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Ethnography — Unique Value

publish date: 2026/06/06 23:20:9.969164 UTC

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What is the unique value of ethnography as a requirements elicitation technique compared to interviews or use cases?

It produces formal mathematical models of work processes that can be directly compiled

It eliminates the need for any other elicitation technique

It discovers implicit requirements that reflect how people actually work — things so obvious to workers that they would never think to mention them in an interview, including social and cooperative aspects of work

It is the fastest and cheapest elicitation technique available

Correct Answer

Explanation

Ethnography's unique value is discovering implicit requirements — those that are so natural and obvious to workers that they would never spontaneously mention them in an interview. It also reveals social and cooperative aspects of work (how people collaborate and coordinate) that are invisible to formal process models.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition

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