Ethnographic methods Flashcards
Definition
Ethnography within sociological research is generally regarded as the gathering of data by participating in the culture of a social group and using a range of methods to collect evidence, often including directly watching and recording the behaviour of people, usually, but not exclusively, in their everyday lives and in natural settings. Interviews and documentary analysis are also associated with ethnographic research.
Limitations
Difficult to gain full access
Difficult to achieve objective distance and the danger of ‘going native’
Ethical dilemmas of participation
Storytelling nature of an ethnography can seem to bias the interpretation of the data.
interpreting data - How do you decide which observations - among many - are significant? Also human interaction is usually very complex - it is possible for the sociologist to misinterpret the significance of some forms of behaviour.
Other observation limitations and limitations of individual techniques
Not reliable
small scale lacking generalisability
advantages
Provide insight into aspects of social life, including perception and values, that other research methods are unable to capture.
Illuminate that which is taken for granted and which goes unspoken within a community and Disprove negative biases or stereotypes about the population in question.
Develop a rich and valuable understanding of the cultural meaning of practices and interactions.
Detailed and rich
Ecological validity
empathy/verstehen
both qual and quant
Advantages of individual techniques
bulletpoints
seeing reality of social life
developing rapport
sensitivity to cultural group and potential exploitation
The inter-relationship of different factors
the researcher’s personal and emotional responses to the culture of participants
