Professional Documents
Culture Documents
behaviour
customs
way of life
meanings of behaviour
meanings of language
Key Points
It is a descriptive account of social life and culture within a defined social system,
and is often thought of as 'a portrait of a people'.
The intent is to identify cultural norms, beliefs, social structures, and other cultural
patterns.
Multiple methods
The ethnographic researcher will use many diverse forms of data in order to develop
the 'story' as experienced by the participants.
written documents;
Researcher engagement
The ethnographic researcher has to be able to engage with members of the culture
under study, and therefore has to be good at forming human connections.
In addition, the ethnographic researcher has to be prepared for the huge investment
in his or her time that such research demands, and must be willing to put in that
time.
Researcher as instrument
The ethnographic researcher has to be aware that he or she is the actual instrument
of research, as opposed to questionnaires, etc.
There are multiple claims that can be made which are based on empirical
experiences of that culture.
There are multiple and diverse procedures that are used within ethnographic
research to collect the data.
The ethnographic researcher needs to give assurance that the data that has
The aim of the ethnographic researcher is to learn from (rather than study)
members of a cultural group.
Key stages
Data collection
Data analysis
Advantages/Disadvantages
As with all research methodologies, there are inbuilt advantages, and there are
inbuilt disadvantages.
Conclusion
In this type of research enquiry, developing a theory is a process, and as new data
emerge, existing theories may prove to be inadequate. The researchers view of
what needs to be looked at and reported on may change and explanations of what
is going on may be supplanted by ones seem to fit better. In other words, the
emerging design is one of several distinguishing feature of this qualitative
methodology.