Session 4

Question 1

What is ethnography?

Answer 1

A form of study in which the researcher and their experiences are the main source of data and analysis

Question 2

Characteristics of Ethnography : methodological and analytic

Answer 2

●Methodological: participant-observation
●“make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange”
●Analytic: reflexive, using the researcher as unit of analysis
●Not confined to immersive experiences: Moore (forthcoming) on the interview as ethnographic event

Question 3

What is participant observation? Mention advantages and disadvantages!

Answer 3

The researcher’s observations and experiences are part of the data and analysis
Advantages :
Tacit knowledge
Rich data
Can provide insights not available
from outside-- or inside-- the group

Disadvantages :
Time-consuming
Requires a deep level of access
Confidentiality/consent issues
Perspective issues

Question 4

Triangulation

Answer 4

The use of quantitative/other methods to verify or check validity of data and/or analysis

Question 5

Netnography. Mention advantages and disadvantages!

Answer 5

Doing research through e-mail, chat, social networking, participation in online events
Advantages
Ease and ubiquity
An essential part of the IB world

Disadvantages
“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”
Lack of individual reaction
Can be surprisingly hard to get responses

Question 6

The Rashomon problem

Answer 6

–everybody’s got a version

–Does it matter if something’s real or not, so long as people behave as though it is?

Question 7

Postmodernism: postmodern position

Answer 7

●Postmodern position: objectivity/grand narratives are unachievable
–Everything must be taken in context
–Why do we value one narrative over another?
–What makes a narrative ‘scientific’?

Question 8

Reflexivity

Answer 8

●Reflexivity: reflecting on the researcher’s position and perspective
–Honesty and disclosure

Question 9

Semiotics

Answer 9

Analysing language
●Semiotics – the study of the meaning/symbolism of language
●Relatively little studied in IB
●Does everybody mean the same thing by the same words– even in the same language?
–How is identity expressed and what is the impact?
●Relationship between language and power and symbolism.

Question 10

Analytical techniques in ethnography

Answer 10

●Coding fieldnotes
●The Rashomon problem
–everybody’s got a version
–Does it matter if something’s real or not, so long as people behave as though it is?
●Ensuring reliability and validity
●Working in teams: the pros and the cons