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• What Is Ethnography? | Definition, Guide & Examples

What Is Ethnography? | Definition, Guide & Examples

Published on March 13, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on June 22, 2023.

Ethnography is a type of qualitative research that involves immersing yourself in a particular community or organization to observe their behavior and interactions up close. The word “ethnography” also refers to the written report of the research that the ethnographer produces afterwards.

Ethnography is a flexible research method that allows you to gain a deep understanding of a group’s shared culture, conventions, and social dynamics. However, it also involves some practical and ethical challenges.

Table of contents

What is ethnography used for, different approaches to ethnographic research, gaining access to a community, working with informants, observing the group and taking field notes, writing up an ethnography, other interesting articles.

Ethnographic research originated in the field of anthropology, and it often involved an anthropologist living with an isolated tribal community for an extended period of time in order to understand their culture.

This type of research could sometimes last for years. For example, Colin M. Turnbull lived with the Mbuti people for three years in order to write the classic ethnography The Forest People .

Today, ethnography is a common approach in various social science fields, not just anthropology. It is used not only to study distant or unfamiliar cultures, but also to study specific communities within the researcher’s own society.

For example, ethnographic research (sometimes called participant observation ) has been used to investigate  football fans , call center workers , and police officers .

Advantages of ethnography

The main advantage of ethnography is that it gives the researcher direct access to the culture and practices of a group. It is a useful approach for learning first-hand about the behavior and interactions of people within a particular context.

By becoming immersed in a social environment, you may have access to more authentic information and spontaneously observe dynamics that you could not have found out about simply by asking.

Ethnography is also an open and flexible method. Rather than aiming to verify a general theory or test a hypothesis , it aims to offer a rich narrative account of a specific culture, allowing you to explore many different aspects of the group and setting.

Disadvantages of ethnography

Ethnography is a time-consuming method. In order to embed yourself in the setting and gather enough observations to build up a representative picture, you can expect to spend at least a few weeks, but more likely several months. This long-term immersion can be challenging, and requires careful planning.

Ethnographic research can run the risk of observer bias . Writing an ethnography involves subjective interpretation, and it can be difficult to maintain the necessary distance to analyze a group that you are embedded in.

There are often also ethical considerations to take into account: for example, about how your role is disclosed to members of the group, or about observing and reporting sensitive information.

Should you use ethnography in your research?

If you’re a student who wants to use ethnographic research in your thesis or dissertation , it’s worth asking yourself whether it’s the right approach:

• Could the information you need be collected in another way (e.g. a survey , interviews)?
• How difficult will it be to gain access to the community you want to study?
• How exactly will you conduct your research, and over what timespan?
• What ethical issues might arise?

If you do decide to do ethnography, it’s generally best to choose a relatively small and easily accessible group, to ensure that the research is feasible within a limited timeframe.

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There are a few key distinctions in ethnography which help to inform the researcher’s approach: open vs. closed settings, overt vs. covert ethnography, and active vs. passive observation. Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Open vs. closed settings

The setting of your ethnography—the environment in which you will observe your chosen community in action—may be open or closed.

An open or public setting is one with no formal barriers to entry. For example, you might consider a community of people living in a certain neighborhood, or the fans of a particular baseball team.

• Gaining initial access to open groups is not too difficult…
• …but it may be harder to become immersed in a less clearly defined group.

A closed or private setting is harder to access. This may be for example a business, a school, or a cult.

• A closed group’s boundaries are clearly defined and the ethnographer can become fully immersed in the setting…
• …but gaining access is tougher; the ethnographer may have to negotiate their way in or acquire some role in the organization.

Overt vs. covert ethnography

Most ethnography is overt . In an overt approach, the ethnographer openly states their intentions and acknowledges their role as a researcher to the members of the group being studied.

• Overt ethnography is typically preferred for ethical reasons, as participants can provide informed consent…
• …but people may behave differently with the awareness that they are being studied.

Sometimes ethnography can be covert . This means that the researcher does not tell participants about their research, and comes up with some other pretense for being there.

• Covert ethnography allows access to environments where the group would not welcome a researcher…
• …but hiding the researcher’s role can be considered deceptive and thus unethical.

Active vs. passive observation

Different levels of immersion in the community may be appropriate in different contexts. The ethnographer may be a more active or passive participant depending on the demands of their research and the nature of the setting.

An active role involves trying to fully integrate, carrying out tasks and participating in activities like any other member of the community.

• Active participation may encourage the group to feel more comfortable with the ethnographer’s presence…
• …but runs the risk of disrupting the regular functioning of the community.

A passive role is one in which the ethnographer stands back from the activities of others, behaving as a more distant observer and not involving themselves in the community’s activities.

• Passive observation allows more space for careful observation and note-taking…
• …but group members may behave unnaturally due to feeling they are being observed by an outsider.

While ethnographers usually have a preference, they also have to be flexible about their level of participation. For example, access to the community might depend upon engaging in certain activities, or there might be certain practices in which outsiders cannot participate.

An important consideration for ethnographers is the question of access. The difficulty of gaining access to the setting of a particular ethnography varies greatly:

• To gain access to the fans of a particular sports team, you might start by simply attending the team’s games and speaking with the fans.
• To access the employees of a particular business, you might contact the management and ask for permission to perform a study there.
• Alternatively, you might perform a covert ethnography of a community or organization you are already personally involved in or employed by.

Flexibility is important here too: where it’s impossible to access the desired setting, the ethnographer must consider alternatives that could provide comparable information.

For example, if you had the idea of observing the staff within a particular finance company but could not get permission, you might look into other companies of the same kind as alternatives. Ethnography is a sensitive research method, and it may take multiple attempts to find a feasible approach.

All ethnographies involve the use of informants . These are people involved in the group in question who function as the researcher’s primary points of contact, facilitating access and assisting their understanding of the group.

This might be someone in a high position at an organization allowing you access to their employees, or a member of a community sponsoring your entry into that community and giving advice on how to fit in.

However,  i f you come to rely too much on a single informant, you may be influenced by their perspective on the community, which might be unrepresentative of the group as a whole.

In addition, an informant may not provide the kind of spontaneous information which is most useful to ethnographers, instead trying to show what they believe you want to see. For this reason, it’s good to have a variety of contacts within the group.

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The core of ethnography is observation of the group from the inside. Field notes are taken to record these observations while immersed in the setting; they form the basis of the final written ethnography. They are usually written by hand, but other solutions such as voice recordings can be useful alternatives.

Field notes record any and all important data: phenomena observed, conversations had, preliminary analysis. For example, if you’re researching how service staff interact with customers, you should write down anything you notice about these interactions—body language, phrases used repeatedly, differences and similarities between staff, customer reactions.

Don’t be afraid to also note down things you notice that fall outside the pre-formulated scope of your research; anything may prove relevant, and it’s better to have extra notes you might discard later than to end up with missing data.

Field notes should be as detailed and clear as possible. It’s important to take time to go over your notes, expand on them with further detail, and keep them organized (including information such as dates and locations).

After observations are concluded, there’s still the task of writing them up into an ethnography. This entails going through the field notes and formulating a convincing account of the behaviors and dynamics observed.

The structure of an ethnography

An ethnography can take many different forms: It may be an article, a thesis, or an entire book, for example.

Ethnographies often do not follow the standard structure of a scientific paper, though like most academic texts, they should have an introduction and conclusion. For example, this paper begins by describing the historical background of the research, then focuses on various themes in turn before concluding.

An ethnography may still use a more traditional structure, however, especially when used in combination with other research methods. For example, this paper follows the standard structure for empirical research: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion.

The content of an ethnography

The goal of a written ethnography is to provide a rich, authoritative account of the social setting in which you were embedded—to convince the reader that your observations and interpretations are representative of reality.

Ethnography tends to take a less impersonal approach than other research methods. Due to the embedded nature of the work, an ethnography often necessarily involves discussion of your personal experiences and feelings during the research.

Ethnography is not limited to making observations; it also attempts to explain the phenomena observed in a structured, narrative way. For this, you may draw on theory, but also on your direct experience and intuitions, which may well contradict the assumptions that you brought into the research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Ecological validity

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

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What is Ethnographic Research? Methods and Examples

Ethnographic research , rooted in the discipline of anthropology, is a systematic and immersive approach for the study of individual cultures. Ethnographic research methods involve the examination of cultural phenomena from the perspective of the subjects under investigation. This method of social research places a particular emphasis on participant observation, where researchers engage with the setting or individuals being studied, documenting intricate patterns of social interaction and analyzing the participants’ own interpretations of their behavior within their local contexts.   

While ethnography originated in social and cultural anthropology in the early twentieth century, its application has extended to various disciplines. Widely adopted as a qualitative data collection strategy, ethnographic research design stands out for its reliance on observing life as it naturally unfolds, dispensing with the controlled environment of a laboratory. Ethnographic observation seeks to understand societies and individuals through direct observation and interviews, providing valuable insights into how they interact with their surroundings in their natural environments.  

Here are some ethnographic research examples :  

• An anthropologist observing the people and culture of an Indigenous tribe by living with them for several months.  
• A child psychologist observing the social dynamics of toddlers in a play school (interactions with teachers and with one another).   
• A potential startup looking to create a product and a market for that product by observing how a group of potential customers interact with and discuss similar products in various stores over a specified length of time.

Table of Contents

What is ethnographic research ?  

Ethnographic research systematically studies cultures and behaviors, relying on participant observation and exploring cultural phenomena from the perspective of the subjects. Its versatility and qualitative nature make it a valuable data collection strategy in the social and behavioral research sciences. It has transcended disciplinary boundaries, making its way into various social science disciplines, notably sociology. Some key points to better understand what is ethnographic research ? and what are the advantages of ethnography research ? are as follows:  

• Ethnographic research is an immersive approach that aims to document detailed patterns of social interaction and behavior.   
• Ethnographic observation provides a rich source of qualitative data.  
• Ethnographic research methods acknowledge the unpredictability of real-world situations, offering a more authentic understanding of societal dynamics and individual behaviors.  
• Ethnographic research puts the point of view of the subject of the research first.  

Main aim of ethnographic research  

The main aim of ethnographic research is to deep dive into the perspectives and actions of subjects, capturing the variables that characterize their daily experiences. It offers researchers a comprehensive understanding of how subjects perceive the world and navigate their interactions with the surrounding elements.    

Types of ethnographic research  

Ethnographic observation might be applied in fields of business, medicine, education, psychology, and more. There are various types of ethnographic research , broadly based on the study discipline and the activity under study, with each shedding light on human behavior, experiences, and cultural nuances.  

Below are different types of ethnographic research , which will give you a broad idea about how to conduct ethnographic research in various fields:  

1. Psychology ethnography

To explore human experiences and behaviors within a cultural context, researchers immerse themselves in the natural habitat of individuals, applying ethnographic research methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and field notes. 

2. Life history ethnography

Life history ethnography looks at the tapestry of an individual’s life, offering a nuanced understanding of their experiences, challenges, and cultural influences. Researchers conduct in-depth interviews, collect personal documents, and may even observe the subject in their daily life to capture a comprehensive life narrative. By zooming in on a single life, researchers can uncover patterns, transitions, and unique perspectives that might be overlooked in broader ethnographic studies.  

3. Business ethnography

In business and retail, ethnographic research focuses on consumer habits and target markets to discern market demands and attitudes toward products or services. Fieldwork, interviews, and online surveys are used to identify preferences and meet market demands effectively.   

4. Educational ethnography

Researchers employing educational ethnography observe students’ learning attitudes and motivations using non-participant and direct participant observation.  

5. Medical ethnography

In medicine and healthcare, ethnographic research involves qualitative exploration of patient behavior across various healthcare scenarios to understand patient needs, reactions to prescriptions and treatment procedures, suggestions for improvement, etc.  

6. Digital ethnography

Digital ethnography or desk study is conducted remotely. Researchers rely on second- or third-hand information collected by others to compile knowledge about a particular ethnic group without direct observation. This method leverages the wealth of information available online.   

7. Literary ethnography

Novels and books, often overlooked in traditional ethnographic discussions, offer a unique avenue for cultural exploration. Literary ethnography involves analyzing fictional works, autobiographies, and cultural narratives to extract insights into societal norms, values, and historical contexts. This method recognizes the power of storytelling as a medium through which cultural knowledge is transmitted.   

Methods of ethnographic research    

Various methodologies are employed in ethnography, from direct observation, diary studies, video recordings and photography to the analysis of devices used by individuals. The duration of ethnographic studies varies, with observation periods ranging from a few hours to several months, depending on the specific research objectives. Thus, ethnographic research methods employed will depend on the field, the size of the sample, and the research goal.    

So, what are ethnographic methods employed by researchers to answer questions in diverse disciplines? Let’s take a look:  

1. Triangulation  

A researcher used multiple data collection strategies and data sources to obtain a complete picture of the topic in focus and to cross-check information.  

2. Field notes  

A researcher collects, records, and compiles notes on-site during the study. This can be considered a researcher’s primary tool to collect data.  

3. Naturalism  

This is probably the oldest ethnographic research method . In this ethnographic research design , one spends time in the group’s natural environment to observe and record research variables.   

4. Participant observation  

Similar to the above approach, in participant observation, the ethnographer actively interacts with the research subjects. The difference lies in the ethnographer participating in the group. Participant observation gives ethnographers more data. They better understand the research subjects’ experiences and habits from the participant’s perspective.  

5. Interviews  

For authentic and relevant research results, the ethnographer interacts with the research group, asking questions about the research group, while conducting research-related activities.  

6. Surveys  

Ethnography surveys help the researcher obtain and analyze data to arrive at objective conclusions. Multiple choice questions, Likert scale, open-ended, and close-ended ethnography survey questions are commonly used. This approach saves time and costs.   

7. Archival research  

This qualitative ethnographic research method examines existing literature and records of relevant research rather than by the researcher’s physical presence.   

Examples of ethnographic research  

To better understand ethnographic research meaning , methods, and design, let’s take a look at some ethnographic research examples :  

Observing urban street performers: Over the course of several months, a researcher observes urban street performers’ performances and their interactions with passersby, exploring how these individuals collaborate or compete with one another for attention and recognition.  

Studying patterns of coffee shop regulars: Through a combination of direct observation and casual conversations, a researcher might uncover the habits and interactions of regular patrons and the social dynamics that characterize the daily lives of individuals who frequent the establishment.   

Exploring online gaming communities: In the realm of virtual spaces, a researcher might examine online gaming communities to understand the social structures, communication patterns, and shared norms among players. Through active participation and observation within the gaming environment, the researcher might seek insights into how relationships form, conflicts are resolved, and cultural practices evolve within this digital subculture.  

Observing farmers’ market vendors: At a local farmers’ market, a researcher may closely examine the interactions between vendors, customers, and the broader community. This study aims to uncover the cultural nuances of the market environment, exploring aspects such as negotiation tactics, vendor-customer relationships, and the role of the market in creating a sense of community.  

Advantages of ethnography research  

The advantages of ethnography research are manifold. Ethnographic observation allows first-hand observation of subjects’ interactions in their natural environment. This might help uncover subjects’ unconscious or implicit behaviors. Ethnographic research also enables a researcher to gain longitudinal insights as ethnography often involves extended periods of fieldwork, allowing researchers to observe changes and developments over time. Further, this approach often captures the holistic nature of social phenomena by considering various interconnected elements within a cultural context. This holistic approach is beneficial for understanding complex social structures, rituals, and the interplay of different factors influencing behaviors.  

Finally, ethnographic research involves a variety of data collection methods, and this multi-faceted approach yields rich and diverse data, enhancing the depth and validity of the research findings.  

Disadvantages of ethnography research  

Despite its relevance to certain studies, ethnographic research is not without its limitations. One significant challenge lies in the necessity to establish and sustain intimate face-to-face interactions with participants, a task that can prove difficult depending on the study’s nature and the type of participants involved. Prolonged fieldwork might prove costly in terms of time and resources. Second, culture, being an abstract concept, poses difficulties when used as an interpretive lens. Third, ethnographic research lacks reliability and validity since it cannot be easily replicated, and its findings may not extend to other similar situations    

Frequently asked questions  

Q: What are some examples of ethnographic research?

A: Some ethnographic research examples are as follows:  

• Studying yoga retreat participants: An ethnographer may immerse themselves in the experience of a yoga retreat, observing the behaviors, rituals, and social dynamics among participants. This research involves both active participation in yoga sessions and passive observation of communal activities, providing insights into how individuals connect, form bonds, and integrate spiritual practices into their daily lives.  
• Life history ethnography: An in-depth interview of a stroke survivor to obtain an account of their personal struggle for recovery, followed by a narrative analysis based on the transcription, coding, and analysis of transcripts from hours of interviews.  
• Field study on a remote island: A researcher visits a remote island inhabited by an obscure tribe. The researcher then lives and spends a significant amount of time getting to know their daily life customs and practices.  
• Surveying nurses in a trauma hospital: A researcher conducts in-depth surveys to understand the psychological effects of working late-night shifts and dealing with patients with severe trauma.  

Q: What is the main aim of ethnographic research ?

A: The main aim of ethnography is to remain objective and to collect and report what the researcher observes to add to the body of knowledge about the group. It is not to make judgments about the group’s characteristics or methods of interaction or devise approaches to improve or change the group.

Q: Can ethnography be applied to various fields?  

A: Yes, ethnographic research is versatile and can be applied across various disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, marketing, design, education, healthcare, and more. Its adaptability makes it a valuable method for gaining insights into diverse aspects of human behavior and culture.    

Q: Is ethnography only suitable for studying small or isolated communities?  

A: No, while ethnography is often associated with studying small or isolated communities, it can also be applied to larger populations and urban settings. The focus is on understanding the cultural context and social dynamics, regardless of the size or location of the community.  

Q: Can the findings from ethnographic research be generalized to broader populations?  

A: Ethnographic observation is often more concerned with depth than breadth, so generalizability to larger populations may be limited. However, the insights gained can inform broader theories and provide a foundation for further research in similar contexts.  

Q: How should researchers ensure ethical conduct in ethnographic research?  

A: Ethnographers must prioritize ethical considerations by obtaining informed consent from participants, maintaining confidentiality, and being transparent about the research purpose. They also navigate potential conflicts of interest and consider the impact of their presence on the community being studied.  

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Breaking Down Barriers – Using Ethnography to Build Cultural Understanding

Ethnography is a research method used to study human cultures and societies. At its core, ethnography is the study of human cultures and societies through observation and participation in their day-to-day activities.

Ethnographers aim to gain an in-depth understanding of the culture they are studying by immersing themselves in it and observing it from within. This approach allows them to gather rich qualitative data that can help explain how people think, behave, interact with one another, and make sense of their world.

This research method is widely used across various fields such as anthropology, sociology , education, business, and more to gain insights into different cultures and ways of life.

Ethnography – An Introduction

Ethnography is a research method that involves the systematic study of human cultures and societies through observation and participation in their daily activities. It typically requires immersion in the culture being studied, often for an extended period of time, to gain a deep understanding of its norms, values, beliefs, and practices.

