ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Why Ethnography?

These are complicated questions that cannot be answered through a simple survey

or other quantitative research design method.

These and similar questions are best answered through qualitative research methods

of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting observed information.

More specifically, these questions are best addressed through the use

of ethnography.

This lesson will define ethnography and describe the characteristics, step-by-step

procedures used to complete ethnographies, and discuss how to assess

ethnographies.

Ethnographies: Definition and Defining Qualities

There are several defining qualities that are unique to ethnographies:

Ethnographic research is the observation of groups of people or a culture in the field

or, in other words, in a natural setting.

Observations are the main form of data collection, but interviews are often used to

clarify the researcher's observations.

The researcher pays attention to the context, artifacts, and environments of the

subjects in addition to their interactions with each other.

Ethnographies are long-term studies.

This allows the researcher to experience the regular patterns and routines of the

community of study, as well as seeing how it responds to new or different situations.

The researcher also plays the role of the learner. In most research designs, the

researcher is the expert. However, in ethnographies the researcher assumes a role

where he or she knows very little and is in the research setting to learn.

When to Use Ethnographies

When searching for meaning of cultural norms and views.

When examining or trying to find reasons for the use of certain behaviors or

practices.

When examining social trends and instances, like divorce and illness.

When examining social interaction and encounters.

And when trying to understand the roles of families, relationships, and organizations.

Ethnography Procedure

First step - that is to identify a question or problem to address.

Next, you want to formulate additional questions that will guide what you observe and

how you collect data. Once your guiding questions have been established, the data

collection process begins.

First, you have to gain access to the population being studied.

There are two access types you will encounter when conducting ethnographic

research: open access and closed access.

Open access

When the researcher does not need permission to collect data and

observe the population.

For example, communities, groups in malls, concerts, and any other

public settings are considered open access.

However, the researcher must be accepted by the group in order to

conduct research.

Without this acceptance the researcher will probably be able to make

observations but cannot take the research any further by conducting

interviews with individual group members or ascertain other relevant

information.

Closed access 

When the researcher needs permission and introductions from the

'gatekeeper' of the population.

For example, hospitals, schools, and corporations are considered

closed access.

For your research, you will need permission from the teacher of the

classroom, the principal of the school, the school district, and maybe

even the students' parents.

Access is critical because without it observations cannot be verified through

interviews and the researcher cannot gain access to other important information

that may inform the study, such as group artifacts, history, and the environment.

Once access has been granted, the researcher begins to collect data by conducting

long-term observations and in-depth interviews with the population.

The interviews provide the researcher with a cross-check on assumptions and

observations made.

This period of data collection is on-going until the research is complete.

The researcher will record the data collected by taking notes, photographs, making

maps, and using any other means necessary to record the observations.

It is also critical that the researcher note and observe the environment that the

population spends the most time in.

So in your case, you will want to take an inventory of the classroom and note any

changes throughout the year.

Data Collection and analysis

Data collection and data analysis happen concurrently with ethnographies.

Once a hypothesis has been formed, the researcher will continue to look for

emerging patterns while comparing the data previously collected with the data he or

she is continuing to collect

Finally, once all observations are over and the data has been collected, it is time to

write the ethnography.

Ultimately, the researcher is telling a 'story,' and the final product should be written so

that the culture or group is brought to life, making the readers feel like they are in the

population setting and can understand their culture and way of life.

Ethnographic Research is Qualitative

As a writer of school research papers, you may be used to conducting quantitative

research.

Quantitative research seeks to obtain data which are applicable to large populations,

and a broad spectrum of projects and situations, it also often seeks to obtain results

that can be repeated in other situations.

For example, researchers deciding to conduct a national poll designed to predict the

results of a presidential election, they will use statistical methods to come up with

numbers and other data capable of predicting the election results nationwide.

Quantitative research seeks to create sets of data which can be used to explain and

interpret large-scale phenomena and patterns and which does that through numbers

or some other quantifiable means.

By contrast, qualitative research has a different purpose. As its name suggests,

qualitative research is interested in conducting in-depth studies of smaller

populations and groups.

They do not seek to obtain data that can be applied across the board, instead trying

to find out as much as possible about a smaller sample or a smaller phenomenon

Qualitative researchers do not use statistics. Instead, they observe, conduct

interviews and surveys. 

Ethnographic research is qualitative.

Ethnographers do not apply the results of their studies of one particular culture to

other cultures.

They do not apply statistical methods of quantification to the results of their research

They are more interested in descriptions than in statistics. 

Why is it important to understand the difference between these two kinds of

research? There are at least two reasons.

Firstly, writers who are used to producing traditional research papers with their

almost-universal insistence on “objectivity” and broad applicability of results may

wonder about the reliability of qualitative research.

After all, they may think, what good is a research methods, if it does not allow us to

apply the results of research to other situations and other populations, and if it cannot

be replicated? This is a matter of purpose with which research is conducted.

If, for example, as in the instance described earlier, the purpose of a research project

is to find out what the population of a whole country thinks about an issue, then

quantitative research methods will work well. If, on the other hand, the purpose of the

researcher is to conduct an in-depth study of a culture, qualitative research will suite

than purpose better.

Secondly, beginning ethnographers need to understand that, when conducting

ethnographic research, it is often more important to go for depth than for breadth in

their investigation.

They need not worry that their results would not be applicable to other cultures and

other research situations because they do not have to be.

The goal of an ethnographer is to create a deep and credible snapshot of a culture

that he or she is studying. The results of this investigation may inform and be cited by

other researchers, but it will not be directly applicable to other cultures and other

research projects.

Ethnographic Research Methods

Observing

Interviewing

Collecting and Reading Cultural Artifacts