Ethnography

Question 1

Ethnography

Main Functions

Answer 1

• systematic study of people and cultures

- tries to get insights. discovery of the unknown

Question 2

Ethnography

Main Functions

Answer 2

• occur in their natural settings, to gain an in-depth perspective
• requires long-term immersion
• comparative method: what people do and what people say
• can discover unexpected issues from within
• provides detailed representation of people’s behaviours, attitudes, values, emotions
• does not only understand practices, behaviours, etc, but also what does it mean for people

Question 3

Ethnography

Main collection methods in ethnographic reserach

Answer 3

• interviews
• documents, artifacts, government reports, newspaper and magazine articles
• participant observation

Question 4

Participant Observation

Answer 4

• data collection technique that requires the researcher to be involved in recording routine daily activities
• aims to understand behaviour and interactions of people in natural settings
• necessary to set up a system to be in a setting on a regular basis
• full immersion/experience the world like participants
• active: ask questions

Question 5

Rapid Ethnography

Answer 5

• has same assumptions, learning about people, by learning from them
• major difference: less time, but more intensity of data gathering
• does not require long term immersion into the setting
• requires well planned pre-field operation:
  specific question
  identified settings
  identified/pre- identified informants
  specific timeframe

Question 6

Rapid Ethnography

Answer 6

• the number of participants is usually limited
• those who have in depth knowledge about the phenomenon studied
• usually selected by purposive sampling, snowball sampling
• not necessarily field notes but technological devices can be used

Question 7

Authoethnography

Answer 7

• seeks to describe and systematically analyze personal experiences in order to understand cultural experiences
• reveals personal experiences
• connected with feminist research

Question 8

Authoethnography

Answer 8

Criticized for being focused on “self” isolation from others, which excludes deep interpretation and analysis of the research phenomena