The key components of ethnography include participant observation, fieldwork, and data analysis.

Participant observation involves the researcher taking an active role in the culture they are studying by participating in its activities and observing its members’ behaviour. Fieldwork refers to the process of collecting data through direct observation, interviews, and other methods while living among the people being studied. Data analysis involves interpreting the data collected during fieldwork to develop insights into the culture under study.

Ethnography differs from other research methods like surveys or interviews in several ways. Surveys typically involve collecting data from a large group of people using standardized questions or measurements. Interviews involve asking individuals about their experiences or opinions on a particular topic. In contrast, ethnography emphasizes direct observation of cultural practices and behaviors within their natural context rather than relying on self-reported information.

Overall, ethnography provides a unique perspective on human cultures and societies that cannot be obtained through other research methods. By immersing themselves in a culture and experiencing it first-hand, ethnographers can gain insights into how people think, behave, and interact with one another that would be difficult to obtain through any other means.

Participant Observation

Participant observation is a research method used in ethnography and other social sciences that involves the researcher taking an active role in the culture or group being studied.

In participant observation, the researcher immerses themselves in the culture and participates in its activities while observing and recording their experiences. This approach allows the researcher to gain a deep understanding of the culture’s norms, values, beliefs, and practices from an insider’s perspective.

Participant observation typically involves several stages, including gaining entry into the culture or group being studied, establishing trust with its members, learning about its social structure and dynamics, participating in its activities while observing them, and collecting data through field notes or other methods.

The process is time-consuming and challenging, but it can provide rich qualitative data that would be difficult to obtain through other means.

Fieldwork is a research method used in ethnography and other social sciences that involves conducting research in the natural environment or “field” where the culture or group being studied is located. In the context of ethnography, fieldwork typically involves immersing oneself in the culture being studied to gain a deep understanding of its norms, values, beliefs, and practices.

During fieldwork, researchers may engage in participant observation by actively participating in the activities of the culture they are studying while observing and recording their experiences. They may also conduct interviews with members of the culture to gain additional insights into their perspectives and experiences.

Cultural Informant Interviews

Cultural informants are individuals who are knowledgeable about the culture being studied and can provide valuable information to researchers. The ethnographer interviews them to gain insights into their perspectives, experiences, and beliefs.

During cultural informant interviews, researchers ask open-ended questions to gather information about the society’s norms, values, beliefs, and practices. The goal is to gain a deep understanding of the culture from the perspective of its members. Informants may be chosen based on their expertise in specific areas or because they are representative of particular groups within the culture being studied.

Cultural informant interviews can be conducted individually or in groups and may take place in person or remotely. They typically involve building rapport with informants over time to establish trust and create an open dialogue.

Analysing and Describing Ethnographic Findings

Analyzing and describing ethnographic findings involves interpreting the data collected during fieldwork in order to draw conclusions about the culture being studied. The anthropologist begins by organizing their field notes, transcripts, and other data into categories or themes that emerge from the data itself. This involves identifying recurring patterns, themes, or ideas that arise during observation or interviews.

Once the anthropologist has organized their data into categories or themes, they identify the key cultural concepts that emerge from their analysis. These may include values, beliefs, practices, symbols, or social structures that are central to the culture being studied.

The anthropologist then uses their data to describe the norms and behaviors that are common within the culture being studied. This could involve discussing how people interact with each other in social settings or how they communicate with one another.

To understand cultural practices and beliefs fully, it’s important for the anthropologist to provide context for them. One of the ways anthropologists achieve this aim is by using a style known as thick description .

Thick description refers to the practice of providing detailed, contextualized accounts of cultural phenomena. When writing anthropological reports, ethnographers aim to provide readers with enough information to understand the cultural context in which events or activities took place. This type of detailed description is essential for understanding the complexities of human cultures and societies.

Based on their analysis of the data, the anthropologist draws conclusions about what they have learned about the culture being studied. This could involve making generalizations about cultural values or identifying unique features of a particular group within the culture.

Finally, the anthropologist presents their findings in a clear and concise manner using appropriate qualitative research methods such as narrative description, thematic analysis, or grounded theory.

Best Practices for Conducting Ethnographic Research

Develop a clear research question: Before beginning your research, it’s important to have a well-defined research question that will guide your study and help you stay focused on what you want to learn.

Build rapport with participants: Ethnography often involves spending extended periods of time in the field and building relationships with members of the community being studied. It’s essential to establish trust and create an open dialogue with participants.

Use multiple methods: Ethnographers use a variety of data collection methods, including observation, interviews, surveys, and document analysis. Using multiple methods can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the culture being studied.

Maintain detailed field notes: Accurate and detailed field notes are crucial for ethnographic research as they provide a record of observations, conversations, and experiences that can be analyzed later.

Practice reflexivity: Reflexivity is the process of reflecting on one’s own role in the research process and how this may impact data collection and analysis. Ethnographers should be aware of their own biases and assumptions and actively work to minimize their influence on the study.

Ensure confidentiality: Confidentiality is critical in ethnographic research as participants may share personal information or engage in behaviors that could put them at risk if made public. Researchers must take steps to protect participant privacy and ensure that any information shared is kept confidential.

Analyze data systematically: After collecting data, it’s essential to analyze it systematically using established qualitative research methods such as coding, thematic analysis, or grounded theory.

By following these best practices, ethnographers can conduct rigorous and ethical research that provides valuable insights into human cultures and societies while also respecting the rights and privacy of participants.

How Ethnography Differs from Other Qualitative Methods

Ethnography differs from other qualitative research methods, such as focus groups or interviews, in two key ways.

First, the main aim of ethnographic research is the interpretation of the shared norms and beliefs of the community under study. This means that ethnographers are more interested in understanding how a group interacts with each other and their cultural worlds than they are in individual perspectives.

Second, ethnography relies heavily on fieldwork. This means that ethnographers must immerse themselves in the daily lives of the people they are researching in order to understand their culture. This can be done through direct observation or participation in activities. This means that ethnographers often live with the people they are researching for extended periods of time in order to really understand their culture.

The Ethical Considerations of Ethnographic Research

When conducting ethnographic research, there are a number of ethical considerations that need to be taken into account in order to ensure that the research is conducted in a responsible and respectful manner. This is especially important when working with vulnerable populations.

The following are some of the challenges involved in conducting ethnographic research and the ethical considerations that need to be taken into account.

Informed Consent

Conducting anthropological research requires gaining the trust of those being studied. This can be a challenge, especially if the researcher is coming from a different culture.

It is important to build relationships of trust and mutual respect in order to conduct ethical research. This can be done by spending time getting to know the people you will be working with, learning about their culture and customs, and respecting their way of life. If people do not trust you, they will not participate in your research.

It is also important to obtain informed consent from those who will be participating in your research. This means that participants must be made aware of what the research entails, what their role in the research will be, and how their personal information will be used. Participants must also be given the opportunity to ask questions and withdraw from the study at any time.

Respecting Privacy and Confidentiality

Another ethical consideration is protecting the confidentiality of participants. This means keeping their information safe and ensuring that it will not be used for any purpose other than what was originally agreed upon.

In some cases, researchers may need to change the names of participants or use pseudonyms in order to protect their identity. Any recordings or notes that are made during the course of the research should also be kept confidential.

This can be a challenge in ethnographic research because the very nature of the methodology involves observing people in their natural environment. This means that researchers may inadvertently collect personal information about participants without their knowledge or consent. One way to overcome this challenge is to establish clear boundaries with participants at the beginning of the research process and make sure they are aware of what information will be collected and how it will be used.

Code of Ethics

All anthropologists are bound by a code of ethics which sets out principles for conducting responsible and ethical research. The code of ethics includes principles such as respect for human dignity, protecting participant welfare, minimizing harm, upholding confidentiality, and obtaining informed consent.

The Challenges of Conducting Ethnographic Research

The goal of ethnographic research is to understand how people interact with each other and the world around them. In order to do this, ethnographers immerse themselves in the lives of the people they are studying. This can be a challenge, both logistically and emotionally. Here are some of the challenges involved in conducting ethnographic research.

Gaining access to the people being studied

One of the biggest challenges in conducting ethnographic research is gaining access to the necessary people and places. This can be difficult for a number of reasons, including language barriers, unfamiliarity with local customs, and lack of personal connections.

One way to overcome this challenge is to partner with someone who is already familiar with the community you’re researching. This person can act as a guide and introduce you to key members of the community who can provide valuable insights into your research topic.

Another challenge faced by many ethnographers is gaining the cooperation of research subjects. This can be difficult because people are often reluctant to talk about sensitive topics or share personal information with strangers. One way to overcome this challenge is to build rapport with your research subjects by establishing trust and demonstrating your understanding of their culture and values. Only once you have gained their trust should you begin asking questions about your research topic.

Time Commitment

Another challenge is the time commitment required. In order to really understand a culture, an ethnographer needs to spend a significant amount of time observing and interacting with the people in that culture. This can be logistically difficult, especially if the society under study is located in a different country or region. It can also be emotionally challenging, as it requires an ethnographer to be open and vulnerable with the people they are studying.

Analysis and Interpretation

Once an ethnographer has collected their data, they then face the challenge of analysis and interpretation. This is difficult because ethnographers must not only understand the culture they are studying, but also their own culture and biases.

In addition, ethnographic data often takes the form of unstructured observations, interviews, and field notes, which can be challenging to organize and interpret. One way to overcome this challenge is to use data management software like NVivo or Atlas.ti to help you organize and analyse your data.

And finally, the ethnographer must find a way to communicate their findings to others who have not experienced the society first hand. This is where thick description is crucial.

Conclusion – Ethnography is a Powerful Tool

Ethnography is a powerful research method that allows anthropologists to study human cultures and societies in depth. Its strength lies in its ability to provide rich, detailed descriptions of cultural practices, beliefs, and values while also providing context for these phenomena.

Ethnography differs from other qualitative research methods in that it emphasizes the importance of long-term fieldwork and participant observation as a way of gaining deep insights into cultural phenomena. By immersing themselves in the culture being studied, ethnographers can gain a nuanced understanding of complex social processes and interactions.

As such, ethnography continues to be an important tool for anthropologists seeking to understand the diverse ways in which people live and interact with one another around the world.

Related Terminology:

Thick description: A type of ethnographic data that provides highly detailed, contextualized accounts of social phenomena.

Triangulation: A method used by ethnographers to corroborate their findings by collecting data from multiple sources.

Qualitative research : A type of research that uses inductive, observational methods to generate rich, detailed data about a particular phenomenon.

Quantitative research: A type of research that uses deductive, statistical methods to generate numerical data about a particular phenomenon.

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How to... Use ethnographic methods & participant observation

Find out how to use ethnographic research methods and participant observation in our detailed guide.

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What are ethnographic methods, organisational ethnography, what is participant observation , analysing, theorising and writing up.

Ethnographic methods are a research approach where you look at people in their cultural setting, with the goal of producing a narrative account of that particular culture, against a theoretical backdrop. As part of this you will look at:

• Deeds done as well as words used
• How they interact with one another, and with their social and cultural environment
• What is  not  said as much as what is said
• Language, and symbols, rituals and shared meanings that populate their world

Ethnography is a study of culture, therefore, organisational ethnography looks at the culture of organisations.

Organisational culture exists within the minds of the people who make up that organisation, while organisational ethnography is concerned with settings within which social relations take place between actors who are set on particular goals.

This culture evolves over time, contains dominant cultures and subcultures, and is subject to its own rules, rites, myths and symbols.

History of ethnographic methods

Ethnography has its origins in social anthropology, and in particular, the work of Malinowski whose seminal text  Argonauts of the Western Pacific  describes his experience of living for a long time with South Pacific islanders, and counsels the anthropologist to spend at least a year in the field, to learn the language, and to live as one of the population which he or she studies.

It was taken over by sociology in the 1930s when the Chicago school studied "deviant subcultures" in urban America in the great depression.

Early ethnographers were criticized for their detached stance, particularly by feminist anthropologists, but recent adaptations of the method use it in action research, where the study population itself becomes involved in the request for information and meaning.

Research parameters

Ethnographic methods are qualitative, inductive, exploratory and longitudinal. They achieve a thick, rich description over a relatively small area.

As the researcher, it is best if you conduct your data gathering on an iterative basis, with you taking on a "reflexive" role – in other words observing, reflecting, building up a theory and then going back into the field and testing it.

This process of testing is essential, because of the inevitable element of subjectivity in a research method where you, the researcher, is the instrument.

There are a number of practical considerations with ethnographic methods, such as:

• Time.  Studies are time-consuming to complete. If you are looking at making ethnography one of your approaches for a dissertation, will you have sufficient time before the completion date? If part of a major research project, will the project bear the costs?
• Place.  You need to make sure that you can get the cooperation of the organisation you wish to observe and decide whether you want to look at the whole organisation, one part of it or a cross-section.

Data collection methods and triangulation

Most ethnographic research makes considerable use of participant observation, usually triangulated with interviews and/or ordinary "informal" conversations.

Triangulation is particularly important as one method on its own is not usually reliable.

You can also gain a lot of information from other sources, such as:

• Written documents , e.g. e-mails, policy documents, meeting minutes, organisation charts, reports, procedural manuals, "official" corporate material such as an intranet, brochures, press releases, advertising, web pages, annual report.
• Corporate events  like the annual staff conference and Christmas party, etc.
• Branding  – logo and how it is applied, slogan, etc. Branding is a particularly strong use of symbolism.
• Site location , built environment, design, etc.

Another method used is that of the diary, which participants are required to complete (you will also be completing a diary as part of your participant observation.

This may either have set categories as in structured observation, or the participant may be required to keep a record of their experiences (for example, their reactions to a training course) or of what they do.

Participant observation is one of the main ethnographic data collection methods.

The essence of participant observation is that you, as the researcher, observe the subject of research, either by participating directly in the action, as a member of the study population, or as a "pure" observer, in which case you do not participate in the action but are still present on the scene, for example observing workers in a manufacturing plant or discussants in the board room.

In either case, you observe, note, record, describe, analyse, and interpret people and their interactions, and related events, with the objective of obtaining a systematic account of behaviour and idea systems of a given community, organisation or institution.

Why use participant observation?

Like other ethnographic methods, participant observation is very much based on the classic methods used in early anthropology, by Malinowski and others as they studied particular populations, often for years at a time, taking detailed notes.

Participant observation is usually inductive, and carried out as part of an exploratory research phase, with the view of forming hypotheses from the data. It is often connected with the  grounded theory  method, according to which researchers revisit the research territory with deeper and deeper knowledge.

The strength of participant observation is its ability to describe depth (thick description) and to help understand human behaviour.

Researcher roles

There is a continuum in observation techniques between the covert and the overt observer, and the observer who participates completely in the activity and the one who is purely a "fly on the wall".

There are problems with all these approaches, but the ideal is to ensure that the maximum amount of information is gained whilst at the same time retaining the maximum distance in order to ensure researcher objectivity.

Which role is adopted would depend on the subject being researched, for example:

• Complete participant.  There are obvious ethical considerations of being part of a group and not revealing your role as a researcher who will subsequently write up the research study, but in some circumstances revealing your role might prejudice the research, particularly if the subject concerns something delicate such as the consumption of alcohol or drugs.
• Complete observer.  This might be appropriate to a situation where the subject is relatively large-scale, for example observing people in a shopping mall or in a supermarket, or where the revelation of the role might destroy the dynamics of small group behaviour, as for example watching the behaviour of groups of shoppers.
• Observer as participant.  The disadvantage here is that although you participate in some way in the activity, you lose the emotional involvement, but the advantage is that you can concentrate on your role as a researcher. It might be used if you were, for example, observing people on a training course, or users of electronic courseware, where it was very important to understand the reactions and mental processes of the participants rather than what they do.
• Participant as observer.  The advantage of participating is that you become fully part of the group, and you can experience directly what your subjects are experiencing. It is particularly useful when for example you need to understand work practices or job roles.

There are other possible roles for the observer:

• As  facilitator  and  change agent , when you become involved not merely as a participant but as someone who seeks to help subjects change some aspect of their world, for example in action research.
• As a  narrator , describing what you have witnessed from a position of authority.

Structured observation

Structured observation differs from participant observation in that it is more detached, more systematic, and what is observed often has a more mechanical quality. It is also a quantitative as opposed to a qualitative technique, concerned with quantifying behaviour as opposed to obtaining a rich description.

Advantages and disadvantages

Participant observation is not without its detractors and is seen to have a number of advantages and disadvantages:

• It can provide very rich data and can be particularly good at revealing facets of human behaviour.
• It does not rely on the words of the actors themselves, so is not dependent on people's ability to verbalize, and provides a source other than their own testimony.
• Issues of time and researcher objectivity can be met by careful use of sampling, whereby observation is confined to particular locations and times.
• All research techniques have inbuilt problems of bias: for example, the interviewer effect, and the difficulty of formulating careful survey questions.

Disadvantages

• Because the researcher is the instrument, there may be difficulty in maintaining the necessary objectivity.
• Good participant observation takes up a lot of time.
• It requires intimacy and an invasion of privacy which may be disruptive both to the research process and also to the organisation itself. On the other hand, concealing one's identity is ethically questionable as it involves a deception.
• Observer bias: the observer's own views and personal beliefs may impinge upon observations.

However, the best way of using participant observation in a useful and responsible way is to triangulate it with other approaches.

Applications to management research

Participant observation is based on the social sciences, particularly social anthropology and on the premise that you go and study a different, and often remote culture.

The appeal to management research is that it can study the culture of an organisation in depth. However, in many cases it is simply not practical to immerse oneself for months at a time: the cost would be too great, the organisation may not be willing, and one cannot actually live with the workers. For this reason,  time sampling  is often adopted, where the times at which observation takes place are carefully selected.

Use in market research

Participant observation is particularly useful in market research. It is a natural technique as both are concerned with human behaviour. It can be a good method when:

• The subject under study is easily observable and occurs in public
• It concerns a social process or mass activity, such as the disposal of household waste
• The processes are subconscious, for example in a study of in-store music
• It would not be desirable or easy for consumers to interact with the researcher, for example with very young children.

Data collection

Observations should be recorded as far as is possible on the day of the fieldwork, in diary form, and should comprise the following:

• Time of day
• Actors present
• Sequence of events, and any interruptions.
• Secondary observations  in the form of any statements by others about what you observed.
• Experiential data  as relating to your own state of mind, emotions and any reflections.
• Circumstantial and background data  about the organisation, key roles etc.

Analysis of unstructured data

What distinguishes the analysis of ethnographically generated data is that the research process is inductive and iterative.

Unlike the neatly linear trajectory of some other research, when you construct an instrument to prove a theory and do not analyse until you have collected all the data, in ethnographic research data collection and analysis may be simultaneous, while theories are formed on the basis of some data and then tested and refined against further data. This process is known as  analytic induction .

When you begin to collect data, you will find very soon that you get a lot. This is the time to begin an initial analysis. As you start the coding process, begin to look for groupings, based on frequency and patterns of and in the data. As you refine your  coding structure , check your assumptions carefully. Eventually, you will reach a point where you are relatively confident of your coding structure and you can begin to use it as a way of organising your data.

