Ethnography Research Design

Dr. Ayaz Muhammad Khan

Director Division of Education
University of Education Lahore Pakistan
Email: ayaz@ue.edu.pk

https://prezi.com/1pyeznix3ugn/ethnography-research-design-by-dr-ayaz-muhammad-khan/?
webgl=0
• An analysis of the shared patterns of behavior,
beliefs and language among study participants.
• study of “an entire cultural group”
• Participants Observation.
• Immersion (sinking until covered completely with the
water)

Creswell, p. 68
Ethnography
• Ethno: people or folk; Graphy: describe something
• = Ethnography: describing and understanding another way of life
from the native point of view (Neuman, 2007).
Meaning of Ethnography
"Ethnography literally means
'a portrait of a people.‘
It is a written description of a particular culture - the customs,
beliefs, and behavior - based on information collected through
fieldwork.“
--Marvin Harris and Orna Johnson, 2000.

(Ethnography means trying to understand behavior and culture

by going out and talking to people wherever they are)
 Ethnographical Research
• Ethnography is a qualitative research method used
most often in the social sciences, such as
anthropology and sociology. Rather than relying on
statistical data as in quantitative research,
ethnography attempts to describe an experience in the
social world and the personal lives of people.
• Has become increasing popular in educational
research over the past few years.
 Cont.
• Ethnographic research is considered the most complex of all research
methods.
• A variety of approaches is used in an attempt to obtain as holistic a
picture as possible of a particular society, group, setting, etc.
• The emphasis is on documenting the everyday experiences of
individuals by observing and interviewing them and relevant others.
• The key tools are in-depth interviewing and continual, ongoing
participant observation of a situation
 Use when we don’t need quantitative / empirical
results
• Use when we want to discover:
• what people do
• and why they do it from their own
perspective
 Topics that Lend Themselves Well to Ethnographic
Research

• Topics that involve the study of the roles that

educators play, and behaviors associated with
those roles
• Topics that involve the study of the activities and
behavior of groups as a unit
• Topics involving the study of formal organizations
in their totality.
➔ Formulated in the 1800’s as a method for studying “native” cultures. Applied to
Market Research in the 1980’s
➔ Ethnography was developed by Gerhard Friedrich Muller (a professor of History and
Geography). He was working in the second Kamachatka Expedition in 1743- 44
(Vermeulen 2008).
➔ The term was introduced into academia by August Schlözer and Christoph Gatterer
in an attempt to understand World History (Vermeulen 2008).

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/
ethnography
A Brief History of Ethnographic Research

• Ethnography has been shaped by cultural anthropology

with an emphasis on writing about culture
• 1928 Mead study of childbearing, adolescence, and
influence of culture on personality in Samoa
• 1920’s - 1950’s Single case emphasis at University of
Chicago.

l 10
 Ethnographers’ Purpose
 Shared Patterns “builds theories of cultures – or
 Individuals who interact on regular explanations of how people think,
basis and over a period of time. believe, and behave – that are
 Behaviors situated in local time and space”
 Beliefs
 Language

Supplemental research methods include:

➔ Artifact analysis Data Collection
Methods
➔ Context mapping
➔ Participant diaries, collages, or photo-
journals
➔ Shop along
➔ Digital Ethnography (…Webnography?)
Characteristics of Ethnographic Research
• It is guided by general research questions and not by hypothesis
• Conducted in natural setting and document native perspective
• Cultural themes and cultural sharing groups
• Provide holistic and systematic overview of the context
• Shared patterns of behavior beliefs and languages
• Field work emic ,etic and negotiation
• Description of themes and interpretations
• Context or setting focuses on meaning of words rather than numbers
• Researcher reflexivity.
• Data - verbal descriptions of people, interactions, settings,
objects and phenomena within the context being studies

