Ethnography involves observing and describing a culture or group through immersive experiences rather than experiments. It relies on participation in the natural setting to understand perspectives. Key characteristics include studying behavior in everyday contexts, gathering data through observation and informal conversations, and interpreting meanings and functions without fixed categories. The aim is to capture natural human behavior through first-hand contact and understand cultural perspectives to effectively explain actions.

2. Ethnography is the art and science
of describing a group or culture. The
description may be of a small tribal
group in an exotic land or a
classroom in middle-class suburbia.
This word came from the Greek word
‘ethnos’ means folk or people and
‘graphein’ means writing. It
identifies its roots in sociology and
anthropology.
DEFINITION

3.  It is a social science research method. It
relies heavily on up-close, personal
experience and possible participation not
just observation by researchers trained in
the art of ethnography. It involves a
commitment to get close to the subject
being observed in its natural setting, to be
factual and descriptive in reporting what
is observed and to find out the points of
view of participants in the domain
observed.
DEFINITION

4. CONTEXTUAL: The research is carried out in the
context in which the subjects normally live and
work.
UNOBTRUSIVE: The research avoids
manipulating the phenomenon under investigation.
LONGITUDINAL: The research is relatively
long.
COLLABORATIVE: It involves the participation
of stakeholders other than the researcher.
INTERPRETATIVE: The researcher carries out
interpretative analysis of data.
ORGANIC: There is interaction between
questions or hypotheses and data collection or
interpretation.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

5. 1. People’s behaviour is studied in everyday contexts
rather than under experimental conditions created by
the researcher.
2. Data is gathered from a range of sources but
observation and relatively informal conversations are
usually the main ones.
3. The approach to data collection is unstructured in
the sense that it does not involve following through a
detailed plan set up at the beginning nor are the
categories used for interpreting what people say and
do pre-given or fixed.
4. The focus is usually a single setting or group of
relatively small scale. In life history research, the
focus may even be a single individual.
5. The analysis of the data involves interpretation of
the meanings and functions of human actions and
mainly takes the form of verbal descriptions and
explanations.
ETHNOGRAPHY AS A METHOD

6.  NATURALISM:
This is the view that the aim of social
research is to capture the character of naturally
occurring human behaviour and that this can only
be achieved by first-hand contact with it.
 UNDERSTANDING:
From this point of view, if we are to be able
to explain human actions effectively we must gain
an understanding of the cultural perspectives on
which they are based.
 DISCOVERY:
Another feature of ethnographic thinking is a
conception of the research process as inductive or
discovery-based rather than as being limited to the
testing of explicit hypotheses.
METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

7. The design of an ethnographic
research is deceptively simple.
It appears to require only one
“act naturally.” then again,
looking beyond, conducting an
ethnographic research is a
process of discovery. It is
something that cannot be
programmed.
RESEARCH PROCEDURE