The document discusses ethnographic research, emphasizing its role in understanding cultural characteristics and the design problems within various user-centered approaches. It outlines the methods, advantages, and disadvantages of ethnography, highlighting its capability to deliver deep insights into users' behaviors through immersive study. The conclusion suggests that ethnography is particularly valuable in addressing complex design challenges by fostering a comprehensive understanding of the context and stakeholders involved.

1. Ethnographic Research
CHIRANJIT SARKAR
Ph.D. RESEARCH
SCHOLAR
Maharshi Dayanand
University ,Dept. of Education ,
ROHTAK (HARYANA)

2. Introduction:-
1.The one of the Major Approaches
of the Qualitative Research is
Ethnography, sometimes known
as Cultural Anthropology or
sometimes known as Naturalistic
Enquiry. It disciplinary origin is
Anthropology.

3. 2.Ethnography deals with the
discovery and description of the
culture of a Group or Society . As
Culture is the Central Theme of
Ethnographic Research, that’s why
the question raised from this point
of view is that “what are the
Cultural Characteristics of a group
of Individual ?”

5. Culture means the system of norms and standards that a society develops
over the course of many generations.Culture means ‘the system of Norms
and Standards that a society develops
over the course of many generations’.
1.Culture is As people do,
2.A combination of various types of
knowledge,
3.Believe,
4.Custom,
5.Art,
6.Moral ,
7.Laws,

6. 8.Habit,
9.Attitude of mind,
10.The pattern of Human Activity,
11.Literature,
12.Language,
13.Religion,
14.Religious activity,
15.Transmitted from person to person,
transmitted from generation to
generation..

7. 16.Consist of Everything, we think,
17.Consist of all Efforts and Adjustment,
18.Gratifying Quality,
20.Continuous process,
21.Accumulative,
22.Inter connected with each other
23.Changing and Dynamic,
24.Vary from one society to other society
etc.
•That’s why Culture and Society are one
and same.

8. 3.Ethnography can help to
investigate very Complicated or
Critical Design Challenges.
• A good researcher is
essential when observing or
interacting with Target
Audiences in their Real-Life
Environment.

9. 4. Within the field of Usability (the
degree to which something is able or fit
to be used.) , User-Centered Design
and Service Design, Ethnography is
used to support a designer’s deeper
understanding of the design problem –
including the Relevant Domain,
Audience(s), Processes, Goals and
Context(s) of use.

10. 5.The aim of an ethnographic
study is to get ‘Under the Skin’
of a design problem.
It is hoped that by achieving
this, a Researcher will be able to
truly understand of the problem
and therefore it helps to achieve
a far better solution.

11. 6.The researcher uses Inductive
Logic and Formulate their
Hypothesis on the basis of their
Observation. These hypotheses
are re-evaluated periodically in
the light of New Observations
and modified when appear to be
inconsistent with the Evidence.

12. 7.Ethnography is the
Systematic Study of a group or
a group of individual and their
Culture.
It is designed to
explore Cultural Phenomena where the
researcher observes society from the point
of view of the Subject.

13. 8.The aim of Ethnographic
Research is to observe a
situation without imposing any
Deductive Structure or
Framework and to view
everything as a Strange or
Unique.

14. 9.Some of the main contributors
of Ethnographic Research are:-
i) E. B. Tylor (1832–1917) from Britain
ii) Lewis H. Morgan (1818–1881) from
American
iii) Franz Boas (1858–1942)
iv) Bronislaw Malinowski (1884—1942)
v) Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), And
vi) Margaret Mead (1901–1978).

15. Features of Ethnography
1. Ethnographic Research focus on
describing the Culture of a group in very
Detailed and Complex Manner. The
Ethnography can be of the Entire group
or a subpart of it.
2. The researcher looks for patterns of the
Group's Mental Activities i.e. their
Ideas and Beliefs expressed through
language.

16. Features of Ethnography
3.Cultural and social
Anthropologists today place a
high value on doing
Ethnographic Research.

17. Forms of Ethnography
• There are different forms of Ethnography i.e.
Confessional Ethnography; Life History;
Feminist Ethnography etc.
Two most popular forms of Ethnography
are:-
1. Realist Ethnography and
2. Critical Ethnography.
(Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design,
93)

18. 1. Realist Ethnography is a Traditional
approach used by Cultural
Anthropologists. Characterized by
Van Maanen (1988), it reflects a
particular Example taken by the
researcher toward the individual
being studied.
It's an Objective study of the
situation.

19. 2. Critical Ethnography is a kind of Ethnographic research in
which the creators advocate for the liberation of groups which
are Marginalized in society. Critical Researchers typically are
politically minded people who look to take a stand of
opposition to Inequality and Domination.
For example, a Critical Ethnographer might study schools
that provide privileges to certain types of students, or
counseling practices that serve to overlook the needs of
under represented groups. The important components of a
Critical Ethnographer are to incorporate a value- laden
introduction, empower people by giving them more
authority, challenging the status quo, and addressing
concerns about power and control. A Critical Ethnographer
will study issues of power, empowerment, Inequality
Inequity, dominance, repression, hegemony, and
victimization.