There are a number of  software packages  –  NVivo, QSR NUD.IST  and  The Ethnograph  for example – that can help here, or you may prefer to use an ordinary office package such as Word or Excel. Some of the software packages also offer modelling facilities.

Whatever method you use, at this stage patterns will begin to emerge from which you will be able to build theory.

Analysis of structured data

The analysis of structured observation data is different in that the coding schedule is established before the start of data collection. In this case you either:

• establish your own headings, which should be consistent with your research questions
• follow an existing "off the shelf" coding schedule
• use a combination of these approaches, modifying an existing schedule and perhaps putting in some of your own headings.

The fact that data are situation specific and not easy to replicate, together with the possibility of observer bias, are threats to validity with unstructured observation.

These threats can be dealt with by:

• Checking the observations, and interpretations of them, with participants, as a form of triangulation.
• Checking the coding structure, which can be done by the researcher checking against emerging theory, and other researchers coding the data to see if they come up with similar coding structures.
• "Perspicacity" – the ability to abstract from the data general principles that can throw light on other similar situations.

Theory building

The literature review is commonly done at the beginning of the research process. But with ethnographic research, it often follows (at least some) data collection and analysis – because it is connected with theory building.

In ethnographic research, the researcher is often compared with a journalist researching a story and looking for promising lines of enquiry. As the data are being collected and patterns start to emerge, so may interesting lines of enquiry on which theories can be built.

The objective of the theory is not to predict, but to explain, to look for contextual structures and to provide a context for events, conversations and descriptions. You are providing an explanatory framework for the phenomena which you have been observing.

As indicated above, once you have formulated a theory you need to check it against the data, and check the data against itself – how valid is it?

The theory also needs to be situated in the relevant literature, and have its own theoretical context.

For a dissertation , you should follow the guidelines of your own university and check out other dissertations which have used similar research techniques.

A traditional approach, however, is introduction, literature review, philosophical approach and methodology, findings, analysis, discussion and conclusion.

For a journal article , you are best advised to look carefully at other examples of articles written for scholarly journals, particularly ones in which you are thinking of publishing.

Ethnographic research allows us to regard and represent the actors as creators as well as executants of their own meanings. The very way in which they tell us about what they do tells the researcher a great deal about what is meaningful for and in the research. It adds richness and texture to the experience of conducting research.

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Ethnographic Research

What is ethnographic research.

Ethnography is a research method that involves immersing oneself in the natural context of individuals to collect quantitative insights into their behavior and culture. This method emphasizes observation, engagement, and analysis of human experiences in real-world settings.

Ethnographic research is widely used in UX design since it provides detailed data about users' preferences and behaviors. This data is used to create products and services that meet the needs of diverse user groups. It also ensures user-centered and culturally sensitive design. Research of this type helps designers comprehend how users interact with technology in a range of settings. It also reveals areas that have the potential for growth.

While ethnographic research has several advantages, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider, even more so when conducting ethnographic research in cross-cultural contexts. It's important for researchers to be aware of their own biases and to approach the culture being studied with respect and sensitivity. 

Benefits and Limitations of Ethnographic Research

Thanks to its immersive nature, ethnographic research offers several advantages over other qualitative research methods, for example:

It enables researchers to understand the cultural context in which their subjects live, work, and interact.

It offers crucial insights into the factors that influence how individuals make decisions, act, and perceive their environment.

It allows for flexibility in data collection since researchers can adapt their methods as they go along and explore new areas of interest that may emerge during the study.

While ethnography can provide an understanding of human behavior and culture, researchers must be aware of its limitations and possible ethical concerns. Some of the most common challenges associated with ethnographic research include its time-consuming and expensive nature, the difficulty of addressing certain research questions or populations effectively, the potential language barriers, and the challenges to accessing the culture to study.

Still, this method reveals how different cultures operate and interact. For example, a study of workplace culture in Japan might show differences in communication styles or decision-making processes compared to a similar study conducted in the United States.

Ethnographic Research Methods

Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method to study human behavior and societies and culture.

The most common methods of ethnographic research are participant observation and interviews.

Participant Observation: The researcher immerses themselves in the natural environment of the people they study. They observe their behavior firsthand and may even participate in activities alongside them.

Interviews: The researcher conducts interviews with individuals from the culture of interest to understand how they perceive and experience their culture. These interviews can be structured (with a predefined or standardized set of questions) or unstructured (less formal conversations that allow the researcher to explore topics as they arise) and may be conducted one-on-one or in a group setting.

Ann Blandford, expert in qualitative user studies and professor of Human-Computer Interaction at University College London, explains the characteristics of a semi-structured interview:

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Examples of Ethnographic Research in Various Fields

© CIFOR, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Ethnographic research has been employed in several fields to understand human behavior and culture better. Here are some examples:

Anthropology: Anthropologists have long used ethnographic research to study different cultures worldwide. Margaret Mead is a well-known example of an ethnographic researcher who studied the people of Samoa, revealing important information about their social and cultural practices.

Sociology: Sociologists also use ethnographic research to understand social phenomena. For example, Erving Goffman's classic work The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life used participant observation to explore how individuals present themselves to others in everyday interactions.

Marketing: Ethnographic research is increasingly being used in marketing to gain insights into consumer behavior. For example, a company may conduct ethnographic research by observing consumers in a natural setting (such as a grocery store) to understand their purchasing decisions and what factors influence those decisions.

UX Design: Ethnographic research allows designers to understand their users' habits, mental models and behaviors deeply. For instance, a UX designer working on a travel booking platform might use ethnographic research to investigate how travelers plan and book their trips.

Ethical Considerations in Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research involves observing individuals in their natural environment, which can raise ethical concerns. It's important for researchers to carefully weigh the risks and benefits of their studies and obtain informed consent from participants.

One fundamental consideration in ethnographic research is privacy. Researchers must take steps to protect the privacy of their subjects.

Obtain permission before taking photographs or recording conversations.

Be careful not to reveal personal information about subjects that could lead to their identification. 

It’s also important to obtain informed consent from subjects before conducting any study activities. This means that people understand the study's purpose, what will be involved, and any potential risks or benefits. Ensure that any study does not cause harm or distress to subjects, either physically or emotionally. This may involve avoiding sensitive topics or situations that could trigger trauma.

The Role of Technology in Ethnographic Research

Technology has become an increasingly important tool for ethnographic research. Here are a few ways in which researchers use technology in ethnographic research:

Digital Recording: One of the most basic ways to use technology in ethnographic research is through digital recording. Researchers can use audio or video recording devices to capture conversations, interactions, and other observations.

Online Platforms: Social media is making it easier for researchers to observe and interact with people from all over the world, which can be especially useful when studying cultures that are difficult to access due to geography or political barriers.

Mobile Apps: Mobile apps can also be helpful tools for ethnographic research. For example, a researcher could develop an app that allows participants to record their daily activities and thoughts, offering unique perspectives on their behavior and experiences.

Virtual Reality: Virtual reality (VR) is another emerging technology with potential ethnographic research applications. VR allows researchers to create immersive environments that simulate real-world situations, allowing participants to interact with simulated objects and people as if they were actually there.

While technology can provide many benefits for ethnographic research, it's important for researchers also to consider its limitations. For example, relying too heavily on digital recordings may prevent researchers from noticing important nonverbal cues or context that may be lost when not observed directly in person. Additionally, some cultures may need more access or knowledge about specific technologies, making it difficult to use them in certain contexts.

Learn More about Ethnographic Research

Learn how to get better results from ethnographic research.

Explore when and how to conduct ethnographic research in different contexts. 

Read this comprehensive guide to conducting ethnographic research .

Understand some of the key methods used in ethnography .

Answer a Short Quiz to Earn a Gift

What is the main purpose of ethnographic research in UX design?

• To provide detailed insights into user behavior and cultural context
• To provide large sets of statistical data for various end products
• To provide lower costs of product development

Which method do designers commonly use to gather data in ethnographic research?

• Controlled experiments
• Participant observation
• Quantitative surveys

What is a common challenge in ethnographic research?

• Designers can conduct the research quickly and cheaply.
• Designers limit it to digital interactions only.
• It may require significant time and resources.

How do researchers use technology in ethnographic research?

• To facilitate remote user interviews
• To replace human researchers entirely
• To virtually simulate real-world environments

Which ethical consideration is key in ethnographic research?

• To guarantee profitability of the research outcomes
• To limit the scope of the research to non-sensitive topics
• To obtain informed consent from participants

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Literature on Ethnographic Research

Here’s the entire UX literature on Ethnographic Research by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Ethnographic Research

Take a deep dive into Ethnographic Research with our course Mobile UX Strategy: How to Build Successful Products .

All open-source articles on Ethnographic Research

Ethnography.

7 Simple Ways to Get Better Results From Ethnographic Research

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The Ultimate Guide to Qualitative Research - Part 1: The Basics

• Introduction and overview
• What is qualitative research?
• What is qualitative data?
• Examples of qualitative data
• Qualitative vs. quantitative research
• Mixed methods
• Qualitative research preparation
• Theoretical perspective
• Theoretical framework
• Literature reviews
• Research question
• Conceptual framework
• Conceptual vs. theoretical framework
• Data collection
• Qualitative research methods
• Focus groups
• Observational research
• Case studies
• Introduction

Defining ethnographic research

What are the methods in ethnographic research, how do i conduct an ethnography.

• Ethical considerations
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Power dynamics
• Reflexivity

What is ethnographic research?

An ethnographic study is one of the most ambitious endeavors a researcher can pursue in qualitative research . It involves using several ethnographic methods to observe and describe social life, social relations, or human society as a whole. Time-consuming and arduous as the data collection and data analysis might be, conducting an ethnography can be one of the most rewarding challenges in cultural anthropology, social anthropology, and similar qualitative research areas.

Let's look at the fundamentals of ethnographic research, examples of ethnographic studies, and the fundamentals of ethnography as a qualitative research method.

"Culture" is an ambiguous term that resists an easy definition. What defines a culture? What takes place inside a culture? What cultures does a particular individual belong to? Who decides who belongs to any specific culture?

Even within a particular context, there are several layers of cultures. Take the United States, for example. Given how diverse and as big as it is, how can one define American culture in as brief an explanation as possible? What are the different social groups within this one country, and how do those groups interact with each other?

Quantitative research is often incapable of capturing such detail, especially because it is extremely difficult to adequately capture a culture in quantitative terms. As a result, researchers often conduct traditional ethnographic research when they want to understand a culture. A credible, written account of a social group is challenging to produce. It requires looking at participant experiences, interviews , focus groups , and document collection, which are different ways to collect data for ethnographic research.

Ethnography belongs squarely in the realm of observational research . In other words, writing culture and cultural critique cannot be based on experiments performed in controlled settings. Ethnography aims to provide an immersive experience in a culture for audiences who are unfamiliar with it. In that case, the researcher must observe the intricate dimensions of social interaction in its natural environment. In ethnographic research, this observation is active and involves being part of the culture to understand the dimensions of cultural norms from the inside.

That said, even observation alone cannot capture concepts such as social relationships or cultural practices. Researchers conducting ethnographic studies acknowledge that simply observing and describing actions are insufficient to grasp social interaction fully. The concept of thick description, or the description of perspectives and beliefs informing those actions in addition to the actions themselves, guides the use of various methods to capture social phenomena from multiple angles.

What is the purpose of ethnographic research?

Ethnographic studies are heavily used in social and cultural anthropology disciplines to generate and expand theory. Outside of anthropology, the insights uncovered by ethnography help to propose or develop theories that can be verified by further qualitative or quantitative research within the social and human sciences.

In simple terms, ethnographic studies relate what a culture is to audiences who are otherwise unfamiliar outsiders. Armed with this understanding, researchers can illustrate and persuade audiences about patterns that emerge from a community or group of people. These patterns are essential to generating theory and pioneering work.

What are examples of ethnographic research?

Ethnographic research aims to reach a deep understanding of various socially-constructed topics, including:

• Rituals and other cultural practices in everyday life
• Social interaction among people of different cultures
• People's interactions with their natural environment
• Creation of and tensions in social relationships

Ethnography as a qualitative method is common in social and cultural anthropology and any scholarly discipline concerned with social interaction. The traditional role of ethnography is to inform scholars interested in cultures they wouldn't otherwise have contact or experience with. Various topics that have been explored by such research with ethnography include:

• health care workers interacting with patients
• teachers and students constructing classroom dialogue
• workplace relations between employees and managers
• experiences of refugees in conflict zones

Other disciplines, especially in the social sciences, employ ethnographic research methods for varied reasons, including understanding:

• effective teaching practices
• socialization processes
• intercultural cohesiveness
• company-customer relations

The range of inquiries that ethnography can answer is vast, highlighting the importance of ethnographic methods in studies where the researcher seeks a deep understanding of a particular topic.

Even within anthropology, there is a lack of consensus on the particular processes for conducting research through ethnography. Interaction among people is unpredictable to the extent that the researcher might encounter unexpected issues with research participants not foreseen at the outset of a study. Because no observational research can be conducted in a fully controlled setting, it is a challenge to define an exact process for an ethnography beyond the general principles guiding an ethnographic approach.

In broad terms, ethnographic data collection methods are varied. Still, all such methods carry the assumption that a single research method cannot fully capture a thorough understanding of a cultural phenomenon. A systematic study that employs ethnographic research methods collects data from observations, participant observations, and interviews . The researchers' reflections also contribute to the body of data since personal experiences are essential to understanding the unfolding ethnography.

Participant observation

At the core of field research is a method called participant observation . Scholars in contemporary ethnography have long acknowledged the importance of active participation in understanding cultural life. This method allows the researcher to experience activities and interactions alongside participants to establish an understanding they wouldn't otherwise achieve by observing from afar. In active participant observation, the ethnographic researcher takes field notes of what they see and experience. They are essential during fieldwork as they create a record that the researcher can look at later on to structure their analysis and recall crucial developments useful to data analysis .

During participant observation, the researcher may also collect other forms of data, including photographs and audio and video recordings . Sensory data is beneficial to ethnography because it helps the researcher recall essential experiences with vivid detail and provides potentially abundant supporting evidence for the arguments in their findings.

Interviews and focus groups

Participant observation provides data for seeing what people say and do in their natural environment. However, observation has its limits for capturing what people think and believe. As a result, an ethnographic researcher conducts interviews to follow up on what they saw in fieldwork with research participants.

A common type of interview in an ethnography is the stimulated recall interview. In a stimulated recall interview, research participants are asked questions about the events the researcher observed. These questions help research participants remember past experiences while providing the researcher with their way of thinking about those experiences.

A focus group involves interactions between the researcher and multiple research participants. Suppose the researcher is interested in the interpersonal dynamics between research participants. In that case, they might consider conducting focus groups to elicit interactions that are markedly different from one-on-one exchanges between a single research participant and the researcher. Interviews and focus groups also help uncover insights otherwise unfamiliar to the researcher, who can then use those insights to guide their theoretical understanding and further data collection .

Document collection

Documents often make up an essential aspect of cultural practices. Think about these examples:

• student homework
• medical records
• newspaper articles
• informational posters

The visual elements uncovered during an ethnography are potentially valuable to theoretical insights, and a researcher might find it important to incorporate documents in their project data.

Reflections

In any ethnography, the researcher is the main instrument of data collection. Their thoughts and beliefs are consequential to the data analysis in that any theoretical insights are filtered by their interpretations . As a result, a researcher should take field notes during participant observation and reflection notes about any connections between what they saw and what it might mean for generating theory during data analysis.

As with taking field notes, a researcher might not remember all the different things that transpire during an ethnography without being able to refer to some sort of record later on. More importantly, reflecting on theory during participant observation may be challenging. A useful practice involves sitting down after observations or interviews and writing down potential theoretical insights that come to mind.

Reflections guide participant observations during an ethnography and theoretical analysis afterward. They point the researcher toward phenomena that are most relevant to theory and guide discussion of that theory when the time comes to write a description of their ethnographic study.

Organizing data

With a research approach as complex as ethnography, you will likely collect abundant data that require organization to make the analytical process more efficient. Researchers can use ATLAS.ti to store all their data in a single project. Document groups allow you to categorize data into different types (e.g., text, audio, video), different contexts (e.g., hospital room, doctor's office), or even different dates (e.g., February 17th observation, March 21st observation).

Moreover, researchers can integrate text with multimedia in ATLAS.ti, which is ideal for analyzing interviews, because you can look at transcripts and their video or audio recordings simultaneously. This is a valuable feature in ethnographic studies examining how people speak and what they say. Photos and other visual documents can also easily be incorporated and analyzed, adding further valuable dimensions to your research.

Choose ATLAS.ti for analysis of all forms of data.

Download a free trial of ATLAS.ti to put your project data to work.

Now that we have established a foundational understanding of the various methods associated with ethnography, let's look at what an ethnographic approach to research might look like.

Defining your research questions

As with any research study, ethnographic studies begin when researchers want to know more about something unfamiliar. Do you want to understand how a particular group of people interact with their natural environment? What about how group members decide on a social structure? How is daily life affected by changing economic conditions over a long period of time?

Ethnographic research may also be appropriate for conducting a comparative study of multiple cultures. For example, consider the different groups of soccer fans in several parts of the world: fans in South America might act differently from fans in Europe or Asia. Teaching and learning in high school are bound to look different than teaching and learning in university settings. Emergency room medicine and hospice care have distinct purposes that affect the nature of interactions between doctors and patients.

Whatever the inquiry, the researcher benefits from defining a focus for their ethnography. A clear research question can help the researcher narrow their field of perception during participant observation . Suppose the research question has to do with doctor-patient interactions. In that case, the ethnographer can lend more focus to those conversations and less emphasis on ancillary developments within their research context. With a more specific view, they can examine how doctors speak to their patients while being less concerned about the hospital executives in earshot or the orderlies passing by unless and until they are relevant to the research inquiry.

Choosing theoretical perspectives

To further narrow the focus of the ethnography, a theoretical lens can direct the ethnographer toward aspects relevant to theory. Continuing with the example regarding doctor-patient interactions, let's imagine that the ethnographic study explores the role of reassuring language in situations regarding dire medical conditions. Are there relevant theories about what people can say to give peace of mind to others?

Typically, theories in qualitative research consist of a framework with discrete indicators you can use to organize knowledge. For example, let's suppose that there exists a concept of reassurance that can be broken down like this:

empathy - understanding and affirming other people's emotions evidence - providing examples of favorable results in similar situations responsiveness - actively listening to and validating others' concerns

With this sort of theory in mind, an ethnography can focus on listening for instances of these particular indicators during participant observation and recording these examples in field notes . Naturally, a theory is more credible if it's grounded in previous research.

Entering ethnographic fieldwork

The next step is to choose an appropriate and accessible context for your ethnography. Ethics are an important part of contemporary research in the social sciences, requiring permission from potential participants to observe and interact with them for research purposes.

