Week 12 : Ethnography & Evaluation Research Flashcards
What is Ethnograpy?
- researchers immerse themselves in the lives & social worlds of the ppl they want to understand
- understand the world as the research participants experience it
- contribute to social science theories
History of ethnography
- principle tool of anthropology
- sociologists used to only study subcultures within their own culture but this has changed now
Why use ethnography?
- richness of information… what ppl say vs what they do, ‘taken-for-granted’ ideas and relationships
- understanding causal mechanism… causality is does X cause Y? but causal mechanism is how does X cause Y?
What do ethnogrpahers study?
- specific phenomenon bounded by time & space
- study both what people say and do
- life in an institution (e.g. asylumns, schools)
- life in a particular social group (e.g. deviant groups)
- life in a community/community studies - take the entirety of social life into account (e.g. neighbourhood studies in big cities
- more studying down than up (likehomeless communities not elites)
Ethnographer roles - researcher can adopt one of four roles
- covert researcher & participation… complete participant
- no covert researcher & participation… participant observer
- no covert researcher & no participation… observer
- covert researcher & no participation… covert observer
Ethnographer roles
1 - complete participant
- ‘go undercover’
- immerse themselves in a fieldwork site
- keep their identity as a researcher a secret
1 - complete participant
Pros & cons
- pros… access to specific groups
- cons… ethics (deception), reactivity (researchers presence affects) & ‘going native’ (cognitive dissonance, lose identity & anxiety)
Ethnographer roles
2 - participant observer
- the researcher tells at least some of the people being studied about his/her real identity as a researcher
- Still participates fully in the social life of the setting
- most common
- subjects’ informed consent can be assumed by their acceptance of the researcher being present, however, not every person the ethnographer encounters will have given consent
2 - participant observer
pros & cons
- pros… fewer ethical concerns & authenticity
- cons… Hawthorne effect - refers to the fact that merely being observed often changes subjects’ behaviour (usually fades quick tho)
Ethnographer roles
3 - Observer
- The researcher tells ppl they are being observed but does not take part in the subjects’ activities & lives
- E.g. a lot of newspaper reporters who spend time in the field adopt this role
3 - observer
Pros & Cons
- pros… suitable for profesisonal activities such as sports, medical, coutroom, etc. & even fewer ethical concerns
- cons… Hawthorne effect
Ethnographer roles
4 - covert observer
- Observe ppl who do not know they are being observed/studied
- most often in public situations/preliminary analyses where many ppl are present & the researcher can fade into the crowd
4 - covert observer
pros & cons
- pros… least likely to alter the dynamics of the world they study
- cons… greatest risk of misunderstanding the situation & systematic observations (checklist & timeline)
Approaches to Theory in Ethnography
- Grounded theory approach… Inductive - researcher does not begin with a theory but develops a theory on the basis of experiences and observations in the field
- Extended case study approach… deductive - researcher starts with an established theory & chooses a field site, or case, to improve upon or modify the existing theory
Choosing a topic….
- sometimes problems arise when researchers immerse themselves in a field site with no real question
- It is best to begin with a practical or theoretical question about the subject you want to study
- may change over time but should be able to specify why your feld site is worth studying
Sampling
- also called case selection/field site selection
- time & space & focus on which subjects
- purposive sampling - cases are delibetately chosen on the basis of features that distinguish them from other cases
Insiders vs outsiders
- Insider pros… access, acceptance, understanding & perception that ppl will act more ‘naturally’
- outsider pros… distance to see and identify insider assumptions & the ‘ignorance’ to question the behaviours that seem natural to the group
Negotiating access…
- gaining access through gatekeepers
- build rapport with people in the institution/community (limit the ‘real you’ though)
- make relationships with key informants
When to leave the field?
- usually when you have reached saturation
- sometimes there is a natural end (e.g. end of a school year)
creating data with fieldnotes
- field notes - the data produced by a fieldwworker, including observations, dialogue & thoughts about what is experienced in the field
- writing up good field notes takes twice as long as being in the field
What should go into fieldnotes?
- direct observations… a chronological account of your observations & experiences, episodes & physical descriptions
- researcher’s inferences and ideas… your own feelings & reactions during the day & your sociological analysis of the situation
Writing the ethnography
- realist tales… most common, objective, third person
- confessional tales… reflect on on role, personal, first person
- advocacy tales…documenting a wrong & advocating for political change
New applications of ethnography
1 - team ethnography
- conducted by two or more scholars working together
- cover multiple research sites/subgroups of the ppl being studied simultaneously
- compare their results through triangulation
New applications of ethnography
2 - business ethnography
- market research… to understand the cultural meanings people attach to products
- usability research… to help engineers and software developers understand how consumers engage with websites and technology