While pursuing a masters in applied cognition, I studied the use of cognitive ethnography. At the time of signing up for classes, I had a very limited grasp of what the class would entail, but now I will attempt to summarize what one does for a cognitive ethnography. It is analyzing an activity or human system with a cognitive lens. The ethnographer studies the actions, statements, and interactions of the people very closely to try to surmise the conscious and unconscious decisions and mind processes taking place. It can be very informative to make organizations or tasks more efficient because the analysis plainly states what goals are being sought and reached as well as what all the minor components of the goal are. An example of a simple ethnography of a daily task is below.
Description of Actions
In order to cook a quiche there are a few separate steps and tasks involved, as in the case of cooking most meals. First, the cook preheats the oven to the desired 375 degrees Fahrenheit as dictated by the online recipe the cook refers to. Next one takes all the necessary ingredients and utensils out on the counter and begins by chopping the vegetables needed. In this case, slices of sweet potato are first. After rubbing some coconut oil around the edges of a pie tin, the sweet potato is arranged around the edges of the tin as a form of crust, and some pepper and garlic salt is applied. Then that is transported into the oven for 20 minutes. The inside of the quiche is prepared next by chopping and cooking the onion, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes in a skillet, in that order. Some coconut oil and garlic is also included in the sautéing process. Separately, the body of the quiche is a blended tofu mixture that includes nutritional yeast and spices such as garlic, oregano, and sage. The tofu cream mixture and the vegetables are mixed together in a bowl just in time for the sweet potato crust to come out of the oven. The mixture is scooped into the middle of the pie tin, smoothed on the top and placed in the oven for 30 more minutes. Then it is retrieved from the oven. In the entire process an online recipe is glanced at a few times, mostly before determining the oven temperature and timing.
Analysis
Cooking in general is a cognitive ability that people learn with practice. Each step involves past knowledge and understanding of how to use specific tools, whether simple or not. Everyone, at some point in their life, was taught how to use a knife, a blender, an oven, etc. Each time an instrument is used, muscle and semantic memory is referred to. Also, a recipe is always either used specifically, recalled from memory, compiled on the spot, or some combination of the three. In this case, a recipe was loosely referred to, which means individual decisions were made regarding measurements, spices, and the vegetables included. Past knowledge of the cohesion of flavors and volume produced from varying quantities were recalled while actively cooking. The volume was not of the greatest concern however, because the cook was operating with the assumption that any extra filling could be simply baked in a separate container, though that was not necessary. This assumption of using the leftovers and therefore not specifically dictating volumes was another decision made in the process as well.
The speed and confidence of a cook is determined by the amount of experience of the individual, whether observational or firsthand. If the meal created is a common occurrence, then likely the cook will have the recipe and tasks memorized. Then the process may be innate enough for the cook to focus on other thoughts or display the lack of focus by chatting with roommates or singing to music. In the case of the quiche, it was the first time the cook prepared the specific dish, but the sub-tasks were mostly similar to other common sub-tasks, so some unconscious preparation did occur. Some components that are offloaded from cognitive processes in nearly all instances of cooking is knowing when the oven is hot enough and the time needed for baking. The beep to indicate it is preheated and the timer that a cook can set takes care of these tasks rather than having to keep track.
The success of the meal is determined by the cook depending on their preference for time, taste, or aesthetics. Based on the balance between those three components, there may be more time involved for precision of measurements, determination of ingredients, or alignment for presentation. The cook in this case found the quiche to be very successful, being about as quick as possible, decently tasty, and somewhat impressive looking.