Ethnographic Research Flashcards
What is ethnographic research?
Ethnography is the study of a culture, a group or human behaviour.
Why is it used?
recording of people’s every-day behaviour and is therefore most associated with observations, and particularly participant observation, as ethnographic researchers want to achieve verstehen
STRENGTHS of ethnographic research
Richness of the data and account (variety of data, and
‘thick description’, Geertz).
Allows for complexity and ambiguity
Engages social actors in their ‘natural settings’ –allows for an understanding of social relations as embedded in context
Reflexive in relation to the practice of research and the role of the researcher in producing knowledge
Development of new theoretical insights
LIMITATIONS of ethnographic research
Very time consuming
• Completely reliant on the individual researcher (or
a small team)
• Difficult to gain full access
• Difficult to achieve objective distance and the danger of ‘going native’
• Reporting findings and the role of interpretation
• Ethical dilemmas of participation
When to use ethnographic research?
Topics not easily accessible through simple face-to-face interviews
rich narratives (if using qualitative interviews),
empathy and experience
Social phenomena being studied over a period of time.
Margaret mead
found a different pattern of male and female behavior in each of the cultures she studied, all different from gender role expectations in the United States at that time.
Jane Goodall
Recognized for her ground breaking discoveries about their behavior – she discovered that chimpanzees make tools, eat and hunt for meat, and have similar social behavior to humans – she completely transformed our understanding of our closest relative in the animal kingdom.