• Data Sources – the people, settings, and relevant objects being

observed
Data Collection
• There are two main methods of collecting data through
Ethnographic Research:
1) Interviewing is the most important tool
2) Participant Observation is crucial to effective fieldwork, which
requires an immersion in the culture
• Field notes are used to check the accuracy of an ethnographer’s observations
• Other forms of writing used are field jottings, field diary, and field logs
 Data Analysis
• Triangulation (checking the validity by comparing sources of information)
• Patterns (checking reliability by revealing consistencies and describing
matches)
• Key Events (a lens through which to view a culture)
• Visual Representations (maps, charts, sociograms)
• Statistics (use of non-parametric techniques)
Process
• A question or concern is identified for study
• A group to study is identified
• Typically small
• Typically purposively selected
• Permission to study the group is obtained
• The researcher observes the group
• Privileged observer – just observes
• Participant observer – functions as part of the group
Cont.
• The researcher analyzes the notes, identifies themes, looks for
answers to research questions, and makes logical inferences.
• The final step is to write the research paper describing the
process, observations, findings, and conclusion.
• Often rich descriptions are provided so the readers can make
their own interpretations.
Criteria for Judging Ethnographic Research
• Credibility – would the group being observed say the findings were
credible? Are the findings logical and reasonable?
• Transferability – Would a reader be willing to transfer the results to
another group or setting?
• Dependability – the researcher accurately describes the context,
setting and changes that may have occurred during the study.
• Conformability – if there were additional observers, would they
describe the situation the same and arrive at the same conclusions.
When to Conduct Ethnographic Research
• To define a problem when the problem is not clear
• To define a problem that is complex and embedded in multiple systems or
sectors
• To identify participants when the participants, sectors, or stakeholders are
not yet known or identified
• To clarify the range of settings where the problem or situation
occurs at times when the settings are not fully identified, known,
or understood
• To explore the factors associated with the problem in order to
understand it.
Types of Ethnography Research
How to do Ethnography Research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBIdwhrnIZw
https://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2018/01/30/how-to-do-ethnography-
research/
Ethnography Research (Example)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjFkUqAeUq8
Advantages
• A key strength is that it provides the researcher with
a much more comprehensive perspective than other
forms of research
• It is also appropriate to behaviors that are best
understood by observing them within their natural
environment (dynamics)
• Design for human needs; reflect users’ own issues
and everyday problems.
Disadvantages
• It is highly dependent on the researcher’s observations and
interpretations
• A lot of time is required to understand a culture
• There is no way to check the validity of the researcher’s
conclusion, since numerical data is rarely provided
• Observer bias is almost impossible to eliminate
• Generalizations are almost non-existent since only a single
situation is observed, leaving ambiguity in the study
 Definition
Ethnography
An attempt to attain as holistic a picture as
possible of a particular society, group,
institution, or situation. The emphasis in
ethnographic research is on documenting
or portraying the everyday experiences of
individuals by observing and interviewing
them and relevant others.”(Frankel & Wallen,
2006).
Ethnographic designs are qualitative
research procedures for describing,
analyzing, and interpreting a culture-sharing
group’s shared patterns of behavior, beliefs,
and language that develop over time.”(Gay
L, Mills G, Airasian P, 2009).
Netnography
A type of online or internet ethnography;
netnography provides guideline for the
adaptations of participants- observation
procedures to the contingencies of online
community and culture that manifest through
computer-mediated communication (Kozinets,
2010).
Netnography uses these conversations as data.
It is an interpretive research method that adapts
the traditional, in-person participant
observation techniques of anthropology to the
study of interactions and experiences
manifesting through digital
communications (Kozinets 1998).
 Who developed & Types
Ethnography
Ethnography, as a method, was
primarily developed and popularized
by the well-known
anthropologist Bronislaw
Malinowski.
Realist Ethnography
Case Study Ethnography
Critical Ethnography
Netnography
Netnography, the method of qualitative
research founded by Robert Kozinets,
has found new areas of application with
Web 2.0.
Auto-netnography
Symbolic netnography
Digital netnography
Humanist netnographies
 Scope
Ethnography
• Ethnography is an
observational research
• It is used because there is a
difference between what
people say they do and what
they actually do.
• Result of Ethnography is a
discovery
Netnography
• Netnography = InterNET +
EthNOGRAPHY Netnography is doing
Ethnographic study online, from the
comfort of your office.
• For advertisers netnography provides
culturally-grounded understanding of:
• language
• meanings
• rituals
• practices
 Sources & Sample
Ethnography
•  Participant observation,
• Field notes,
• Interviews,
• Surveys
• Theoretical sampling
• Selective sampling
Netnography
• Corporate website
• Advertisements
• News sites (wsj, cnn.com
• E-commerce sites (Amazon).
• Rating & referral sites (epinions.com, bizrat.com,
zagat ets.
• Community sites
• Consumers webpages & weblogs
• Archive (Without researcher involvement)
• Elicited (Co created by researcher and members)
 Steps

Ethnography Netnography
 Data Analysis
Ethnography
• The ethnographer integrates
data analysis into the data
collection process while in the
field & conducts four levels of
analysis simultaneously:
A. Domain Analysis
B. Taxonomic Analysis
C. Componential Analysis
D. Theme Analysis
Netnography
Netnography and content analysis differed in
the adoption of computational methods for
collecting semi-automated data, analyzing
data, recognizing words and visualizing data
(Kozinets, 2016). However, some scholars
dispute netnography's distance from content
analysis, preferring to assert that it is also a
content analytic technique (Langer &
Beckman 2005).
A. Constructing classification system
B. Coding
C. Synthesis and contextualization
 Plus point
Ethnography
• A key strength is that it provides
the researcher with a much more
comprehensive perspective than
other forms of research
• It is also appropriate to behaviors
that are best understood by
observing them within their
natural environment (dynamics)
• Design for human needs; reflect users’
own issues and everyday problems.
Netnography
• Individuals may be more open
online than in real life
• Internet provides access to a
broader cohort of respondents
• Greater continuity in research
• Cheaper and faster than offline
research
• Plentiful and easy to obtain data
 Weak Point
Ethnography
• It is highly dependent on the
researcher’s observations and
interpretations
• There is no way to check the validity of
the researcher’s conclusion, since
numerical data is rarely provided
• Observer bias is almost impossible to
eliminate
• Generalizations are almost non-existent
since only a single situation is observed,
leaving ambiguity in the study.
Netnography
• Difficult to extrapolate results
to the general population
• Focused on textual data
• Underdeveloped toolkit for
data gathering and analyses
• Instability of the user base
• Ethical issues of using
information.
Task 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8au2G0cb4&t=38s
Task 2
Background: Assume that there is an online community of customers. Based on where you sit,
you work for:
CPG
Bank
(P&G, Nestle,
(BoP, RBC, etc.)
etc.)

Car Retailer
manufacturer
(Canadian Tire,
(Ford, BMW, etc.
) Loblaw, etc.)
Task: Discuss and present to the class what you could learn about that community and how you
could use it for your company’s benefit (branding, advertising, product development, etc.).
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