20. Tribes of India

21. Method Associated with Ethnography
1. Data analysis involves interpretation of
the functions and meanings of Human
Actions. The product of this is mainly
Verbal Explanations, where Statistical
Analysis and Quantification play a
subordinate role.
2. It involves engaging in Extensive Field
Work where data collection is mainly by
Interview, Symbols, Artifacts,
Observations etc….

22. 3. Anthropological Ethnographers often Live Amongst
a Group or Society for a year or more, in order to
learn about them. This fully Immersive and Long-
Term ‘Live and Work’ Approach to Ethnography
has proven popular within the field of Qualitative
Research.
3. Individual Methods which are available within an
Ethnographic Study include: Participant
Observation, Interviews and Surveys. All of
these Ethnographic Methods can be very valuable
in gaining a deeper understanding of a design
problem.

23. 4. It involves Intensive data collection on many variables
over an extended period of time in a Naturalistic
Situation.
5. Ethnographic study uses Participant Observation as the
Primary Data Collection Technique along with the
Interviews with the members of Group or community.
6. Ethnographic Research involves Qualitative data uses
coding for further analysis. The analysis includes:-
i. The Emic Perspective- the Emic Perspective means that
Ethnographic Researchers focuses “How the Members of
the Culture under study, Perceive their Culture”.
ii. The Etic perspective- the Etic perspective means that
“how Researcher perceive and analysis various
behaviors or phenomena related with the culture under
study”.

24. iii. The symbols- the Symbols refer to any Material such as
Art, Architecture, , Technology, Clothing etc.
iv. Tacit knowledge- It is connected with the deep and
hidden information about cultural benefits and
assumptions.
v. The Hypothesis- Hypothesis in Ethnographic Research
emerge form Qualitative data in the hands of the
researcher. They are not formulated before. If the
Hypothesis emerges during the data collection, they are
dropped at any stage of the study and new hypotheses are
framed.
vi. Action and interaction within the organization- in
Ethnographic studies researcher uses nature, action and
interactions of the member of organization.
vii. Nature of observation- Participant Observation.

25. 7.The data analysis approach used in an Ethnographic
Study aims at Holistic Description of the Cultural
characteristics of a group of people.
8.Ethnography, as the presentation of Empirical Data
on human Societies and Cultures.
9.It requires a long-term commitment i.e. it is
conducted by a researcher who intends to interact
with people they are studying for an extended period
of time.
10.Multiple Methods of data collection may be
employed to facilitate a relationship that allows for a
more personal and In-depth Analysis of the
Community.

26. 10.Using Snowball or Chain sampling.
11.kinship charts were commonly used.
12. Ethnographic research can range from a
Realist Perspective, in which behavior
is observed, to a constructivist
Perspective where understanding is
socially constructed by the researcher
and subjects.

27. When to Use Ethnography
• Ethnography is most useful in the early stages of a
User-Centered Design Project.
• We would normally recommend that Ethnographic
Methods are used for very Complex or Critical
Design Problems.
• In its early Application, Ethnography was used to
study the Cultural Characteristics of Africa,
South Sea Island, and American Indian Primitive
Tribes, who were Geographically and Culturally
Isolated.

28. Advantages of Ethnography
• Ethnography can help to identify and analyze
Unexpected Issues.
• It considered to be its ability to deliver a detailed
and faithful representation of users’ Behaviors and
Attitudes.
• The strength of Ethnographic Research lies in the
Observation of Natural Behavior in a Real- Life
Settings .
• It can write down into Intuitive and Deep Human
Understanding .

29. Disadvantages
• Time taking Research / Time consuming .
• Deep Expertise is required
• Sensitive.
• Research can involve Prolonged Time in the Field
• Ethnography believes heavily on Story-Telling and
the presentation of Critical Incidents.

30. Risk Associated with Ethnography
• Researcher:
Ethnographic Researchers need to be very highly-
skilled to avoid all the potential pitfalls of an
Ethnographic Study.
• Subjects
It is essential that any studies’ Subjects are as true a
representation of the larger user audience as possible
(assuming that the study has been designed this way).
It is also vital that the Subjects are Open and Honest
with the researcher. Of course, both of these issues are
related to the Quality of the Researcher themselves
and their role in the study’s design.

31. Conclusion:-
We would generally recommend that an ethnographic
approach may be suitable for the Early Stages of a
User-Centered Project that deals with a particularly
complicated or Critical Design Challenge.
This is because Ethnographic Methods allow a
particularly Deep Understanding of a Design
Problem including Domain, Audience(s), Processes,
goals and context(s) of use. These ethnographic
methods can also be very useful in discovering and
exploring previously unknown issues.