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Ethnography
Ethnography means trying to understand behavior and culture by going out and talking to people wherever they are, while they're doing whatever it is they do. It means entering someone's world for a while, be it a couple of hours or a couple of days, or like our anthropological forefathers and foremothers, a couple of years.
A major difference between ethnography and other types of research is the depth and intimacy of work. One gets up close and personal to research participants. Researcher spend time with people in the natural context of their daily lives. He talks to individuals and families about broader issues. He watch the world with a wideangle lens. He watch, He listen, and he learn, and do all of this in the context of where the action normally occurs: in their home, at their work, at the local gym, wherever.
Ethnographic Procedures
Wolcott (1966) stated that ethnographic procedures require three things:
1) 2)
3)
A detailed description of the culture-sharing group being studied. An analysis of this group in terms of perceived themes or perspectives. Some interpretation of the group by the researcher as to meanings and generalization about the social life of human beings, in general.
Ethnographic Concepts
Culture Holistic Perspective Contextualization An Emic Perspective Thick Description Member Checking A Nonjudgmental Orientation
These concepts guide the work of ethnographers as they perform field research
Interviewing is the most important tool Participant Observation is crucial to effective fieldwork, which requires an immersion in the culture
Field notes are used to check the accuracy of an ethnographers observations Other forms of writing used are field jottings, field diary, and field logs
Disadvantages
It is highly dependent on the researchers observations and interpretations There is no way to check the validity of the researchers 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