1. ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Why Ethnography?
These are complicated questions that cannot be answered through a simple survey
or other quantitative research design method.
These and similar questions are best answered through qualitative research methods
of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting observed information.
More specifically, these questions are best addressed through the use
of ethnography.
This lesson will define ethnography and describe the characteristics, step-by-step
procedures used to complete ethnographies, and discuss how to assess
ethnographies.
Ethnographies: Definition and Defining Qualities
There are several defining qualities that are unique to ethnographies:
Ethnographic research is the observation of groups of people or a culture in the field
or, in other words, in a natural setting.
Observations are the main form of data collection, but interviews are often used to
clarify the researcher's observations.
The researcher pays attention to the context, artifacts, and environments of the
subjects in addition to their interactions with each other.
Ethnographies are long-term studies.
This allows the researcher to experience the regular patterns and routines of the
community of study, as well as seeing how it responds to new or different situations.
The researcher also plays the role of the learner. In most research designs, the
researcher is the expert. However, in ethnographies the researcher assumes a role
where he or she knows very little and is in the research setting to learn.
When to Use Ethnographies
When searching for meaning of cultural norms and views.
When examining or trying to find reasons for the use of certain behaviors or
practices.
When examining social trends and instances, like divorce and illness.
When examining social interaction and encounters.
And when trying to understand the roles of families, relationships, and organizations.
2. Ethnography Procedure
First step - that is to identify a question or problem to address.
Next, you want to formulate additional questions that will guide what you observe and
how you collect data. Once your guiding questions have been established, the data
collection process begins.
First, you have to gain access to the population being studied.
There are two access types you will encounter when conducting ethnographic
research: open access and closed access.
Open access
When the researcher does not need permission to collect data and
observe the population.
For example, communities, groups in malls, concerts, and any other
public settings are considered open access.
However, the researcher must be accepted by the group in order to
conduct research.
Without this acceptance the researcher will probably be able to make
observations but cannot take the research any further by conducting
interviews with individual group members or ascertain other relevant
information.
Closed access
When the researcher needs permission and introductions from the
'gatekeeper' of the population.
For example, hospitals, schools, and corporations are considered
closed access.
For your research, you will need permission from the teacher of the
classroom, the principal of the school, the school district, and maybe
even the students' parents.
Access is critical because without it observations cannot be verified through
interviews and the researcher cannot gain access to other important information
that may inform the study, such as group artifacts, history, and the environment.
Once access has been granted, the researcher begins to collect data by conducting
long-term observations and in-depth interviews with the population.
The interviews provide the researcher with a cross-check on assumptions and
observations made.
3. This period of data collection is on-going until the research is complete.
The researcher will record the data collected by taking notes, photographs, making
maps, and using any other means necessary to record the observations.
It is also critical that the researcher note and observe the environment that the
population spends the most time in.
So in your case, you will want to take an inventory of the classroom and note any
changes throughout the year.
Data Collection and analysis
Data collection and data analysis happen concurrently with ethnographies.
Once a hypothesis has been formed, the researcher will continue to look for
emerging patterns while comparing the data previously collected with the data he or
she is continuing to collect
Finally, once all observations are over and the data has been collected, it is time to
write the ethnography.
Ultimately, the researcher is telling a 'story,' and the final product should be written so
that the culture or group is brought to life, making the readers feel like they are in the
population setting and can understand their culture and way of life.
Ethnographic Research is Qualitative
As a writer of school research papers, you may be used to conducting quantitative
research.
Quantitative research seeks to obtain data which are applicable to large populations,
and a broad spectrum of projects and situations, it also often seeks to obtain results
that can be repeated in other situations.
For example, researchers deciding to conduct a national poll designed to predict the
results of a presidential election, they will use statistical methods to come up with
numbers and other data capable of predicting the election results nationwide.
Quantitative research seeks to create sets of data which can be used to explain and
interpret large-scale phenomena and patterns and which does that through numbers
or some other quantifiable means.
By contrast, qualitative research has a different purpose. As its name suggests,
qualitative research is interested in conducting in-depth studies of smaller
populations and groups.
4. They do not seek to obtain data that can be applied across the board, instead trying
to find out as much as possible about a smaller sample or a smaller phenomenon
Qualitative researchers do not use statistics. Instead, they observe, conduct
interviews and surveys.
Ethnographic research is qualitative.
Ethnographers do not apply the results of their studies of one particular culture to
other cultures.
They do not apply statistical methods of quantification to the results of their research
They are more interested in descriptions than in statistics.
Why is it important to understand the difference between these two kinds of
research? There are at least two reasons.
Firstly, writers who are used to producing traditional research papers with their
almost-universal insistence on “objectivity” and broad applicability of results may
wonder about the reliability of qualitative research.
After all, they may think, what good is a research methods, if it does not allow us to
apply the results of research to other situations and other populations, and if it cannot
be replicated? This is a matter of purpose with which research is conducted.
If, for example, as in the instance described earlier, the purpose of a research project
is to find out what the population of a whole country thinks about an issue, then
quantitative research methods will work well. If, on the other hand, the purpose of the
researcher is to conduct an in-depth study of a culture, qualitative research will suite
than purpose better.
Secondly, beginning ethnographers need to understand that, when conducting
ethnographic research, it is often more important to go for depth than for breadth in
their investigation.
They need not worry that their results would not be applicable to other cultures and
other research situations because they do not have to be.
The goal of an ethnographer is to create a deep and credible snapshot of a culture
that he or she is studying. The results of this investigation may inform and be cited by
other researchers, but it will not be directly applicable to other cultures and other
research projects.
