ETHNOGRAPHIC

RESEARCH
A. Meaning of Ethnographic Research
B. Methodology of Ethnographic Research
C. Types of Ethnographic Designs
D. Key Characteristics of an Ethnographic
Design
MEANING OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Ethnography is the in-depth study of naturally occurring
behavior within a culture or social group. It seeks to understand
the relationship between culture and behavior; with culture
referring to the beliefs, values, and attitudes of a specific group
of people.

The ethnographic research method was developed by

anthropologists as a way of studying and describing human
cultures. Anthropologists immerse themselves in the lives of the
people they study, using primarily extended observation and
occasionally in-depth interviewing to gain clarification and more
detailed information.
 The ethnographer undertakes the study without any priori
hypotheses to avoid predetermining what is observed or what
information is elicited from informants. The ethnographer
explores and tests hypotheses, but the hypotheses evolve out
of the fieldwork itself. Ethnographer refer to the people from
whom they gather information as informants rather than
participants, and they study sites rather than individuals. The
term ethnography is used to refer to both the work of
studying a culture and also the end product of the research.
 Spindler and Hammond (2000) describe some of the
characteristics of good ethnography: (1) extended
participant
observation; (2) long time at the site; (3) collection of large
volumes of materials such as notes, artifacts, audio, and
videotapes; and (4) openness, which means having no
specific
hypotheses or even highly specific categories of
observation at
the start of the study
 As in any studies, a variety of data collection techniques may
be used as part of the ethnographic study. Common means of
collecting data include interviewing, document analysis,
participant observations, research diaries, and life stories. It is
not the data collection techniques that determine whether the
study is ethnography but rather the socio-cultural interpretation
that sets apart from other forms of qualitative inquiry. Ethnography
is not defined by how data are collected, but by the lens through
which the data are interpreted (Merriam & Associated, 2002)
 Ethnographic Designs are qualitative research procedures
for describing, analyzing, and interpreting a culture-sharing
groups shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, and language
that develop over time. To understand the patterns of a
culture-sharing group, the ethnographer typically spends
considerable time in the field interviewing, observing, and
gathering documents about the group in order to
understand their culture-sharing behaviors, beliefs, and
language.
Spradley (1980) identified the sequence of steps making up
the methodology of ethnographic research:

1. Selecting an Ethnographic Project. The scope of these

projects can vary greatly, from studying a whole complex
society to a single social situation or institution. The
beginner would be wise to restrict the scope of his or her
project to a single social situation so that it can be
completed in a reasonable time. A social situation always
has three components: a place, actors, and activities.
2. Asking Ethnographic Questions. The researcher needs
to have questions in mind that will guide what he or she
sees and hears and the collection of data.

3. Collecting Ethnographic Data. The researcher does

fieldwork to find out the activities of the people, the
physical characteristics of the situation, and what it
feels like to be part of the situation. This step generally
begins with an overview comprising broad descriptive
observations. Then, after looking at the data, you move
on
to more focused observations. Here you use participant
observation, in-depth interviews, and so on to gather
data.
4. Making an Ethnographic Record. This step includes
taking field notes and photographs, making maps, and using any
other appropriate means to record the observations.

5. Analyzing Ethnographic Data. The fieldwork is always

followed by data analysis, which leads to new questions and new
hypotheses, more data collection, and field notes, and more analysis.
The cycle continues until the project is completed.

6. Writing the Ethnography. The ethnography should be

written so that the culture or group is brought to life,
making readers feel they understand the people and their
way of life. The ethnographic report can range in length from several
pages to a volume or two. You can greatly simplify this task by
beginning the writing early as data accumulate instead waiting until
the end. The writing task will also be easier if, before writing, you
read other well-written ethnographies.
TYPES OF ETHNOGRAPHIC DESIGNS

Realist Ethnographies

Realist ethnography is a popular approach used by

cultural anthropologists. It is an objective account
of the situation, typically written in the third person
point of view, reporting objectively on the
information learned from participants at a field site.
 The realist ethnographer narrates the study in a third-person
dispassionate voice and reports on observations of
participants and their views. The ethnographer does not offer
personal reflections in the research report and remains in the
background as an omniscient reporter of the facts.
The researcher reports objective data in a measured style
uncontained by personal bias, political goals, and judgment.
The researcher may provide mundane details of everyday life
among the people studied. The ethnographer also uses
standard categories for cultural description (family, work life,
social networks, and status systems).
The ethnographer produces the participants view through
closely edited quotations and has the final word on the
interpretation and presentation of the culture. (Van Maanen,
1988)
Case Studies
A case study is an important type of ethnography,
although it differs from ethnography in several
important ways. Case study researchers may focus on a
program, event, or activity involving individuals rather
than a group per se (Stake, 1995). The ethnographer
searches for the shared patterns that develop as a group
examine at the beginning of a study, especially one from
anthropology; instead they focus on an in-depth
exploration of a bounded system (activity, event, process,
or individuals) based on extensive data collection
(Creswell, 1998)
Critical Ethnographies

