigating Engineering Practice Using Ethnographic Methods: Experiences of Student Observers at Multiple Field Sites

Presented at Research Methodologies – Session 1

Research on engineering practice involves unique opportunities as well as challenges. On one hand, those seeking to study the day-to-day realities of engineering work may find themselves in a relatively wide-open field of scholarship where new methods can be used to address emerging questions and leading-edge issues. On the other hand, scholars of practice frequently face difficulties not encountered by those who study more conventional engineering education topics (e.g., teaching and learning in traditional classroom settings). For one, the nature of practice is always and rapidly changing due to the evolving nature of technical work, driven by factors such as organizational restructuring, digital transformation, and pandemic-associated disruptions, to name just a few. Further, simply gaining access to study participants and field research sites can be difficult, along with associated issues such as identifying suitable data collection and analysis methods, securing approvals to carry out research with human subjects, and effectively communicating results to academic, industry, policy, and other audiences.

This paper reports on a research project, supported by an NSF award, that explores innovative ethnographic research methods for studying engineering practice. Here we primarily focus on the experiences of three students who were directly involved in our data collection efforts. One undergraduate student engaged with one field site (a utility company, “UtilityCo”) through job shadowing and informal interviewing, while two graduate students collected data as participant observers at a second site (a small software start-up, “SoftCo”). In this paper, our primary research objective is to examine how these three students experienced their roles as participant-observers, including in terms of the learning and insights they reported gaining. In our findings we more specifically examine: whether and how this experience impacted their views on technical work practices, their own educational experiences, and their future career goals; their perceptions about the value of learning participant observation skills; and variations in each student’s interests and foci in conducting observations and collecting field data. We additionally note other relevant facets of this research such as how our team trained the students to function as participant observers and gained access to field sites.

This paper will likely be of interest to researchers who study engineering practice, and especially those who are concerned with the full range of practical and methodological challenges associated with collecting and analyzing data in industry/workplace settings. Additionally, our work speaks to the role and benefits of self-reflection in learning among technical professionals.

Authors

Prof. Brent K. Jesiek http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3056-5144 Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

Dr. Brent K. Jesiek is a Professor in the Schools of Engineering Education and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. He also leads the Global Engineering Education Collaboratory (GEEC) research group, and is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award to study boundary-spanning roles and competencies among early career engineers. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Tech and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from Virginia Tech. Dr. Jesiek draws on expertise from engineering, computing, and the social sciences to advance understanding of geographic, disciplinary, and historical variations in engineering education and practice.
Mr. Brooks Michael Leftwich Purdue University, West Lafayette [biography]

Brooks M. Leftwich of Lewisburg, TN is currently a Graduate Assistant in the College of Engineering at Purdue University pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2020). Before joining Purdue, Leftwich spent six months as an English Teaching Assistant in Yunlin County, Taiwan with the Fulbright Program (2021). He is currently working with Dr. Brent Jesiek with aspirations to study undergraduate engineering students' ethical development.
Russell Korte The George Washington University [biography]

Russell Korte, PhD. studies the social, cultural, and professional systems in organizations and higher education, along with their effects on learning and performance. This work focuses on the professional education and socialization of engineering students, the work of practicing engineers, as well as the preparation of professionals for their future careers.

Dr. Korte is an Associate Professor of Human and Organizational Learning at The George Washington University where he combines his practical experiences of work in education, business, and industry with his research and teaching in professional education, professional practice, and the social foundations of work. He has published on topics ranging from organizational socialization (onboarding), workplace learning, organization studies, social science, and philosophy. He also works on a variety of topics supporting his students’ work on decision-making, the meaning of work, and social connectedness in school and the workplace. Korte received his Ph.D. in Work and Human Resource Education from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Cory Brozina http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7461-8282 Youngstown State University - Rayen School of Engineering [biography]

Dr. Cory Brozina is an associate professor and the Director of First-Year Engineering at Youngstown State University. He completed his B.S. and M.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech, and his PhD is in Engineering Education, also from Virginia Tech.
Dr. Aditya Johri http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9018-7574 George Mason University [biography]

Aditya Johri is Professor of Information Sciences & Technology and Director of Technocritical Research in AI, Learning & Society Lab (trailsLAB) at the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University, USA. He studies how technology shapes learning across formal and informal settings and the ethical implications of using technology. He publishes broadly in the fields of engineering and computing education, and educational technology. His research has been recognized with several best paper awards and his co-edited volume, the Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research (CHEER), received the 2015 Best Book Publication Award from Division I of AERA. Most recently he served as a Fulbright-Nokia Distinguished Chair in ICT at Aalto University, Finland (2021). He is a past recipient of the NSF Early Career Award (2009) and received the University Teaching Excellence Award (2002) and Mentoring Excellence Award (2022) for undergraduate research at George Mason University. His edited volume International Handbook of Engineering Education Research (IHEER) will be published by Routledge in 2023. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences & Technology Design (2007) from Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. More information is available at: http://mason.gmu.edu/~johri

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