Before any meaningful data collection, make sure to obtain informed consent from the research participants you are studying. Essentially, this involves receiving permission from your participants to document what they say and do after explaining the purpose of your study and the rights they have while participating in your ethnography.

Ethnographic collection of data

With a context and theory in mind, it's now time to conduct your ethnography. In general terms, this means entering the field and capturing as much rich data relevant to your research question as possible.

Good ethnographic practice relies on pursuing multiple research methods to capture data. Participant observation can help you document what people say and do, but good ethnographies also capture what people believe about their everyday actions.

However, the research method most associated with ethnographic research is note-taking. Field notes capture the researcher's personal experience with the culture they observe, which is necessary to fully understand the captured data. With the ethnographer as the main instrument of data collection, readers of ethnographic studies can attain a sense of the possible ways they can view cultures through the researcher's eyes.

Moreover, ethnography relies on rapport with research participants. Ethnographers who want to conduct interviews later will benefit from establishing good relationships with their research participants. As a result, more involved interactions during fieldwork can generate deeper and richer data for your study.

Considerations during fieldwork

It's important to remember that the ethnographer's presence can affect how people behave. Especially in participant observation, your interactions with research participants will directly influence what they do in their daily lives. Even our natural environment is affected by what we do in it. When writing your reflections, qualifying your interactions in the field with a sufficient accounting of how your presence might change what others say and do is important.

There are also ethical questions about what to document and how to use the resulting data afterward. Within anthropology, there are issues of representing cultural groups with respect and ensuring you have their permission to use what you observe and collect from the field. Top scholarly journals and academic conferences also want to know how you observed research ethics during fieldwork, so it is necessary to use your reflection memos to document your ethics practices in addition to the data you collect.

Further development in ethnographic fieldwork

Unexpected issues in field research , especially long-term fieldwork, can help you refine your theoretical framework . Returning to the example of the concept of reassurance, you might observe a doctor's explanation of a medical procedure and find that it's similar to providing evidence. Still, it does not fully align with the established theory. In other words, studying real-world episodes of medical explanations may contribute novel insights about reassurance, helping you further develop your focus in subsequent observations.

As you continue your ethnography, refining the scope of your theoretical perspective helps you more easily gather observational data relevant to your research inquiry and thus provide a fully developed framework for your data.

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Ethnographic Research -Types, Methods and Guide

Table of Contents

Ethnographic Research

Definition:

Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method used to study and document the culture, behaviors, beliefs, and social interactions of a particular group of people. It involves direct observation and participation in the daily life and activities of the group being studied, often for an extended period of time.

Ethnographic Study

An ethnographic study is a research method that involves the detailed and systematic study of a particular group, culture, or community. Ethnographic studies seek to understand the beliefs, values, behaviors, and social dynamics of a group through direct observation and participation in their daily life.

Ethnographic Research vs Ethnographic Study

here’s a table comparing ethnographic study and ethnographic research:

While there are some differences between the two, they are similar in that they both use qualitative research methods to study a particular group, culture, or community. The main difference is that an ethnographic study involves the researcher spending an extended period of time within the community being studied in order to develop a deep understanding, while ethnographic research is focused on documenting and analyzing the culture, beliefs, behaviors, and social interactions of the group being studied.

Ethnographic Research Types

Ethnographic research can be divided into several types based on the focus of the study and the research objectives. Here are some common types of ethnographic research:

Classic Ethnography

This type of ethnographic research involves an extended period of observation and interaction with a particular community or group. The researcher aims to understand the community’s culture, beliefs, practices, and social structure by immersing themselves in the community’s daily life.

Autoethnography

Autoethnography involves the researcher using their own personal experiences to gain insights into a particular community or culture. The researcher may use personal narratives, diaries, or other forms of self-reflection to explore the ways in which their own experiences relate to the culture being studied.

Participatory Action Research

Participatory action research involves the researcher working collaboratively with members of a particular community or group to identify and address social issues affecting the community. The researcher aims to empower community members to take an active role in the research process and to use the findings to effect positive change.

Virtual Ethnography

Virtual ethnography involves the use of online or digital media to study a particular community or culture. The researcher may use social media, online forums, or other digital platforms to observe and interact with the group being studied.

Critical Ethnography

Critical ethnography aims to expose power imbalances and social inequalities within a particular community or culture. The researcher may use their observations to critique dominant cultural narratives or to identify opportunities for social change.

Ethnographic Research Methods

Some common ethnographic research methods include:

Participant Observation

This involves the researcher directly observing and participating in the daily life and activities of the group being studied. This technique helps the researcher gain an in-depth understanding of the group’s behavior, culture, and social dynamics.

Ethnographic researchers use interviews to gather information about the group’s beliefs, values, and practices. Interviews may be formal or informal and can be conducted one-on-one or in group settings.

Surveys can be used to collect data on specific topics, such as attitudes towards a particular issue or behavior patterns. Ethnographic researchers may use surveys as a way to gather quantitative data in addition to qualitative data.

Document Analysis

This involves analyzing written or visual documents produced by the group being studied, such as newspapers, photographs, or social media posts. Document analysis can provide insight into the group’s values, beliefs, and practices.

Field Notes

Ethnographic researchers keep detailed field notes of their observations and interactions with the group being studied. These notes help the researcher organize their thoughts and observations and can be used to analyze the data collected.

Focus Groups

Focus groups are group interviews that allow the researcher to gather information from multiple people at once. This technique can be useful for exploring shared beliefs or experiences within the group being studied.

Ethnographic Research Data Analysis Methods

Ethnographic research data analysis methods involve analyzing qualitative data collected from observations, interviews, and other sources in order to identify patterns, themes, and insights related to the research question.

Here are some common data analysis methods used in ethnographic research:

Content Analysis

This involves systematically coding and categorizing the data collected from field notes, interviews, and other sources. The researcher identifies recurring themes, patterns, and categories in the data and assigns codes or labels to each one.

Narrative Analysis

This involves analyzing the stories and narratives collected from participants in order to understand how they construct and make sense of their experiences. The researcher looks for common themes, plot structures, and rhetorical strategies used by participants.

Discourse Analysis

This involves analyzing the language and communication practices of the group being studied in order to understand how they construct and reproduce social norms and cultural meanings. The researcher looks for patterns in the use of language, including metaphors, idioms, and other linguistic devices.

Comparative Analysis

This involves comparing data collected from different groups or communities in order to identify similarities and differences in their cultures, behaviors, and social structures. The researcher may use this analysis to generate hypotheses about why these differences exist and what factors may be contributing to them.

Grounded Theory

This involves developing a theoretical framework based on the data collected during the research process. The researcher identifies patterns and themes in the data and uses these to develop a theory that explains the social phenomena being studied.

How to Conduct Ethnographic Research

To conduct ethnographic research, follow these general steps:

• Choose a Research Question: Identify a research question that you want to explore. It should be focused and specific, but also open-ended to allow for flexibility and exploration.
• Select a research site: Choose a site or group that is relevant to your research question. This could be a workplace, a community, a social movement, or any other social setting where you can observe and interact with people.
• Obtain ethical clearance: Obtain ethical clearance from your institution or organization before beginning your research. This involves ensuring that your research is conducted in an ethical and responsible manner, and that the privacy and confidentiality of participants are protected.
• Conduct observations: Observe the people in your research site and take detailed notes. This involves being present and engaged in the social setting, participating in activities, and taking note of the behaviors, interactions, and social norms that you observe.
• Conduct interviews : Conduct interviews with people in the research site to gain deeper insights into their experiences, perspectives, and beliefs. This could involve structured or semi-structured interviews, focus groups, or other forms of data collection.
• Analyze data: Analyze the data that you have collected, looking for themes and patterns that emerge. This involves immersing yourself in the data and interpreting it within the social and cultural context of the research site.
• Write up findings: Write up your findings in a clear and concise manner, using quotes and examples to illustrate your key points. This may involve creating narratives, tables, or other visual representations of your findings.
• Reflect on your process: Reflect on your process and methods, thinking about what worked well and what could be improved for future research.

When to Use Ethnographic Research

Here are some situations where ethnographic research may be particularly appropriate:

• When exploring a new topic: Ethnographic research can be useful when exploring a topic that has not been well-studied before. By engaging with members of a particular group or community, researchers can gain insights into their experiences and perspectives that may not be visible from other research methods.
• When studying cultural practices: Ethnographic research is particularly useful when studying cultural practices and beliefs. By immersing themselves in the cultural context being studied, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which cultural practices are enacted, maintained, and transmitted.
• When studying complex social phenomena: Ethnographic research can be useful when studying complex social phenomena that cannot be easily understood through quantitative methods. By observing social interactions and behaviors, researchers can gain insights into the ways in which social norms and structures are created and maintained.
• When studying marginalized communities: Ethnographic research can be particularly useful when studying marginalized communities, as it allows researchers to give voice to members of these communities and understand their experiences and perspectives.

Overall, ethnographic research can be a useful research approach when the goal is to gain a deep understanding of a particular group or community and their cultural practices, beliefs, and experiences. It is a flexible and adaptable research method that can be used in a variety of research contexts.

Applications of Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research has many applications across a wide range of fields and disciplines. Some of the key applications of ethnographic research include:

• Informing policy and practice: Ethnographic research can provide valuable insights into the experiences and perspectives of marginalized or underrepresented groups, which can inform policy and practice in fields such as health care, education, and social services.
• Developing theories and concepts: Ethnographic research can contribute to the development of theories and concepts in social and cultural anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines, by providing detailed and nuanced accounts of social and cultural phenomena.
• Improving product design and marketing: Ethnographic research can be used to understand consumer behavior and preferences, which can inform the design and marketing of products and services.
• Studying workplace culture: Ethnographic research can provide insights into the norms, values, and practices of organizations, which can inform efforts to improve workplace culture and employee satisfaction.
• Examining social movements: Ethnographic research can be used to study the practices, beliefs, and experiences of social movements, which can inform efforts to understand and address social and political issues.
• Studying healthcare practices: Ethnographic research can provide insights into healthcare practices and patient experiences, which can inform efforts to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

Examples of Ethnographic Research

Here are some real-time examples of ethnographic research:

• Anthropological study of a remote indigenous tribe: Anthropologists often use ethnographic research to study remote indigenous tribes and gain insights into their culture, beliefs, and practices. For example, an anthropologist may live with a tribe for an extended period of time, observing and participating in their daily activities, and conducting interviews with members of the community.
• Study of workplace culture: Ethnographic research can be useful in studying workplace culture and understanding the dynamics of the organization. For example, an ethnographer may observe and interview employees in a particular department or team to gain insights into their work practices, communication styles, and social dynamics.
• Study of consumer behavior: Ethnographic research can be useful in studying consumer behavior and understanding how people interact with products and services. For example, an ethnographer may observe and interview consumers as they use a particular product, such as a new smartphone or fitness tracker, to gain insights into their behaviors and preferences.
• Study of health care practices: Ethnographic research can be useful in studying health care practices and understanding how patients and providers interact within the health care system. For example, an ethnographer may observe and interview patients and providers in a hospital or clinic to gain insights into their experiences and perspectives.
• Study of social movements: Ethnographic research can be useful in studying social movements and understanding how they emerge and evolve over time. For example, an ethnographer may observe and interview participants in a protest movement to gain insights into their motivations and strategies.

Purpose of Ethnographic Research

The purpose of ethnographic research is to provide an in-depth understanding of a particular group or community, including their cultural practices, beliefs, and experiences. This research approach is particularly useful when the research question is exploratory and the goal is to generate new insights and understandings. Ethnographic research seeks to understand the experiences, perspectives, and behaviors of the participants in their natural setting, without imposing the researcher’s own biases or preconceptions.

Ethnographic research can be used to study a wide range of topics, including social movements, workplace culture, consumer behavior, and health care practices, among others. The researcher aims to understand the social and cultural context of the group or community being studied, and to generate new insights and understandings that can inform future research, policy, and practice.

Overall, the purpose of ethnographic research is to gain a deep understanding of a particular group or community, with the goal of generating new insights and understandings that can inform future research, policy, and practice. Ethnographic research can be a valuable research approach in many different contexts, particularly when the goal is to gain a rich, contextualized understanding of social and cultural phenomena.

Advantages of Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research has several advantages that make it a valuable research approach in many different fields. Here are some of the advantages of ethnographic research:

• Provides in-depth and detailed information: Ethnographic research involves direct observation of the group or community being studied, which allows researchers to gain a detailed and in-depth understanding of their beliefs, practices, and experiences. This type of information cannot be obtained through other research methods.
• Offers a unique perspective: Ethnographic research allows researchers to see the world from the perspective of the group or community being studied. This can provide unique insights into the ways in which different cultural practices and beliefs are constructed and maintained.
• Promotes cultural understanding: Ethnographic research can help to promote cultural understanding and reduce stereotypes by providing a more nuanced and accurate picture of different cultures and communities.
• Allows for flexibility: Ethnographic research is a flexible research approach that can be adapted to fit different research contexts and questions. Researchers can adjust their methods based on the needs of the group being studied and the research goals.
• Generates rich and diverse data: Ethnographic research generates rich and diverse data through a combination of observation, interviews, and other methods. This allows researchers to analyze different aspects of the group or community being studied and identify patterns and themes in the data.
• Supports theory development: Ethnographic research can support theory development by providing empirical data that can be used to test and refine theoretical frameworks.

Limitations of Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research has several limitations that researchers should consider when selecting this research approach. Here are some of the limitations of ethnographic research:

• Limited generalizability: Ethnographic research typically involves studying a small and specific group or community, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other contexts or populations.
• Time-consuming: Ethnographic research is a time-consuming process that requires a significant investment of time and resources. Researchers must spend time observing and interacting with the group being studied, which may not be feasible in all research contexts.
• Subjectivity: Ethnographic research relies on the researcher’s interpretation and analysis of the data collected, which may introduce subjective bias into the research findings.
• Limited control: Ethnographic research involves studying a group or community in their natural setting, which limits the researcher’s control over the research context and the behavior of the participants.
• Ethical concerns: Ethnographic research can raise ethical concerns, particularly when studying marginalized or vulnerable populations. Researchers must be careful to ensure that they do not harm or exploit the participants in the research process.
• Limited quantitative data: Ethnographic research typically generates qualitative data, which may limit the types of analysis that can be conducted and the types of conclusions that can be drawn.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Ethnography In Qualitative Research

Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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On This Page:

What is Ethnography?

Ethnography is a qualitative research method that emphasizes studying what people do and say in particular contexts. Ethnographers typically spend considerable time observing and interacting with a social group to understand how the group develops cultural constructions and relations.

Ethnography is used anthropology and other social sciences to systematically study people and cultures.

The goal of ethnography is to explore cultural phenomena from the perspective of the subjects being studied.

They aim to uncover the reasons for particular behaviors and practices within a specific cultural context. For example, an ethnographic study might examine why certain communities use specific child-rearing techniques or how cultural values influence emotional expression.

This often involves immersing oneself in a community or organization to observe their behaviors and interactions up close.

Ethnographic research is often open-ended and exploratory. Researchers may enter the field with a research question in mind, but they remain open to unexpected findings and allow the social order of the community to guide their observations.

This openness to discovery helps researchers develop a deeper understanding of the cultural phenomena they study.

How does an ethnographic perspective view psychological knowledge?

Ethnography considers the social context of psychological phenomena to be critical to the field of psychology.

An ethnographic perspective argues that psychological knowledge is not complete unless it examines how communal practices, economic and political structures, shared values, histories, aspirations, and other life dimensions shape human experiences.

The interaction of identity and self-definition is dynamic and shaped by an individual’s social contexts.

Ethnography is primarily used in the following situations:

• Cultural anthropology : Ethnography is the primary research method used by cultural anthropologists to study and understand different societies and cultures around the world. Margaret Mead conducted ethnographic research among the Arapesh, Mundugumor, and Tchambuli people of New Guinea, which resulted in her book Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935). In this work, she explored the ways in which gender roles and personality traits varied across cultures.
• Sociology : Ethnographic methods are used in sociology to study subcultures, communities, and social groups within a larger society, such as urban neighborhoods, religious communities, or professional groups. Paul Willis conducted an ethnographic study of working-class youth culture, presented in his work Learning to Labo r. Willis sought to understand why working-class youth often ended up in working-class jobs. His research involved a series of interviews and observations, focusing on a school setting to gain insight into the connection between working-class backgrounds and career trajectories. Willis concluded that working-class children often develop a counter-school culture, characterized by opposition to academics and authority figures.
• Education : Ethnography is used in educational research to study classroom dynamics, student-teacher interactions, and the impact of cultural factors on learning.
• Healthcare : Ethnography is used in healthcare research to study patient experiences, healthcare provider practices, and the cultural factors that influence health behaviors and outcomes.
• Social work : Ethnographic research helps social workers understand the lived experiences of marginalized or vulnerable populations, informing the development of more effective interventions and support services.
• Policy and development : Ethnography is used in policy research and international development to assess the impact of policies and programs on local communities and to ensure that development initiatives are culturally appropriate and sustainable.

What distinguishes ethnography from other qualitative methods?

While ethnography shares commonalities with other qualitative methods, these distinctions highlight its unique capacity to provide rich, nuanced insights into the complexities of human behavior and culture.

• Immersive Fieldwork: Unlike other qualitative methods that might rely solely on interviews or surveys, ethnography necessitates the researcher to be directly involved in the community or group they are studying, often for extended periods. This immersive approach allows for a depth of understanding unattainable through less participatory methods.
• Unstructured Data Collection: Ethnographers typically begin their research with a more exploratory approach rather than testing predetermined hypotheses. They embrace unstructured data collection, allowing patterns and theories to emerge from their observations and interactions rather than imposing pre-existing frameworks.
• Emphasis on Observation Over Interviews: Although interviews are a common tool in ethnographic research, the core of the method lies in observing what people do rather than solely relying on what they say . This focus on action allows ethnographers to identify discrepancies between stated beliefs and actual practices, providing a richer understanding of the complexities within a social group.
• Interpretative and Reflexive Analysis: Ethnographers acknowledge the inherent subjectivity involved in interpreting social phenomena. They embrace reflexivity, acknowledging that their own backgrounds and perspectives shape how they observe and interpret data.
• Focus on Process, Meaning, and Place: Ethnography seeks to uncover the dynamic processes, shared meanings, and influence of place that shape social life. It investigates how individuals make sense of their world and how these understandings influence their actions and interactions within specific geographical and social contexts.
• Thick description : Thick description, a concept by Geertz, is an ethnographer’s in-depth and nuanced representation of social life that goes beyond simple observation, exploring the meanings and motivations behind behaviors. This nuanced understanding illustrates how ethnographers use thick description to reveal what is “at stake” in people’s lives.

Gaining Access to a Community for Ethnographic Research

Negotiating access to a community for research can be a delicate process, requiring sensitivity and understanding of local social practices.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach; instead, researchers must adapt their approach to the specific community and setting they wish to study.

