Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic Research

1. What is Ethnographic Research?

   • Ethnographic research is particularly appropriate for behaviors that are best understood by observing them within their natural settings.
   • The key techniques in all ethnographic studies are in-depth interviewing and highly detailed, almost continual, ongoing participant observation of a situation.
   • A key strength of ethnographic research is that it provides the researcher with a much more comprehensive perspective than do other forms of educational research.

2. Ethnographic Concepts

   • Important concepts in ethnographic research include culture, holistic perspective, thick description, contextualization, a nonjudgmental orientation, emic perspective, etic perspective, member checking, and multiple realities.

3. Sampling in Ethnographic Research

   • The sample in ethnographic studies is almost always purposive.
   • The data obtained from ethnographic research samples rarely, if ever, permit generalization to a population.

4. Do Ethnographic Researchers use Hypothesis?

   • Ethnographic researchers seldom formulate precise hypotheses ahead of time. Rather, they develop them as their study emerges.

5. Data Collection in Ethnographic Research

   • The two major means of data collection in ethnographic research are participant observation and detailed interviewing.
   • Researchers use a variety of instruments in ethnographic studies to collect data and to check validity.
     • This is frequently referred to as triangulation.
   • Analysis consists of continual reworking of data with emphasis on patterns, key events, and use of visual representations in addition to interviews and observations.

6. Advantages and Disadvantages in Ethnographic Research

   • A key strength of ethnographic research is that it provides a much more comprehensive perspective than other forms of educational research.
     • It lends itself well to topics that are not easily quantified.
       • Also, it is particularly appropriate for studying behaviors best understood in their natural settings.
   • Like all research, ethnographic research also has its limitations.
     • It is highly dependent on the particular researcher’s observations. Furthermore, some observer bias is almost impossible to eliminate.
       • Lastly, generalization is practically nonexistent.

7. An Example of Ethnographic Research

8. Fieldwork

   • Field jottings refer to quick notes about something the researcher wants to write more about later.
     • Field notes are the notes a researcher in an ethnographic study takes in the field. They include both descriptive field notes and reflective field notes.