Ethnography now incorporates a critical approach

(Carspecken, 1995; Carspecken & Apple, 1992; Thomas, 1993)
to include an advocacy perspective to ethnography. Critical
ethnographies are a type of ethnographic research in which
the author is interested in advocating for the emancipation
of groups marginalized in our society (Thomas, 1993).
Critical researchers are typically politically minded
individuals who seek , through research, to advocate against
inequality and domination (Carspecken & Apple, 1992).
The major components of a critical ethnography are the ff:
Critical researchers are usually politically minded people.
Critical ethnographers speak to an audience on behalf of
their participants as a means of empowering participants
by giving them more authority.
Critical ethnographers seek to change the society.
Critical ethnographers identify and celebrate their biases in
research. The y recognize that all research is value laden.
Critical ethnographers challenge the status quo and ask
why it is so.
Critical researchers seek to connect the meaning of a
situation to broader structures of social power and control.
Critical researchers seek to create a literal dialogue with the
participants they are studying.
KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF AN
ETHNOGRAPHIC DESIGN

With the diverse approaches to ethnography identified in the

realist, case study, and critical approaches, it is not easy to
identify characteristics they have in common. However, for
those learning about ethnographers, the ff. characteristics
typically mark an ethnographic study:
Cultural Themes
A Culture-Sharing Group
Shared patterns of behavior, belief , and language
Fieldwork
Description, themes, and interpretation
Context or Setting
Researcher Reflexivity
Cultural Themes

Ethnographers typically study cultural themes drawn from

cultural anthropology. Ethnographers do not venture into
the field looking haphazardly for anything they might see.
Instead, they are interested in adding to the knowledge about
culture and studying specific cultural themes. A cultural
theme in ethnography is a general position, declared or
implied, that is openly approved or promoted in a society
or group. As with all qualitative studies, these does not
serve to narrow the study, instead, it becomes a broad lens
that researchers use when they initially enter a field to study
a group, and they look for manifestations of it.
A Culture-Sharing Group

In the study of a group, ethnographers identify a single site

(elementary classroom), locate a group within it (reading
group), and gather data about the group (observe a reading
period). This distinguishes ethnography from other forms of
qualitative research that focus on individuals rather than
groups of people. A culture-sharing group in ethnography is
two or more individuals who have shared behaviors, beliefs,
and language.
Shared Patterns of Behavior, Belief, and Language
Ethnographic researchers look for shared patterns of
Behavior, beliefs, and language that the culture-sharing
group adopts over time. This characteristic has several
Elements to it. First, the culture-sharing group needs to have
Adopted shared patterns that the ethnographer can discern.
A shared pattern in ethnography is a common social
Interaction that stabilizes as tacit rules and expectations of
The group (Spindler & Spindler, 1992). Second, the group
Shares any one or a combination of behaviors, beliefs, and
Language.
A behavior in ethnography is an action taken by an individual in a
cultural setting.
A belief in ethnography is how an individual thinks about or
perceives things in a cultural setting.
Language in ethnography is how an individual talks to others in a
cultural setting.
Fieldwork

Ethnographers collect data through spending time at

participants sites where they live, work, or play. To
understand best patterns of a cultural group, an
ethnographer spends considerable time with the group. The
patterns cannot be easily discerned through questionnaires
or brief encounters. Instead, the ethnographer goes to the
field, lives with or frequently visits the people being
studied
and slowly learns the cultural ways in which the group
behaves or thinks.
 Fieldwork in ethnography means that the researcher
gathers data in the setting where the participants are located
and where their shared patterns can be studied. This data
collection involves the following:

Emic Data is information supplied by participants in a study. Emic often

refers to first-order concepts, such as local language, concepts, and
ways of expression used by members in a cultural-sharing group
(Schwandt, 2001)
Etic Data is information representing the ethnographers' interpretation
of the participants perspectives. Etic typically refers to second-order
concepts, such as the language used by the social scientist or educator,
to refer to the same phenomena mentioned by the participants
(Schwandt, 2001)_
Negotiation Data consists of information that the participant and the
researcher agree to use in a study. Negotiation occurs at different
stages in research, such as agreeing to entry procedures for a research
site, mutually respecting individuals at the site, and developing a plan
for giving back or reciprocating with the individuals.
Description, Themes, and Interpretation
A description in ethnography is a detailed rendering of
individuals and scenes in order to depict what is going on
in the culture-sharing group. To do this, the researcher must
single out some detail to include while excluding others.

Theme Analysis moves away from reporting the facts to

making an interpretation of people and activities. As part of
making sense of the information, thematic data analysis in
ethnography consists of distilling how things work and
naming the essential features in themes in the cultural setting.

After description and analysis comes interpretation. In

interpretation, the ethnographer draws inferences and forms
conclusions
about what was learned. This phase of analysis is the most subjective.
Context or Setting

Ethnographer present the description, themes, and

Interpretation within the context or setting of the culture-
Sharing group. The context for ethnography is the
setting,
Situation, or environment that surrounds the cultural
group
Being studied. It is multilayered and interrelated,
consisting
Of such factors as history, religion, politics, economy, and
the
Environment (Fetterman, 1998)
Researcher Reflexivity

Ethnographic researchers make interpretations and

write
their report reflexively. Reflexivity in ethnography
refers to
the researcher being aware of and openly discussing
his or
her role in the study in a way that honors and respects
the
site and participants.