• Initial Contact: Start by identifying potential participants and settings relevant to the research question. Initial contact can be made remotely through emails, calls, or social connections. Reaching out to researchers who have previously worked in the field can be beneficial. Physical visits to the field can also be helpful in the initial stages.
• Building Trust and Understanding Local Norms: Establishing trust is paramount in ethnographic research. Researchers should prioritize initiating contact in a manner that aligns with the community’s social practices. For example, directly emailing community centers in a culture that values personal introductions might be ineffective. Introducing the researcher through a trusted community member, like a friend or neighbor, can foster trust and facilitate acceptance. Researchers should remain mindful of their position in relation to the community’s cultural norms and how their presence might be perceived.
• Addressing Challenges and Maintaining Access: Unexpected challenges and setbacks are common in ethnographic research. Embracing methodological agility allows researchers to adapt their methods to the contingencies of the field site and view setbacks as opportunities for refining research design. Flexibility is key, and researchers should be open to exploring alternative settings or communities if access to the initial choice proves difficult.
• Ethical Considerations and Reciprocity: Ethnographic research involves a responsibility to the community being studied. Ethnographers must be aware of the power dynamics inherent in research and strive to minimize harm by respecting participants’ privacy and cultural norms. Researchers should consider how their work can benefit the community, for instance, by offering insights, providing resources, or advocating for positive change.

Working with Informants in Ethnography

Informants are crucial to ethnographic research, acting as primary points of contact and facilitating the researcher’s understanding of the group being studied.

Identifying the right informants is vital, and a “friend-of-a-friend” approach, leveraging existing social networks, can be advantageous.

This method can grant access to otherwise inaccessible aspects of social life and provide a unique, embedded perspective on the community’s language use and attitudes.

However, over-reliance on a single informant can skew the researcher’s perspective, potentially leading to biased or unrepresentative findings.

An informant may consciously or unconsciously shape their interactions with the researcher to align with what they believe is expected, hindering the collection of spontaneous and authentic data.

Therefore, it’s essential to cultivate relationships with a diverse range of informants within the community. This approach helps ensure a more comprehensive understanding of the group’s dynamics and mitigates the risk of individual bias influencing the research findings.

While the sources don’t provide detailed steps on managing relationships with multiple informants, they emphasize the importance of ethical considerations, open communication, and building trust throughout the research process.

Data Sources in Ethnographic Research

Ethnographers often employ a  multi-method approach , combining data from these various sources to create a rich and comprehensive understanding of the group being studied.

They may also utilize audio and video recordings to capture interactions and analyze nonverbal communication.

The choice of specific data collection methods depends on factors like the research question, available resources, and ethical considerations

• Participant observation involves the researcher immersing themselves in the daily life of a community to gain an understanding of the actions, activities, rituals, routines, and daily practices. The ethnographer might participate in activities to learn through experience or observe from the sidelines. There are varying levels of participation in this method. Some researchers fully adopt the social role they are studying, like a factory worker or police officer, to better understand the group’s worldview. Others maintain a more detached relationship, observing from the sidelines, while acknowledging that some interaction is inevitable.
• Field notes  are a primary data source, meticulously recording observations, conversations, and preliminary analyses made during immersion in the research setting3.
• Interviews  play a significant role, providing insights into individuals’ perspectives and experiences within the group. Interviews provide a source of witness accounts about settings and events in the social world that the ethnographer may or may not have been able to observe.
• Documents , both official and personal, can offer valuable contextual information and supplement observational data

When conducting ethnographic research, researchers should be mindful of their ontological and epistemological stances, their research questions, and the context of their research.

Ethnographers must also consider ethical implications, the type of data they are collecting, and how their findings will be used.

What are the limitations of solely relying on interviews in ethnographic research?

While interviews are a common element of ethnographic research, relying on them solely as a source of data has some significant limitations.

• Discrepancies Between Words and Actions : Interviews primarily capture what people say about their lives, beliefs, and practices. However, what people say and what they actually do can differ. Observing participants in their natural environment can reveal these discrepancies and provide a more complete understanding of their lived experiences.
• Influence of Interviewer and Context : The interview itself is a constructed situation that can influence participants’ responses. Participants may modify their language or opinions to align with perceived expectations or power dynamics, particularly when discussing sensitive topics.
• Limited Insight into Meaning-Making : While interviews can provide information about perspectives and beliefs, they may not fully capture the subtle ways cultural meanings are embedded in everyday practices and interactions. Ethnographic observation allows researchers to witness these meaning-making processes firsthand.
• Difficulty in Capturing Complexity : Interviews, especially structured ones, often rely on pre-determined questions and response categories. This approach can oversimplify complex cultural phenomena and miss nuances that emerge through observation of natural interactions.

Supplementing Interviews with Observation

To mitigate these limitations, sources emphasize the importance of combining interviews with other ethnographic methods, primarily participant observation .

• Observing participants in their natural environment provides a more holistic and nuanced understanding of their practices, interactions, and the cultural meanings embedded within them.
• This immersive approach allows researchers to go beyond self-reported accounts and gain insights that might not be revealed through interviews alone.

Skills Required for Ethnographic Studies

• High Degree of Interpretative Agility: Understanding the intricacies of ethnographic studies necessitates a high degree of interpretative agility to make sense of the diverse range of issues and facts gathered.
• Cultural Sensitivity: Sensitivity towards the culture, values, and norms of the social setting is paramount for conducting ethical and meaningful research. This is essential for building trust and rapport with research participants and understanding their perspectives.
• Reflexivity : Ethnographers must be self-aware and reflective about their own positionality, biases, and impact on the research process, and be transparent about these factors in their writing.

The Role of Reflexivity in Ethnography

Reflexivity in ethnographic writing involves thoughtfully examining how the researcher’s background, beliefs, and position influence their observations, interpretations, and the final ethnographic account.

It’s a crucial aspect of producing responsible and insightful ethnographic work.

• Acknowledging Subjectivity: Ethnographers who practice reflexivity understand that their accounts are not objective truths, but rather interpretations shaped by their own experiences and perspectives. They acknowledge that other researchers, with different backgrounds and positions, might interpret the same data differently.
• Positioning the Researcher: Reflexivity encourages ethnographers to explicitly consider and articulate how their personal and cultural background, as well as their social position relative to the community being studied, might influence their understanding of the observed phenomena. This includes acknowledging any preconceived notions or biases they bring to the research.
• Examining Power Dynamics: Ethnographic research often involves power imbalances between the researcher and the researched, especially when studying marginalized groups. Reflexivity encourages researchers to critically examine these power dynamics and to consider how their work might perpetuate or challenge existing inequalities. This involves being transparent about the research process and engaging in ethical practices that protect participants.
• Enhancing the Validity of Findings : Ultimately, reflexivity aims to strengthen the ethnographic account by making the researcher’s interpretive process more transparent and by providing a more nuanced and accountable representation of the community being studied. This can involve explicitly discussing the researcher’s positionality and reflecting on how their presence might have influenced the data collected.

It is important to note that while reflexivity is widely recognized as crucial in ethnography, there are different understandings of its application and implications.

Some argue for a more radical approach that emphasizes the subjective nature of ethnographic knowledge and the limitations of representation.

Others advocate for a more moderate stance that acknowledges the importance of reflexivity while still striving for rigorous and insightful accounts of social reality.

Importance of Local Context in Ethnography

Understanding the local context is crucial for ethnographic research because it allows researchers to accurately interpret the meanings behind people’s actions and perspectives within their specific social and cultural environment.

Ethnography examines the intricate relationships between human agency and the structures of society within the everyday experiences of a particular place. This method aims to understand the processes and meanings that underpin social life, recognizing that these processes and meanings vary across locations.

Here’s why local context is so important for ethnographic research:

• Connecting Macro and Micro Levels of Analysis: Ethnography aims to reveal the link between large-scale societal structures and the everyday experiences of individuals. The local context provides the specific setting where these connections are made visible and understandable. For instance, studying violence statistically cannot capture the contextual factors that lead to it, but ethnographic research can uncover the specific social dynamics and meanings within particular places that contribute to such behavior.
• Uncovering Meaning Systems: The meanings people assign to events and actions are often deeply embedded within their local culture and not always explicitly stated. Ethnographers, by immersing themselves in the local context, can gradually understand these meaning systems through prolonged observation, interaction, and analysis of daily practices.
• Context-Sensitivity of Behavior: People’s actions and accounts of their actions are highly context-dependent, meaning they can vary significantly across different settings. Ethnographic research acknowledges this by emphasizing firsthand observation and understanding of the local context to ensure accurate interpretation of behavior and perspectives.
• Avoiding Misinterpretation: Without a deep understanding of the local context, researchers risk misinterpreting observations or imposing their own cultural biases on the data. Immersing oneself in the local context allows ethnographers to develop cultural competence and sensitivity, which helps them arrive at more accurate and insightful interpretations of the group’s actions and beliefs.

In essence, understanding the local context is not just about knowing where something occurs, but about comprehending the intricate web of cultural meanings, social dynamics, and historical factors that shape people’s lives and experiences in that specific location.

This understanding is fundamental to the ethnographic approach and its ability to generate meaningful insights into human behavior and social life.

Challenges in Conducting Ethnographic Research

Ethnography, a qualitative research method focusing on the study of people and cultures, presents a unique set of challenges for researchers:

• Time Commitment : Ethnography is a time-consuming endeavor. Researchers need to spend significant time immersed in the community or organization they are studying to build relationships, observe interactions, and gain a deep understanding of the culture. This long-term immersion requires careful planning and can be personally demanding. For instance, some research may necessitate a “focused” or “mini” ethnography lasting a few weeks or months, while others require a year or more.
• Observer Bias : Ethnographers are at risk of introducing their own biases into the research. Writing an ethnography involves subjective interpretation, and it can be difficult to remain objective when analyzing a group in which the researcher is deeply involved. The researcher’s background, beliefs, and experiences can influence their observations and interpretations.
• Representing Culture : Writing about other people is inherently complicated, and ethnographers must consider how to describe people in a manner that is informative, honest, sensitive, and ethical.
• Ethical Issues : Recognize that ethnographers often hold a position of power relative to the communities they study, particularly when working with marginalized groups. Ensure participants are volunteers who understand the study’s purpose and their right to withdraw.
• Gaining Access : Getting access to a community or organization for research can be a delicate process. Researchers need to establish trust with gatekeepers and negotiate their role within the community. This can be particularly difficult in settings that are closed or suspicious of outsiders. For instance, researchers may face resistance from organizations concerned about negative publicity stemming from the study’s findings.
• Data Analysis and Interpretation : Ethnographic research often generates large amounts of data in various forms, such as field notes, interviews, and documents. Analyzing this data and developing meaningful interpretations can be challenging and time-consuming. Researchers must develop systematic ways to manage, analyze, and interpret their data while staying true to the experiences and perspectives of the participants.
• Generalizability : The findings of ethnographic research, which typically focuses on a specific case or setting, can be challenging to generalize to other populations or contexts. The in-depth, context-specific nature of ethnographic research, while a strength in understanding a particular group, poses challenges for drawing broader conclusions about human behavior and social phenomena.
• External Pressures : Ethnographers may face pressure from funding agencies or institutions to conduct research that aligns with specific agendas or produces immediate, tangible outcomes. This pressure can create ethical dilemmas and compromise the integrity of the research. For example, ethnography may be perceived as an inefficient research method due to its reliance on long-term engagement.

Strategies for Ethical Representation

Any ethnographic account of another cultural group risks engaging in what Edward Said (1978) called the “politics of othering,” potentially distorting the lives of those being studied in support of “scientific racism and projects of colonial domination and exploitation”.

The ethnographer should chronicle the community’s experiences, including their struggles, aspirations, losses, and stagnation, with compassion

Thick Description

Provide a nuanced perspective on social life, connecting observed behaviors to underlying meanings, emotions, and decision-making strategies, while avoiding simplistic or reductive accounts of complex experiences.

For example, instead of simply stating that Alzheimer’s carries a social stigma, an ethnographer might connect this observation to the community’s beliefs about family and social change.

Respect and Dignity

Represent individuals with respect and dignity, appreciating their values within the context of their lives.

The ethnographer should chronicle the community’s experiences, including their struggles, aspirations, losses, and stagnation, with compassion.

Reflexivity and Collaboration

Acknowledge the historical legacy of ethnography, including its role in colonialism and the potential for exploitative research practices.

Ethnographers should strive for a more equitable and collaborative approach by:

• Recognizing participants as “epistemic agents and interlocutors” who contribute theoretical interpretations, not merely data points2.
• Involving community members in shaping research questions, data analysis, and the dissemination of findings.
• Considering co-authorship with community members

Strengths of Ethnography

• Ethnography offers a nuanced understanding of cultural phenomena by directly observing behaviors and interactions within a specific community or organization. This immersive approach allows researchers to gain firsthand knowledge of shared culture, conventions, and social dynamics. Ethnography is particularly useful for studying complex social phenomena like football fans, call center workers, and police officers.
• Flexibility, allowing researchers to adapt their research strategy and direction based on their observations and developing understanding. Rather than aiming to confirm a hypothesis or test a general theory, ethnographic research prioritizes providing a comprehensive and detailed narrative of a specific culture. This open-ended approach enables the exploration of various aspects of the group and setting being studied.
• Ethnographers can uncover authentic information and observe spontaneous dynamics that might not surface through direct questioning. By becoming immersed in the social environment, researchers gain access to a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of the group under study. For example, ethnographers can examine discrepancies between what people say and their actual actions, providing insights that other methodologies might miss.
• Ethnography enables researchers to understand the meanings behind social actions by revealing the knowledge and meaning structures that guide them. Through prolonged engagement and observation, ethnographers gain insight into the cultural systems of meaning that shape individuals’ perceptions and actions. Unlike surveys or interviews with pre-determined questions, ethnography allows for an emergent understanding of the cultural competencies within a social setting.
• Ethnographic research relies on a comprehensive approach to data collection, incorporating observations, conversations, and preliminary analysis through detailed field notes. This rigorous documentation helps ensure the accuracy and representativeness of the findings. Moreover, ethnography goes beyond simply describing behaviors; it strives to provide a structured explanation of the observed phenomena, drawing on the researcher’s direct experiences, intuitions, and relevant theoretical frameworks.

However, it’s important to note that ethnography, while valuable, has limitations. It is a time-consuming method requiring significant planning and careful consideration of ethical issues.

Additionally, maintaining objectivity and minimizing observer bias can be a challenge due to the researcher’s immersive role.

Further Information

• Brewer, J. (2000).  Ethnography . McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
• Hammersley, M. (2006). Ethnography: problems and prospects .  Ethnography and education ,  1 (1), 3-14.
• Herbert, S. (2000). For ethnography .  Progress in human geography ,  24 (4), 550-568.
• Lew-Levy, S., Reckin, R., Lavi, N., Cristóbal-Azkarate, J., & Ellis-Davies, K. (2017). How do hunter-gatherer children learn subsistence skills? A meta-ethnographic review. Human Nature,  28 (4), 367–394.  https://doi.org/10.1007/S12110-017-9302-2
• Mead, M. (1963). Sex and temperament in three primitive societies (Vol. 370). New York: Morrow.
• Said, E. W. (2013). Orientalism reconsidered. In  Literature Politics & Theory  (pp. 230-249). Routledge.
• Willis, P. (1977). Learning to Labor: How Working-class Kids Get Working-class Jobs . New York: Colombia University Press

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Ethnographic Research: What is it, Types, Methods + Pros & Cons

The social and behavioral research sciences frequently use ethnography as a qualitative data collection strategy. Data are gathered through observations and interviews to determine how societies and individuals work.

Instead of attempting to control life in a lab, ethnographers observe it as it is. Because life is unpredictable, ethnographers frequently need help summarizing their initiatives in a format that the Board can consider.

However, for the researchers to accept research, it must provide a thorough justification.

Helping researchers understand the research parameters, how participants will be contacted and participate, and the hazards will enable them to embrace flexible research.

This blog will explain ethnographic research, its types, methods to follow, and some pros & cons that might help researchers.

What is ethnographic research?

Ethnographic research examines how a group of people act and interact with each other in their environment. It’s mostly about making observations about people rather than focusing on complex data and numbers.

A classic example of ethnographic research would be for an anthropologist to go to an island, live there for years, and research the people and culture, thereby living with them and observing them for a long time.

This is what Margaret Mead, the most famous anthropologist in history, did for her 1928 book Coming of Age in Samoa.

Even though you probably won’t be going to any remote islands any time soon, you can still learn a lot from this about how to do ethnographic research, such as:

• How important is context
• Putting the subject of the research’s point of view first
• In-depth information about a group of people and their lives
• Observing a society from inside it
• Holistic and based on quality

Type of ethnographic research

Ethnographic research comes in various forms, including business, educational, and ethnographic medical research. They are based on several categories of human activity, and particular traits identify each type.

Business, medicine, education, and psychology are just a few areas where ethnographic research can be applied. It is a multifaceted research design.

1. Psychology Ethnographic Research

This is referred to as psychological ethnography when ethnographic research methodologies are used in psychology to examine human experience and behavior.

This approach may involve observing and engaging with them in their natural habitat to comprehend people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in the context of their culture, community, and social dynamics.

In addition to quantitative methods, psychological ethnographers may utilize qualitative methods to collect information and understand psychological phenomena, such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, and field notes.

Psychological ethnography offers a thorough and nuanced understanding of psychological processes and experiences influenced by cultural and social influences.

Examples of questions for ethnographic psychology research include:

• How do people’s ideas and behavior differ depending on their cultural background?
• What effects do a person’s social and communal networks have on their mental health and well-being?
• How do cultural values and conventions influence how people feel and express their emotions?
• What strategies do people use to navigate and compromise their cultural identities in various social contexts?

2. Business Ethnographic Research

Business ethnographic research observes consumer habits and target markets to determine market demands and product/service attitudes. It’s a great research technique for identifying client wants and meeting market demands.

This research method uses fieldwork, interviews, and online surveys to obtain target market consumer habits. Business ethnographers utilize these methods to study customer behavior and develop efficient marketing tactics.

Business ethnographic research requires a consumer or client-oriented framework that prioritizes target markets over the business. This research design seeks to identify repeating customer behavior for market insights.

Asking the right questions helps researchers get relevant data. Business ethnographic research question samples:

• What features of this product or service do you like?
• What drives your use of this product?
• What particular requirements does the product satisfy for you?
• What unique needs does the product not satisfy?
• Does the product’s price reflect its value?

3. Educational Ethnographic Research 

Educational ethnography entails studying teaching and learning methods and how they affect classroom behavior. This study paradigm examines how pedagogy affects learning outcomes and stakeholder participation in the classroom.

Educational ethnography research examines students’ learning attitudes, motivations, and dispositions. To get the most relevant and objective data, the researcher uses non-participant observation and direct participant observation.

Educational ethnography research types of question include:

• Do you favor this educational approach?
• Does the educator permit feedback in the classroom?
• Does the teaching approach clearly express the goals?
• How does the student feel about learning?

4. Medical Ethnographic Research

Medical ethnography research is qualitative healthcare research. This research design helps doctors understand patient behavior from simple to sophisticated.

