Lecture 6

Question 1

Ethnography

Answer 1

Double meaning:

1. The study and systematic recording of human cultures
2. A descriptive work produced from such research

Culture is also: the culture of an organization, neighbourhood, cosplay fans and all other settings where people share practices, norms and values.

Question 2

Ethnography (definition)

Answer 2

Ethnography is the study of people in naturally occurring settings or ‘fields’ by methods of data collection which capture their social meanings and ordinary activities, involving the researcher participating directly in the setting, if not also the activities, in order to collect data in a systematic manner but without meaning being imposed on them externally.

Question 3

features ethnography

Answer 3

• studies ordinary activities in naturally occurring settings
• uses unstructured and flexible methods of data collection
• requires the researcher to be actively involved in the field or with the people under study
• explores the meanings which this human activity has for the people themselves and the wider society.

Question 4

Ethnography versus participant observation

Answer 4

(view notes)

Question 5

Ethnography versus case study

Answer 5

(see notes)

Question 6

Two origins of ethnography

Answer 6

• Anthropology (studying ‘primitive’ societies)
• Chicago School (urban ethnography)

Question 7

Ethnography as a method has lived through all paradigm shifts

Answer 7

• Early ethnography is positivist-oriented (assumption that objective observation is possible)
• Ethnography may also be meaning focused (Clifford Geertz provides a classic example)
  -> interpretivist.
• Ethnography may also be practiced in a constructionist way.
• Ethnography may also be used in (participatory) action research.

Question 8

Postpositivism in ethnography: Naturalism

Answer 8

• Appealing to the natural sciences as a model (emphasizing validity and objectivity)
• Social world should be studied in its ‘natural state’
• Remaining true to the nature of the phenomenon under study
• Human behaviour is complex, getting access to the meanings that guide their behaviour involves getting close to people so we can come to interpret the world in more or less the same way.
• Methods that allow for this: participant observation and conversations (informal interviews)
• Positivist, but also criticized by positivists, because it does not meet certain standards (unstructured, researcher not detached from the research)

Question 9

Criticism from a constructionist perspective

Answer 9

(see notes)

Question 10

Ethnography today

Answer 10

Not a whole culture but:

• A subculture (Anime fans, organizational culture)
• A practice (clubbing, making news)
• A setting (festival)
• User oriented (mobile technology)

Question 11

Ethnographic methods

Answer 11

• Participant observation
• Conversations (different interview types)
• Other types of data: documents, surveys
• Online (netnography)