Medical ethnographic research gives healthcare providers valuable information to improve patient care. Ethnographic research helps a healthcare product maker understand target market needs, influencing product design.

Medical ethnographic research also gives healthcare practitioners insights into patients’ complex demands, reactions to prescriptions and treatment procedures, and improvement suggestions. 

Medical ethnographic research questions:

• How long have you been using this drug?
• How long have you been undergoing this therapy?
• What constructive adjustments have you already noticed?
• Do you currently have any side effects?
• Does this prescription or course of treatment fit your needs?

Methods of ethnographic research

Ethnographic research may use one or more research methods depending on the field, the size of the sample, and the research goal. There are usually five main ways to do ethnographic research: 

• Naturalism, 
• Participant observation, 
• Interviews, 
• Surveys, and 
• Research in archives.

So let’s dig into the details:

1. Naturalism

Naturalism, also known as live and work ethnography research, involves observing research variables in their natural context to identify and record behavioral patterns. It may include spending time in the group’s natural habitat to record their activities.

Naturalism, the oldest ethnographic research method, may build rapport between the ethnographer and the variables. The researcher must minimize subject interference to get the most objective results when utilizing this method.

Undisguised naturalistic observation is possible. In disguised naturalistic observation, people are ignorant of being examined, but in undisguised observation, they are aware.

Observing subjects in their native environment in the life and work technique yields the most accurate and relevant data. Modern ethnographers, especially in health and education, avoid this method since it is expensive and time-consuming.

2. Participant observation

Participant observation in ethnography research involves the ethnographer actively interacting with the research subjects. This method resembles life and work.

Participant observation differs from live and naturalistic in that the ethnographer participates in the group. The researcher gets group-only information.

Disguised and undisguised participant observation exists. The ethnographer disguises himself as a research subject in the former.

In undisguised participant observation, the ethnographer joins the gathering and discloses their researcher status. This method is different from hidden participant observation in that it is reactive.

Participant observation gives ethnographers more data. They better understand the research subjects’ experiences and habits from the participant’s perspective.

This research method is limited. First, the researcher’s presence can influence research subjects’ conduct, especially in undisguised participant observation, which might skew results.

Research bias is another concern. Due to their interaction with the group, ethnographers may become less objective, which can lead to experimental bias and impact research results.

3. Interviews

Ethnographic interviews combine profound observation with one-on-one discussions to produce the most authentic research results. The ethnographer talks to the research group while conducting research-related activities in this design.

This contextual inquiry collects data about the research group’s goals and behavior. The ethnographer might ask questions about the research group while observing it in its natural habitat.

The researcher’s relationship with the interviewees frequently leads to an informal, spontaneous ethnographic interview. Participant observation often leads to the ethnographic interview when the ethnographer interacts with the research group to learn about their life.

An ethnographic interview, a two-way research approach, lets the researcher get the most relevant and authentic information from the research group. However, ethnographer-subject relationships can cause experimental bias.

Ethnography surveys are inductive research methods used to learn about the issue. Analytic induction is a research design that uses survey questions to test hypotheses.

A survey will assist the ethnographer in obtaining data, analyzing it, and reaching objective conclusions. Analytic induction seeks to identify the causes of the research group’s habits and provide reliable explanations.

Use multiple question types in your survey to get the most relevant results. Likert scale, open-ended, multiple-choice, and close-ended ethnography survey questions are prevalent.

Softwares like QuestionPro can let you build and run an ethnographic survey online. The QuestionPro survey software enables you to create an ethnographic survey form in minutes and distribute it to respondents.

Survey response bias and high drop-out rates are important drawbacks of this research strategy. However, this strategy is fast and cost-effective online and can give significant insights about a research group.

5. Research in archives

Archival research is a qualitative ethnographic research method that evaluates existing research, records, and other sources concerning the research group to find useful information. Understanding describes this process.

Archival research uses ethnography to research connected historical materials in place of physical presence. It analyzes all research variable data.

Since the ethnographer does not have contact with the subjects, archive research lowers experimental biases. The ethnographer can also use a huge data set for more accurate findings.

Archival research may misrepresent the research group due to randomization. Archival data may be biased, affecting research results.

Pros & cons of Ethnographic Research

At first glance, there are a lot of benefits to ethnographic research. But it’s important to remember that it can also have several research problems . Read on to find out more about ethnography and its pros and cons.

Ethnographic research is a great way to learn more about your users and the problems they might face in their daily lives. The research will show you things about your users that you might have yet to see if you had asked them to do a task in a lab.

Ethnographic research, on the other hand, can be expensive and take a lot of time. You must use the right research method to ensure you get the answers to your research questions .

After you’ve done your research, you need to present your results clearly and effectively so that teams can use the information to make changes. You should also ensure that your opinions have stayed in the results.

QuestionPro Research Suite facilitates ethnographic research. Its tools let you collect and evaluate qualitative data from various sources to learn about human culture, society, and behavior.

QuestionPro simplifies data collection for participant observation, interviews, focus groups, and visual ethnography so that you may focus on insights and comprehension.

Sign up for QuestionPro today to perform ethnographic research with qualitative research power.

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Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry

Qualitative observational research describes and classifies various cultural, racial and/or sociological groups by employing interpretive and naturalistic approaches. It is both observational and narrative in nature and relies less on the experimental elements normally associated with scientific research (reliability, validity and generalizability). Connelly and Clandinin (1990) suggest that qualitative inquiry relies more on apparency, verisimilitude and transferability. On the other hand, Lincoln and Guba (1985) emphasize the importance of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability in qualitative studies. Because the field of qualitative research is still evolving, the criteria and terminology for its evaluation are not yet agreed upon.

What is agreed upon is that qualitative observational research is a systematic inquiry into the nature or qualities of observable group behaviors in order to learn what it means to be a member of that group. The researcher's job, rather than to describe a stable entity, is to give continually updated accounts of observations on multiple levels of group interactions that occur on both a temporal and continuous basis simultaneously.

Thus, this type of research attempts to identify and explain complex social structures within the study group. Typically, qualitative research methodologies are combined with each other in order to provide comparative results. A triangulation of methods (also called multiple methods), where three or more methodologies are used and the results compared against each other, is common and can provide a more complete understanding of the behavior of the study group.

Qualitative study lends itself to thick narrative description, and it may be intensive given the complexity of group interactions. It takes place on site, in the group's natural environment, and attempts to be non-manipulative of group behaviors. The purpose is to aim for objectivity, while it must take into account the views of the participants.

This guide attempts to acknowledge the broad categories of qualitative observational research. First, qualitative observational research is broken down into its most common approaches, including types of this research method, themes that guide researchers' study designs and other, secondary approaches. Next, a Methods section introduces steps and methods used in qualitative observational research, employing multiple methods and computer software for this field of research. Then, a Commentary section includes some of the advantages and disadvantages to qualitative observational research, a look at the ongoing qualitative vs. quantitative discussion and some of the ethical considerations of this form of research.

Types of Qualitative Observational Research

Qualitative observational research consists of over 30 different approaches which often overlap and whose distinctions are subtle. The type of approach used depends on the research question and/or the discipline the researcher belongs to. For instance, anthropologists commonly employ ethnomethodology and ethnography, while sociologists often use symbolic interaction and philosophers frequently use concept analysis (Marshall & Rossman 1995). This overview discusses five approaches frequently used in English studies and two others, phenomenology and kinesiology, that may prove useful to some researcher.

Ethnography

Ethnography is a long term investigation of a group (often a culture) that is based on immersion and, optimally, participation in that group. Ethnography provides a detailed exploration of group activity and may include literature about and/or by the group. It is an approach which employs multiple methodologies to arrive at a theoretically comprehensive understanding of a group or culture. The issue for the observer is how the particulars in a given situation are interrelated. In other words, ethnography attempts to explain the Web of interdependence of group behaviors and interactions.

Narrative Inquiry

Narrative inquiry is the process of gathering information for the purpose of research through storytelling. The researcher then writes a narrative of the experience. Connelly and Clandinin (1990) note that, "Humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and collectively, lead storied lives. Thus, the study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world." In other words, people's lives consist of stories.

Field notes, interviews, journals, letters, autobiographies, and orally told stories are all methods of narrative inquiry. For example, a researcher might do a study on the way in which fourth grade girls define their social roles in school. A researcher might look at such things as notes and journal entries,and might also interview the girls and spend time observing them. After this, the researcher would then construct her own narrative of the study, using such conventions as scene and plot. As Connelly and Clandinin also note,"Research is a collaborative document, a mutually constructed story out of the lives of both researcher and participant."

Narrative inquiry is appropriate to many social science fields. The entire field of study is often used in disciplines such as literary theory, history, anthropology, drama, art, film, theology, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, education, politics, nutrition, medicine, and even aspects of evolutionary biological science.

Short Term Observation

Short term observational studies list or present findings of short term qualitative study based on recorded observation. Observation in the studied group's natural setting is a key aspect of qualitative research. The terms group and culture are used in a loose sense here because for the researcher, a group or culture may include populations such as an individual classroom of students, a set of employees in the workplace, or residents of similar geographical or cultural areas or backgrounds. Short term observational studies differ from ethnographies in that they focus more narrowly on specified categories of group behaviors. This type of research functions well as a means of fleshing out quantitative research that would otherwise do little more than list numerical data. Types of short term observational research run the spectrum from crossing the boundary into quantitative research to a very nearly ethnographic approach. Regardless of the group or culture under study, the observer/researcher studies a set of individuals in their natural setting as opposed to a clinical setting, hence this type of research is known as fieldwork.

Traditionally, the period of observation for a qualitative observational study has been from six months to two years or more (Fetterman 1989). Today, it is generally acceptable to study groups for less than six months, provided that the researcher triangulates the research methods. The more time spent in the field the more likely your results will be viewed as credible by the academic community.

Ethnomethodology

According to Coulon (1995), "ethnomethodology is the empirical study of methods that individuals use to give sense to and...to accomplish their daily actions: communicating, making decisions, and reasoning" (p. 15). This approach is actually a form of ethnography, which specifically studies activities of group members to see how they make sense of their surroundings. Usually an ethnomethodologist will see or hear things in a group that participants are not consciously aware of. For instance, in Ways with Words , Heath (1983) notices that in the Black community of Trackton, children learn how to become fast thinkers when playfully interacting with adults and other children. The participants may not be aware of this teaching and learning process, but Heath asserts that the learned wittiness of the children pays off when they have to defend themselves.

Grounded Theory

In this approach, researchers are responsible for developing other theories that emerge from observing a group. The theories are "grounded" in the group's observable experiences, but researchers add their own insight into why those experiences exist. In essence, grounded theory attempts to "reach a theory or conceptual understanding through step wise, inductive process" (Banning 1995).

Phenomenology

This approach, most often used by psychologists, seeks to explain the "structure and essence of the experiences" of a group of people (Banning 1995). A phenomenologist is concerned with understanding certain group behaviors from that group's point of view. For instance, a researcher might notice that in a certain group, all girls wear pink socks on Tuesdays. A true phenomenologist would not assume that pink is the girls' favorite color and Tuesdays are their favorite day to wear them. Instead, that researcher would try to find out what significance this phenomenon has. Phenomenological inquiry requires that researchers go through a series of steps in which they try to eliminate their own assumptions and biases, examine the phenomenon without presuppositions, and describe the "deep structure" of the phenomenon based on internal themes that are discovered (Marshall & Rossman, 1995). Phenomenology does greatly overlap with ethnography, but, as Bruyn (1970), points out, some phenomenologists assert that they "study symbolic meanings as they constitute themselves in human consciousness" (p. 286).

Kinesic analysis examines what is communicated through body movement. This approach is based on the assumption that all human beings, although they may be unaware of it, act and react to situations nonverbally as well as verbally. Kinesics can be especially useful when employed in conjunction with other qualitative methods such as interviews and narratives to triangulate data. Kinesics must be used thoughtfully and carefully, as movements and gestures can be easily misinterpreted and presenting findings without giving context renders the data useless (Marshall & Rossman, 1995).

Characteristics of Qualitative Observational Research

Qualitative observational research can be characterized by at least ten overlapping themes that researchers should be aware of when collecting and analyzing data. In Qualitative Evaluation Methods , Patton (1980) discusses these characteristics to help researchers design studies. These characteristics are explained below using examples relating to Black English Vernacular (BEV) and the African American rhetorical tradition. All of the examples below are based on Balester's 1993 text, Cultural divide: A study of African-American college-level writers .

Naturalistic Inquiry

Qualitative observational research is naturalistic because it studies a group in its natural setting. Patton explains, "Naturalistic inquiry is thus contrasted to experimental research where the investigator attempts to completely control the condition of the study" (p. 42). For example, if you wanted to study college students who were speakers of BEV, you would not conduct your research in a predominantly Caucasian college or university.

Inductive analysis

This characteristic is prevalent in qualitative research because it allows the observer to become immersed in a group. The researcher starts with answers, but forms questions throughout the research process. Hypotheses and theories can continuously change depending on what the observer wants to know. For instance, an observer might realize that the purpose of many of BEV speech acts is to build up the reputation of the speaker. Thus, the observer's job is to find out why. This could lead to further research into the rhetorical strategies and purposes of BEV.

Holistic perspective

Patton states, "[A] holistic approach assumes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" (p. 40). In other words, almost every action or communication must be taken as a part of the whole phenomenon of a certain community or culture. However, this characteristic of qualitative observational research can be bothersome because it can lead researchers into taking every little action into consideration when writing a narrative. For instance, a researcher might notice that many speakers of BEV employ a particular rhetorical strategy in their writing. However, this phenomenon might not have anything to do with BEV and its traditions or strategies. It might be linked to something else in their lives.

Personal contact and insight

The researcher is responsible for becoming a part of a group to get a more in-depth study. However, the researcher also has to be aware of biases (both good and bad). For example, researchers who do not consider BEV a legitimate form of discourse should be aware of and acknowledge that bias before studying BEV. In contrast, a researcher who speaks BEV might ignore some negative implications of this discourse.

Dynamic systems

Qualitative observational research is not concerned with having straightforward, right or wrong answers. In addition, change in a study is common because the researcher is not concerned with finding only one answer. For example, a researcher could gain a different perspective on BEV by observing and interviewing a wide range of BEV speakers; the researcher could study both male and female speakers and speakers from different educational and geographical locations.

Unique case orientation

Researchers must remember that every study is special and deserves in-depth attention. This is especially necessary for doing cultural comparisons. For instance, a researcher may believe that "Jive" (a way of talking in the 1970s) and BEV are the same because they both derive from African-American culture. This is untrue, and BEV should be considered a unique form of discourse, with its own history, conventions, and uses/contexts.

Context sensitivity

Researchers must realize the different variables, such as values and beliefs, that influence cultural behaviors. For example, knowing that the rhetorical strategies of BEV--signifying, running it down, putting down, putting on, etc.--are context specific, a researcher might examine what values and beliefs influence this context specificity.

Empathic neutrality

Ideally, researchers should be non-judgmental when compiling findings. Because complete neutrality is impossible, this characteristic is a controversial aspect of qualitative research. For instance, it would be difficult for a researcher not to judge students who completely stop speaking BEV upon coming to college, since BEV has strong roots in African-American culture and is strongly tied to speakers' identities.This example might illustrate the difficulties in remaining completely neutral.

Design flexibility

Researchers can continue to do research on other topics or questions that emerge from the initial research. Some topics that could emerge from studying college students who are speakers of BEV are student composing processes, their academic success, or their assimilation or accommodation to academic discourse.

Qualitative data

This is a detailed description of why a culture is the way it is. Triangulation, or the use of many data gathering methods, such as field notes, interviews, writing samples, and other data helps determine the cultural phenomenon of a group. For example, a researcher could collect personal letters from different BEV speakers to find a common bond that is inherent in all their personal letters. The researcher could then interview the participants about their letter writing to get diverse points of view.

In sum, the qualitative observational researcher must attempt to maintain a non-judgmental bias throughout the study. The researcher's goal is to observe and describe group patterns, similarities, and differences as they occur. Preconceptions or expectations of an individual or group's behavior interferes with the researcher's ability to tell the group or culture's story in a fair and accurate manner. In addition, preconceived expectations preclude the researcher from observing subtle nuances of character and speech that may be important to understand group behaviors or interactions. While absolute objectivity is impossible, it is paramount that researchers enter the field or study group with an open a mind, an awareness of their own biases, and a commitment to detach from those biases as much as possible while observing and representing the group.

Methods of Qualitative Observational Research

Qualitative observational research involves more than simply going out into the field and observing a given group or culture. Researchers must also consider such issues as their role, their research question, the theory driving their inquiry, how they will collect and analyze information, and how they will report their results. In this section, we address these issues in detail. We also consider the use of multiple methodologies for collecting information and the role of computer software in qualitative observational research.

Steps and Methods used in Qualitative Observational Research

Qualitative observational research involves more than simply going out into the field and observing a given group or culture. Researchers must also consider the following:

Observer's role

As Connelly and Clandinin (1990) point out, in all instances, qualitative observational research involves formulating a thoughtful and well-understood relationship between the researcher and research participants. It is essential for the researcher to determine what role(s) to play to ensure facilitation of the study and acceptance by the participants in the study group or culture. Some possibilities include observing-participant, participant-observer and neutral observer.

The observer's role is to record group interactions and behaviors as objectively as possible using various qualitative inquiry tools. Observing-participants already have a position in the society/community before taking on the role of observer. They must also examine their own subjectivity and consider that participating in the group might lead to sympathetic or antagonistic interpretations of group behaviors. Participant-observers, on the other hand, attempt to become part of community and to adopt roles as participants, but come to the study with their own culture or community inscriptions. They attempt to participate fully and take on participant roles, but must be careful to behave in a consistent manner as part of the setting so as not to cause significant changes in the community itself. Although neutral observers do not participate in the group they are studying, they still need to be aware of any presumptions they may hold that would influence their findings and what influence the act of observing the participants may have on their behavior.

It is the observer's responsibility to let readers of the research report know not only the role played in the research, but also the point of view of the observer.

Defining the research question

Unlike most scientific research methods, qualitative observational inquiry does not require the researcher to define a precise set of issues in the initial phases; these issues often emerge from the study over time. While some qualitative inquiries may begin with a set of questions, it is common for theories about group behavior and interactions to emerge as a result of the observer's exploratory work (emergent design). And, those theories may identify relevant questions for further research.

The goal of qualitative observational research is to define and answer a specific research problem or question, but this problem or question may or may not be defined at the time when the researcher first begins the study. Some researchers like to enter the field with a specific research problem already in mind. While such researchers still want to let events unfold as freely as possible once in the field, they believe that by defining the research problem in advance they are better able to observe the study group or culture and identify specific patterns of behavior.

Other qualitative observational researchers like to enter the field first and let the research questions or problems identify themselves. These researchers believe that entering the field with a specifically defined research question may bias their observations, and they may fail to notice relationships or behavior patterns that are important in understanding the study group or culture. Whatever approach is taken in determining the research question, the observer does need to be clear about the purpose, scope, and focus of the study and identify the subjects and the context in which they will be studied.

Identifying the theory that drives the inquiry

The qualitative observational researcher must determine what underlying theory or model should inform the research. This may mean replicating or building on an earlier study, or it may mean formulating a new model or theory by which to conduct the study. Either way, the theory or model chosen will help the researcher determine how to structure the study (i.e., whether to study participants in the classroom only or to study them outside of the classroom as well, and how and when to use interviews).

Selecting qualitative research tools

Selecting how and when data will be collected is an essential step in designing qualitative observational research studies. One of the primary tools of ethnographic study is the use of field notes. Observers may simply begin with a blank notebook and write down everything that goes on. Others may use audio and/or video tapes. Some observers begin with a list of categories of behavior to be noted. This works best when the research question is already defined; however, categories should be flexible and modifiable throughout the study.

The goals of note taking are to help ensure validity of the data collection and interpretation processes, to check data with members of context if possible, to weigh the evidence, and to check for researcher and subjects' effects on both patterned and outlying data.

Another useful tool, journal records, may be made by participants, researchers or practitioners. These records are collected through participant observation in a shared practical setting.

Written dialogue between researcher and participants is also used in narrative inquiry as a way of offering and responding to tentative narrative interpretations (Clandinin, 1986). Researchers may look at autobiographical and biographical writing, as well as documents such as plans, newsletters, course materials and student products, rules, laws, architecture, picturing, metaphors, poetry, clothing, foods, rituals, physical setting, and implements such as musical instruments, artifacts, logs--in short, anything within the context of the studied group that speaks of their experience.

Unstructured interviews may be used to collect data; personal stories tell us something of how group members perceive and experience their conditions. Structured interviews permit more focused information gathering, but may overlook aspects of the group that an unstructured interview might reveal. To facilitate truthful responses, the interview should be informal or conversational in nature. Interviewees may be selected with intent to uncover specific information or to gain a cross section of group members (for instance, both high achievers and those having difficultly with the material).

Researchers may need to use "stimulation recall" to prompt interviewees or participants in informal discussion concerning specific events. Another method, "simulation response," presents hypothetical situations to obtain responses from members of the community. While these methods are often helpful, they are not infallible. Members may inhibit access to information by concealing aspects of their lives or by telling researchers what they think they want to hear.

Analyzing and reporting data

The final steps to be taken by the qualitative observational researcher are analyzing the data and writing the research report. The researcher's work culminates in synthesizing and interpreting the data into an understandable and enlightening piece of writing. But, despite the fact that these steps mark the culmination of the researcher's work, it should not be assumed that they are reserved for the end of the study. Instead, it is common for the researcher to analyze data and write parts of the final report throughout the research process. In analyzing descriptive data, the researcher reviews what was witnessed and recorded, and synthesizes it with the observations and words of the participants themselves.

The observer begins with reading a situation as a text, applying as many critical techniques as possible without violating the sanctity of the text. It is important to avoid picking and choosing instances of behavior out of context. Analysis may reveal convergent data, metaphors that run throughout a language, culture, or group (thematic analysis). Key terms or key metaphors may be unpacked and examined for their significance and interrelationships among other aspects of group dynamics (content analysis). Dominant plots in the literature, films, and the text of daily life of the group aid in analysis of the data as a whole.

Writing the research report

The analyzing and writing stages of research also mark the point where researchers wed their stories with the stories of research participants. This marriage represents the ultimate goal of qualitative research: to produce a text that in the end provides a clearer understanding of the group or culture's behavior, and by doing so helps us better understand our own individual or group behaviors.

Often, the research report is written as an ethnography or a narrative. However, these two forms are not the only options for presenting qualitative observational research findings. Increasingly, the scope of qualitative observational research reporting is broadening to include elements of other genres, such as self-narratives, fiction, and performance texts (Alvermann, et al. 1996).

What researchers choose to include or exclude from the final text can have a tremendous effect on how their results are interpreted by others. Alvermann, et al. propose that conscientious qualitative researchers might pose the following questions when writing up their findings:

• How much information needs to be included in the text about theories that may have guided the research, disciplinary biases, personal hunches that were followed, etc.?
• Should I include my original research question and its changing forms as I conducted my research?
• How much background information abouth the topic and description of research processes do readers need to understand my findings?
• How much description of myself needs to be included to reveal possible biases or perspectives (gender, ethnicity, age, academic/social theories adhered to, etc.)?
• How can I ensure the report is interesting without compromising credibility?
• How can I fairly and accurately report my findings within the length limitations of where it will appear (journal, paper presentation, etc.)?
• Are the representations of myself and the studied group fair? Is it clear that these are mere representations or have I presented them as definite factual evidence?

Researchers who take the time to confront these possible problems will produce fairer, clearer reports of their research. Even when the report takes the form of a narrative, researchers must be sure that their "telling of the story" gives readers an accurate and complete picture of the research.

It is important to note that the order of presentation is not indicative of an essential or set pattern. Although some elements in the researcher's decision-making process will necessarily precede others (i.e., the determination of the researcher's role before data collection), most of the steps outlined below will significantly overlap and recur throughout the research process.

Employing Multiple Methods

It is important to underscore that one cannot point to a single clear definition of a qualitative study. Oftentimes researchers triangulate data by combining different types of qualitative approaches and even including quantitative elements. For example, Doheny-Farina (1985) conducted a study of the collaborative writing process in a new software company. He visited the company for three to five days a week over eight months. His visits ranged from one to eight hours. His key informants were the company's top five executives, two middle managers, and two outside consults. He took 400 pages of field notes of three types: observational, theoretical, and methodological. He tape-recorded meetings, and he also conducted 30 open-ended and discourse-based interviews.

Doheny-Farina analyzed the data by reviewing it chronologically and developing a coding scheme as he reviewed. From the data he discovered a major theme and sub-theme. His analysis describes the writing of the company's business plan within its organizational context.

Essentially, his data showed that the organizational context shaped the writing of the business plan while the writing of the business plan shaped the organizational context.

Although the article Doheny-Farina wrote about his study starts out much like a traditional research report, it reports its results as a story with a chronology and a discussion of themes. He also offers theoretical, pedagogical, and research implications. He concludes by allowing that he is offering a model that is not necessarily generalizable but nonetheless valuable.

Computer Software for Qualitative Research

Qualitative observational research, by nature, involves the compilation of massive amounts of data. Because of this, many researchers have begun using computer software to help them organize and make sense of the volumes of information. There are many reasons for using computers in qualitative research, but according to Richards and Richards (1993), "Computers [offer] to address each of the obvious barriers to qualitative analysis by manual methods--limitations on size, flexibility and complexity of data records, and systems of theorizing about data." The authors also argue that using computers for qualitative research can give studies more credibility and status because of the association between computers and "hard" data. Research software can also help the researcher to analyze data that was previously too unwieldy for study. Finally, computers greatly speed up the process of retrieving and exploring data. In their text Computer Programs for Qualitative Analysis, Weitzman and Miles (1995), cite a list of the ways computer software can help the qualitative researcher (p. 5):

• Making notes in the field
• Writing up or transcribing field notes
• Editing: correcting, extending, or revising field notes
• Coding: attaching keywords or tags to segments of text to permit later retrieval
• Storage: keeping text in an organized database
• Search and retrieval: locating relevant segments of texts and making them available for inspection
• Data "linking": connecting relevant data segments to each other, forming categories, clusters, or networks of information
• Memoing: writing reflective commentaries on some aspect of the data as a basis for deeper understanding
• Content analysis: counting frequencies, sequence, or locations of words and phrases
• Data display: placing selected or reduced data in a condensed organized format, such as a matrix or network, for inspection
• Conclusion-drawing and verification: aiding the analyst in interpreting displayed data and testing findings
• Theory-building: developing systematic, conceptually coherent explanations of findings; testing hypotheses
• Graphic mapping: creating diagrams that depict findings or theories
• Preparing interim and final reports

Before choosing software for a qualitative study, researchers should not only be familiar with the types of software available, but they should also be well versed in the particular program functions and features they need. Flexibility and user friendliness are two more considerations addressed by Weitzman and Miles. They explain that before choosing software, researchers should find out if the software is designed to do what they need, and if not, can the software be adapted to meet the needs of a particular study. In addition, researchers should consider how complicated the software is to learn and use. Researchers should also find out if the software comes with a manual, has on-screen help, and/or has a technical support phone number.

Commentary on Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry

Advantages of qualitative observational research.

Qualitative observational research, especially ethnographies, can:

• Account for the complexity of group behaviors
• Reveal interrelationships among multifaceted dimensions of group interactions
• Provide context for behaviors

Narrative inquiry,especially ethnographic, can:

• Reveal qualities of group experience in a way that other forms of research cannot
• Help determine questions and types of follow-up research

Observational study can:

• Reveal descriptions of behaviors in context by stepping outside the group
• Allow qualitative researchers to identify recurring patterns of behavior that participants may be unable to recognize

Qualitative research expands the range of knowledge and understanding of the world beyond the researchers themselves. It often helps us see why something is the way it is, rather than just presenting a phenomenon. For instance, a quantitative study may find that students who are taught composition using a process method receive higher grades on papers than students taught using a product method. However, a qualitative study of composition instructors could reveal why many of them still use the product method even though they are aware of the benefits of the process method.

Disadvantages of Qualitative Observational Research

• Researcher bias can bias the design of a study.
• Researcher bias can enter into data collection.
• Sources or subjects may not all be equally credible.
• Some subjects may be previously influenced and affect the outcome of the study.
• Background information may be missing.
• Study group may not be representative of the larger population.
• Analysis of observations can be biased.
• Any group that is studied is altered to some degree by the very presence of the researcher. Therefore, any data collected is somewhat skewed. (Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle)
• It takes time to build trust with participants that facilitates full and honest self-representation. Short term observational studies are at a particular disadvantage where trust building is concerned.

Ethnographic studies

• The quality of the data alone is problematic. (Lauer and Asher) (1988): Ethnographic research is time consuming, potentially expensive, and requires a well trained researcher
• Too little data can lead to false assumptions about behavior patterns. Conversely, a large quantity of data may not be effectively be processed
• Data Collector's first impressions can bias collection

Narrative Inquiries

• Narrative inquiries do not lend themselves well to replicability and are not generalizable.
• Narrative Inquiries are considered unreliable by experimentalists. However, ethnographies can be assessed and compared for certain variables to yield testable explanations; this is as close as ethnographic research gets to being empirical in nature.
• Qualitative research is neither prescriptive nor definite. While it provides significant data about groups or cultures and prompts new research questions, narrative studies do not attempt to answer questions, nor are they predictive of future behaviors.

The Qualitative/Quantitative Debate

In Miles and Huberman's 1994 book Qualitative Data Analysis , quantitative researcher Fred Kerlinger is quoted as saying, "There's no such thing as qualitative data. Everything is either 1 or 0" (p. 40). To this another researcher, D. T. Campbell, asserts, "All research ultimately has a qualitative grounding" (p. 40). This back and forth banter among qualitative and quantitative researchers is "essentially unproductive," according to Miles and Huberman. They and many other researchers agree that these two research methods need each other more often than not. But, because qualitative data typically involves words and quantitative data involves numbers, there are some researchers who feel that one is better (or more scientific) than the other. Another major difference between the two is that qualitative research is inductive and quantitative research is deductive. In qualitative research, a hypothesis is not needed to begin research. However, all quantitative research requires a hypothesis before research can begin.

Another major difference between qualitative and quantitative research deals with the underlying assumptions about the role of the researcher. In quantitative research, the researcher is ideally an objective observer who neither participates in nor influences what is being studied. In qualitative research, however, it is thought that the researcher can learn the most by participating and/or being immersed in a research situation. These basic underlying assumptions of both methodologies guide and sequence the types of data collection methods employed.

Although there are clear differences between qualitative and quantitative approaches, some researchers maintain that the choice between using qualitative or quantitative approaches actually has less to do with methodologies than it does with positioning oneself within a particular discipline or research tradition. The difficulty in choosing a method is compounded by the fact that research is often affiliated with universities and other institutions. The findings of research projects often guide important decisions about specific practices and policies. Choices about which approach to use may reflect the interests of those conducting or benefiting from the research and the purposes for which the findings will be applied. Decisions about which kind of research method to use may also be based on the researcher's own experience and preference, the population being researched, the proposed audience for findings, time, money and other resources available (Hathaway, 1995).

Some researchers believe that qualitative and quantitative methodologies cannot be combined because the assumptions underlying each tradition are so vastly different. Other researchers think they can be used in combination only by alternating between methods; qualitative research is appropriate to answer certain kinds of questions in certain conditions and quantitative is right for others. And some researchers think that both qualitative and quantitative methods can be used simultaneously to answer a research question.

To a certain extent, researchers on all sides of the debate are correct; each approach has its drawbacks. Quantitative research often "forces" responses or people into categories that might not "fit" in order to make meaning. Qualitative research, on the other hand, sometimes focuses too closely on individual results and fails to make connections to larger situations or possible causes of the results. Rather than discounting either approach for its drawbacks, researchers should find the most effective ways to incorporate elements of both to ensure that their studies are as accurate and thorough as possible.

It is important for researchers to realize that qualitative and quantitative methods can be used in conjunction with each other. In a study of computer-assisted writing classrooms, Snyder (1995) employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study was constructed according to guidelines for quantitative studies; the computer classroom was the "treatment" group and the traditional pen and paper classroom was the "control" group. Both classes contained subjects with the same characteristics from the population sampled. Both classes followed the same lesson plan and were taught by the same teacher in the same semester. The only variable used was the absence or presence of the computers. Although Snyder set this study up as an "experiment," she used many qualitative approaches to supplement her findings. She observed both classrooms on a regular basis as a participant-observer and conducted several interviews with the teacher both during and after the semester. However, there were problems in using this approach. The strict adherence to the same syllabus and lesson plans for both classes and the restricted access of the control group to the computers may have put some students at a disadvantage. Snyder also notes that in retrospect she should have used case studies of the students to further develop her findings. Although her study had certain flaws, Snyder insists that researchers can simultaneously employ qualitative and quantitative methods if studies are planned carefully and carried out conscientiously.

Newkirk (1991) argues for qualitative research in English education from a political point of view. He says that not only can teachers more readily identify with and accept such particularized studies, but also the work of observing-participants, who report classroom "lore," gives practitioners a voice in the conversations informing their discipline. In addition, he asserts that experimental research tends to support the hierarchical structure of education policy, which discounts the experience of practitioners by privileging the alleged objectivity and generalizability of experimental designs and removing research from context. Additionally, Newkirk points out that "ethnographic...research works from fundamentally different assumptions about knowledge." Essentially, ethnography's epistemological orientation is phenomenological (observation based) while experimental research's is ontological (investigates the metaphysical or essential nature of something).

Ethical Considerations in Ethnography, Observational Research, and Narrative Inquiry

Ethical issues should always be considered when undertaking data analysis. Because the nature of qualitative observational research requires observation and interaction with groups, it is understandable why certain ethical issues may arise. Miles and Huberman (1994) list several issues that researchers should consider when analyzing data. They caution researchers to be aware of these and other issues before, during, and after the research had been conducted. Some of the issues involve the following:

• Informed consent (Do participants have full knowledge of what is involved?)
• Harm and risk (Can the study hurt participants?)
• Honesty and trust (Is the researcher being truthful in presenting data?)
• Privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity (Will the study intrude too much into group behaviors?)
• Intervention and advocacy (What should researchers do if participants display harmful or illegal behavior?)

Related Links

The following is a list of Internet links that are related to the field of qualitative observational research methods.

The Association of Qualitative Research Practitioners

http://www.aqrp.co.uk/

Nova Southeastern University’s School of Social and Systematic Studies (go to their Homepage and do a search on Qualitative Research)

http://www.nova.edu/

ISWorld Net page for research and scholarship

http://www.umich.edu/~isworld/reshome.html

Annotated Bibliography

Alvermann, D., O'Brien, D., & Dillon, D. (1996). On writing qualitative research. Reading research quarterly, 31 (1), 114-120.

This article presents a "conversation" among the authors about issues in writing qualitative research reports. They address potential problems researchers may face when reporting their findings and discuss how theory and methodology shape qualitative research write-ups.

Anderson, G. L. (1994). The cultural politics of qualitative research in education: Confirming and contesting the canon. Educational Theory, 44, 225-237.

This article looks at different approaches to qualitative field research. It is also a critical review of the Handbook of qualitative research in education .

Andreas, D. (1992). Ethnography of Biography: Student Teachers Reflecting on 'Life-Stories' of Experienced Teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (San Francisco, CA, April 20-24).

Explores the use of ethnographic biography as a source of information and reflection for student teachers.

Balester, V. M. (1993). Cultural divide: A study of African-American college-level writers. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

This book is based on research Balester conducted on the spoken and written texts of African-American students. For her study, Balester did case studies of eight African-American students, looking specifically at the students' attitudes toward their own language and the language of academia.

Banning, J. (1995, Sept. 19). Qualitative research. Personal interview with professor at Colorado State University, Fort Collins.

Dr. Banning, a professor in the School of Education at Colorado State University, discusses in detail the workshop he and colleague Jeff Gliner conducted on qualitative research.

Bishop, W. (1992). I-Witnessing in Composition: Turning Ethnographic Data into Narratives. Rhetoric Review ; v11 n1 p147-58 Fall.

Discusses problems with reconciling ethnographic research with positivistic methods.

Blair, K. (1995). Ethnography and the Internet: Research into Electronic Discourse Communities. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (46th, Washington, DC, March 23-25, 1995).

Pros of electronic ethnography.

Borman, K. M. (1986). Ethnographic and qualitative research design and why it doesn't work. American Behavioral Scientist, 30, 43-57.

Borman identifies the characteristics of qualitative research and its weaknesses, then offers solutions.

Brophy, J. (Nov. 1995). Thoughts on the qualitative quantitative debate. Chicago, IL: National Council for the Social Studies. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 392 734)

The focus of this paper is on the goals of both qualitative and quantative research and developing effective studies for the classroom. Brophy asserts that qualitative and quantitative methods are simply "tools" and should be evaluated from the standpoint of what questions they can answer best.

Bruyn, S. T. (1970). The new empiricists: The participant observer and phenomenologist. In W. J. Filstead (Ed.), Qualitative methodology: Firsthand involvement with the social world. Chicago: Markham, 283-287.

This article discusses the importance of phenomenology to qualitative research.

Bullock, R. (1995). Classroom Research in Graduate Methods Courses. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (46th, Washington, DC, March 23-25, 1995).

Examines first year graduate student-teachers and why they are distrustful of narrative or ethnographic research as opposed to empirical research.

Burroughs-Lange, S. G., & Lange, J. (1993). Denuded data! Grounded theory using the NUDIST computer analysis program: In researching the challenge to teacher self-efficacy posed by students with learning disabilities in Australian education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 364 193)

The authors evaluate the use of the NUDIST (Non-numerical, Unstructured Data Indexing, Searching and Theorising) computer program to organize coded, qualitative data. NUDIST was used in the authors' study to develop a theoretical understanding of the challenge that students with learning disablities pose to neophyte teachers' newly-formed images of effectiveness.

Collier, J., & Collier, M. (1986). Visual anthropology: Photography as a research method. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

This work discusses the benefits and possibilities of including photography in anthropological and ethnographic research. The book includes sections on the role of the photographer in documenting a culture or group, how photographs function in the interviewing process, analyzing images, and the psychological significance of photography and visual images in conveying meaning.

Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19 (5), 2-14.

This article is a theoretical work on conducting narrative inquiry that focuses on the issues of transferability and generalizability in this field of research.

Coulon, A. (1995). Ethnomethodology (J. Coulon & J. Katz, Trans.). London: Sage.

This text covers the history and issues related to ethnomethodology.

Cross, G. (1994). Ethnographic Research in Business and Technical Writing: Between Extremes and Margins. Journal of Business and Technical Communication ; v8 n1 p118-34 Jan.

Explores the phenomenal context, the site's cultural context, the research community context, and the researcher's interior context in business and technical writing.

Doheny-Farina, S. (1986). Writing in an emerging organization: An ethnographic study. Written Communication, 3, 158-85.

This article, gleaned from the author's doctoral dissertation, discusses his study of collaborative writing among executives at a new software firm. His methods included participant-observations, open-ended interviews, and Discourse-Based interviews.

Doheny-Farina, S. & Odell, L. (1985). Ethnographic research on writing: assumptions and methodology. In L. Odell &D. Goswami (Ed.), Writing in nonacademic settings. New York: Guilford, 503-535.

With a caution that researchers in English need to understand ethnography's basis in anthropology, this article outlines theoretical assumptions, methodologies, and the uses and limitations of ethnographic research.

Dyson, A. Haas. (1984). Learning to write/learning to do school: Emergent writers' interpretations of school literacy tasks. Research in the Teaching of English, 18, . 233-264.

This article is the report of an ethnographic study of kindergarten children which examined the relationship between their learning to write and their adapting to the culture of school. Data was collected several times per week over a fourteen week period. The researcher was a participant-observer who selected three case study children during the first phase of observation and studied them in context.

Ember,C. R., & Ember, M. (1973). Anthropology. New York: Appleton, Century, Crofts.

Fetterman, D. M. (1989). Ethnography: Step by step. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

As the title suggests, this is a how-to book on ethnographies and ethnographic research. The book answers the question: what is ethnographic research and outlines a step by step approach to conducting this type of research. Chapter subjects include methods and techniques of ethnographic fieldwork, equipment needed for ethnographic research, how to analyze your findings, the writing process, and ethics in ethnographic research.

Fielding, N. G., & Lee, R. M. (Ed.). (1991). Using computers in qualitative research. London: Sage.

This anthology contains 11 essays on computers and qualitative research. The topics include general information about types of qualitative research and software, implications for research, and qualitative knowledge and computing. This text provides valuable information on both the positive and negative aspects of using computers for qualitative research.

Filstead, W. J. (Ed.). (1970). Qualitative methodology: Firsthand involvement with the social world. Chicago: Markham.

This text is a collection of essays on qualitative methodologies.

Firestone, W. A. & Dawson, J. A. (June 1981). To ethnograph or not to ethnograph? Varieties of qualitative research in education. Philadelphia, PA: Research for Better Schools, Inc. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 222 985)

This paper addresses the advantages and disadvantages of using ethnographic studies and outlines six criteria for successfully using ethnographies in education studies. The authors also discuss five ways in which qualitative approaches can vary in terms of data collection.

Fitch, K. (1994). Criteria for Evidence in Qualitative Research. Western Journal of Communication ; v58 n1 p32-38 Win.

Contributions and limitations of conversation analysis and postmodernism toward the enterprise of ethnographic research. Criteria for qualitative data as evidence for claims about social life and for a qualitative study to count as evidence.

Flake, C. (1992). Ethnography for Teacher Education: An Innovative Elementary School Social Studies Program in South Carolina. Social Studies ; v83 n6 p253-57 Nov-Dec 1992.

Describes a teacher education program that utilizes an internship that includes an ethnographic research project. Explains that the teacher intern is required to conduct an in-depth analysis of the social studies being taught in their school as contrasted to that described in their textbooks. Includes resulting suggestions for improvement in the curriculum.

Gilbert, R. (1992). Text and context in qualitative educational research: Discourse analysis and the problem of contextual explanation. Linguistics and Education, 4, 37-57.

This article discusses methods of improving qualitative research in education.

Gilmore, D.D. (1991, Fall). Subjectivity and subjugation: Fieldwork in the stratified community. Human Organization, 215.

This article outlines an anthropologist's efforts to maintain scholarly neutrality in an agricultural town in Franco Spain where class conflict was severe.

Greenberg, J. H. (1954). A quantitative approach to the morphological typology of language. In R. F. Spencer (Ed.). Method and perspective in anthropology . Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

The author compares and contrasts typological methods of languages against the genetic-historical method.

Hammersley,M., & Atkinson, P. (1983). Ethnography: Principles in practice. London: Taveston.

This work deals with what ethnographic research is, what its strengths and weaknesses are, and how to go about conducting the research for your own project.

Hammersley, M. (1990). Reading ethnographic research: A critical guide. New York: Longman.

This book is a how-to manual on ethnographic research emphasizing understanding within unspoken contexts.

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Hasselkus discusses the different methods of qualitative research.

Hathaway, R. (1995). Assumptions underlying quantitative and qualitative research: Implications for institutional research. Research in higher education, 36 (5), 535-562.

Hathaway says that the choice between using qualitative or quantitative approaches is less about methodology and more about aligning oneself with particular theoretical and academic traditions. He concluded that the two approaches address questions in very different ways, each one having its own advantages and drawbacks.

Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Heath studies two communities; one Black and one White, to analyze the citizens' language development.

Heath, S. B. (1993). The Madness(es) of Reading and Writing Ethnography. Anthropology and Education Quarterly ; v24 n3 p256-68 Sep.

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Perspectives and methodologies that sociolinguistics brings to ethnographic research in schools. Methodological contributions arising from linguistics that interactional sociolinguistics and microethnograpy share, such as the use of naturally occurring language data, the consultation of native intuition, and discourse analysis.

This short Web site briefly describes qualitative research and gives an example of how it can be used to supplement quantitative studies in health care.

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography (formerly Urban Life ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

This is a quarterly publication containing recent ethnographic studies and what's new in ethnography. This publication is a good source of information on and examples of how other researchers are conducting their own ethnographic studies

Kamil, M. L., Langer, J. A., & Shanahan, T. (1985). Ethnographic methodologies. Understanding research in reading and writing. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 71-91.

The chapter defines ethnographic research, examines its theoretical underpinnings, and contrasts it with experimental research. It includes an extended example from Heath's "Questioning at Home and at School: A Comparative Study."

Kirk, J. & Miller, M. (1986). Reliability and validity in qualitative research . Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

This book investigates how realiability and validity in qualitative research help to evaluate the objectivity of particular studies. The authors assert that given the true meaning of validity, many studies, including "scientific" ones, are not really valid. Also included are guidelines for maintaining reliability in qualitative studies.

Lancy, D. E. (1993). Qualitative research in education. White Plains, NY: Longman.

This text explores the many issues of qualitative research.

Lauer, J. M., & Asher, J. W. (1988). Ethnographies. Composition research: Empirical designs. New York: Oxford University Press, 39-53.

This chapter provides an overview of ethnographic research applied to English. It includes examples from two studies, Florio and Clark's "The function of writing in an elementary classroom" and Lemke and Bridwell's "Assessing writing ability--an ethnographic study of consultant-teacher relationships."

Lawless, E.J. (1992, Summer). I was afraid someone like you...an outsider...would misunderstand: Negotiating interpretive differences between ethnographers and subjects. Journal of American Folklore, 302.

This article looks at the role of the ethnographer in the collection of field research and writing. A new approach called "reciprocal ethnography" allows for interaction with the ethnographer.

Lazerfeld, P. F. (1972). Qualitative analysis: Historical and critical essays. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

This text deals with the issues of qualitative research.

LeCompte, M. D., Millroy, W. L., & Preissle, J. (Ed.). (1992). The handbook of qualitative research in education. San Diego: Academic Press.

This anthology contains 18 essays on qualitative research in education. The topics range from the future of qualitative research to issues of validity and subjectivity in qualitative research. This text is a good source for those interested in current theories about and research on qualitative research itself.

Lier, L. (1988). The classroom and the language learner. New York: Longman.

The author argues for collecting and interpreting of classroom data (L-2 learning) in the presence of only limited knowledge of the process of teaching and learning in second language classrooms. This book sets out to define problems of classroom research within second language acquisition study and within social science. And, it offers a well documented guide for conducting research in the context of the classroom.

Lincoln, Y.S., & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

This text outlines the positivist and naturalist research paradigms.

Linstead, S. (1993, Jan.). From postmodern anthropology to deconstructive ethnography. Human Relations, 97.

This article studies the effects of ethnography and postmodern influences on organizations. Derridian deconstruction theory is applied in order to get a new angle on social interactions within organizations.

Manwar, A., Johnson, B. D., & Dunlap, E. (1994). Qualitative data analysis with hypertext: A case of New York City crack dealers. Qualitative Sociology, 17, 283-292.

The authors describe some of the problems of data management and analysis faced by a team of ethnographers researching cocaine and crack distributuion in New York City. The researchers used FolioVIEWS, a hypertext software program, which proved to be more effective than other available programs in solving managment and analytical problems.

Marshall, C. & Rossman, G. (1995). Designing qualitative research . (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This book explains different types of qualitative studies and provides thorough instruction on how to design, conduct and evaluate a qualitative study. It also includes helpful information on managing time, personnel and financial resources for qualitative research.

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This text covers data analysis issues related to qualitative research.

Minnich, R. G. (Ed.). (1987). Aspects of Polish folk culture. Bergen, Norway: Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen.

This text is a good source of examples for work done in the field of ethnography dealing with culture and literature. The work is a compilation of ethnographic studies by different authors done on topics ranging from the role played by gifts in Polish weddings to the role of art in Polish society. Through the reports included in this work, Minnich draws a clearer picture of Polish folk culture.

Minnis, J. R. (1985). Ethnography, case study, grounded theory, and distance education research. Distance Education, 6, 189-198.

Minnis explores the possibility of expanding the research base through the use of accepted qualitative methodologies.

Moores, S. (1993). Interpreting audiences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This text characterizes features of ethnography as a method of cultural investigation. It provides a discussion of the opposing, alternative perspectives on various forms of media reception and how ethnographic practice best equips researchers to map the media's varied uses and meanings for particular social subjects in particular cultural contexts.

Mortensen, P. & Kirsch, G., Eds. (1996). Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy. Urbana, IL: ERIC .

Fourteen essays address questions faced by qualitative researchers today: how to represent others and themselves in research narratives; how to address ethical dilemmas in research-participant relations; and how to deal with various rhetorical, institutional, and historical constraints on research.

Narayan, K. (1989). Storytellers, saints, scoundrels: Folk narrative in Hindu religious teaching. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

The author relates hindu stories and their significance to education, both moral and religious.

Newkirk, T. (1991). The politics of composition research: The conspiracy against experience. In R. Bullock & J. Trimbur (Eds.), The politics of writing instruction: Postsecondary. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 119-135.

The author argues for the importance of ethnographic research in English education from a political perspective. He cites its key strengths over experimental research--particularity, involvement of the researcher, underlying ideology--the very characteristics which experimentalists criticize. Newkirk asserts that ethnographic research empowers practitioners.

Patton, M. Q. (1992). Ethnography and research: A qualitative view. Topics in Language Disorders, 12, 1-14.

This article describes the functions of ethnography in the fields of education and communication disorders.

Patton, M. Q. (1980). Qualitative evaluation methods. Beverly Hills: Sage.

This book is an in depth study of qualitative research from conceptual issues to data analysis.

Rice-Lively. (1994). Wired Warp and Woof: An Ethnographic Study of a Networking Class. Internet Research ; v4 n4 p20-35 Win.

Describes an ethnographic study of the electronic community comprised of masters and doctoral students involved in a seminar on networking. Ethnographic research facilitated observation and description of the networked learning community. The exploration of the cultural meaning of class events led to enhanced understanding of online education and the applicability of ethnographic research.    

Richards, L., & Richards, T. (1993). Qualitative computing: promises, problems, and implications for research process. Qualitative data analysis resources Home Page. [On-line]. Available WWW: address http://www.qsr.com.au/ftp/papers/qualprobs.txt.

Based on their experience with qualitative research software, the authors examine both the positive and negative aspects of this technology.

Rosen, M. (1991, Jan.). Coming to terms with the field: Understanding and doing organizational ethnography. Journal of Management Studies, 1.

Ethnography is not well understood or applied as a methodology for studying organization culture. This article highlights problems and offers tools for effective research in this arena.

Sanday, P. R. (1979). The ethnographic paradigms(s). Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 527-538.

Three styles of ethnography are examined: holistic, semiotic, and behavioristic.

Saville-Troike, M. (1989). The ethnography of communication (2nd ed.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

This text is a synthesis of the field of ethnography of communication, which studies the norms of communicative conduct in different communities and deals with methods for studying these norms.

Schmid, T. (1992). Classroom-Based Ethnography: A Research Pedagogy. Teaching Sociology ; v20 n1 p28-35 Jan.

Discusses difficulties of classroom-based research and obstacles to conducting classroom-based ethnographic research. Identifies temporal obstacles, personnel, safety, and traditional classroom orientation. Suggests experiential approaches for fieldwork instructors such as individual projects, a choice of group projects, or a single designated class project. Describes a cooperative project on homelessness.

Shanahan, T., Ed. Teachers Thinking, Teachers Knowing: Reflections on Literacy and Language Education . Urbana, IL: ERIC.

Thirteen essays share the insights of leading scholars and teacher-researchers regarding the re-emergence of teacher education as a central focus in the field of English education. Discusses methods of supporting teacher development such as the study of cases, teacher groups, ethnographic research in the classroom and community, and teacher lore.

Smith, G.W. (1990, Nov.) Political activist as ethnographer. Social Problems, 629.

Two studies that use Dorothy E. Smith's reflexive materialist method of sociology are presented; the studies examine the social organization of ruling regimes with an aim toward changing them.

Snyder, I. (1995). Multiple perspectives in literacy research: Integrating the quantitative and qualitative. Language and Education, 9 (1), 45-59.

This article explains a study in which the author employed quantitative and qualitative methods simultaneously to compare computer composition classrooms and traditional classrooms. Although there were some problems with integrating both approaches, Snyder says they can be used together if researchers plan carefully and use their methods thoughtfully.

Tallerico, M. (1992). Computer technology for qualitative research: Hope and humbug. Journal of Educational Administration, 30 (2), 32-40.

The author describes how computer technology offers new options for the qulitative researcher in education. Tallerico also identifies both the potential benefits and limitations of research software, drawing on a study of local educational governance. She also decribes the ETHNOGRAPH, a data analysis program.

Tesch, R. (1991). Software for qualitative researchers: Analysis needs and program capabilities. In N. G. Fielding & R. M. Lee (Ed.), Using computers in qualitative research. London: Sage, 16-37.

Tesch begins by explaining the different types of qualitative research. She goes on to define the general categories of computer software available to qualitative researchers and gives advice on what functions and features to look for when choosing software.

Thornton, S. & Garrett, K. (1995). Ethnography as a Bridge to Multicultural Practice. Journal of Social Work Education; v31 n1 p67-74 Win.

Ethnographic research method taught as a way of studying different cultural groups in a social work curriculum.

Turner, E. (1992). Experiencing ritual: A new interpretation of African healing. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

This text reports an anthropology, the story of a "visible spirit" from among the Ndembu of Zambia. This work gives an account of the ethnographer's experience living with the Ndembu and attempting to parallel Ndembu life.

Van Maanen, J. (1979). The fact of fiction in organizational ethnography. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 539-550.

Van Maanen discusses the need to distinguish whether the point of view reported is that of informant or of researcher.

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In this book, the author provides an informal introduction to ethnography addressed to fieldworkers of sociology or anthropology.

Weitzman, E. A., & Miles, M. B. (1995). Computer programs for qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Weitzman and Miles discuss the different functions of qualitative research software. They also categorize the software currently available and explain and review each program. This text provides valuable information for any researcher who is choosing software for qualitative research.

Wu, R. (1994). Writing In and Writing Out: Some Reflections on the Researcher's Dual Role in Ethnographic Research. Paper presented at the Annual Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition (University Park, PA, July 13-16).

Proposes "a more fluid, process-oriented definition of the ethnographer's role based on feminist standpoint theories to acknowledge the complexity of multicultural observers and observed."

Zaharlick, A. (1992). Ethnography in anthropology and its value for education. Theory into Practice, 31, 116-125.

This article examines the role of ethnography in anthropology.

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Observation and Institutional Ethnography: Helping Us to See Better

Sarah balcom.

1 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Shelley Doucet

2 University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

Anik Dubé

3 Université de Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

Observation is a staple data collection method, which is used in many qualitative approaches, including both traditional and institutional ethnographies. While observation is one of the most used data collection methods in traditional ethnography, less is written about its use by institutional ethnographers. Institutional ethnography is an approach to social research where the aim is to explicate how peoples’ every activities are coordinated or ruled by different institutions. In this article we explore uses of observation as a data collection method, focusing on its use in institutional ethnography. We use examples from the health care literature to show how observation can be beneficial and help institutional ethnographers see better.

You can see a lot by just observing. —Yogi Berra

Introduction

Observation, a staple data collection method, has been used for over century and is useful to researchers in a variety of ways ( Conroy, 2017 ). For example, it enables researchers to collect data about expressions of feelings, interactions between people, and time is spent on various activities ( Schmuck, 1997 ). While observation is arguably one of the most used data collection methods in traditional ethnography, less is written about its use by institutional ethnographers. In this article, we discuss observation and its usefulness in health care research. We then describe both institutional and traditional ethnography, focusing on the differences between these two approaches. Although there are many similarities between institutional and traditional ethnography, there are also many differences, particularly related to their theoretical underpinnings and goals of data analyses. These differences have implications for how institutional and traditional ethnographers use and prioritize observation, along with other data collection methods. Institutional ethnographers generally do not prioritize observation as a data collection method as highly as traditional ethnographers do. Researchers use observations to understand what people are doing locally. Institutional ethnographers, however, aim to explicate how peoples’ local activities are coordinated by different social institutions ( Rankin, 2017 ). Consequently, institutional ethnographers place a higher value on interviews and textual analysis, which bring the rule of these institutions into view ( Rankin, 2017 ). As Smith (2006) writes, “texts are of central importance to [institutional ethnography] because they create this essential connection between the local of our (and others’) bodily being and the translocal organization of the ruling relations” (pp. 118–119). To conclude, we address some concerns that appear in the literature regarding the use of observation as a data collection method in general, and how these translate for institutional ethnographers. We use examples from health care literature to argue how observation is still beneficial and can help institutional ethnographers see better.

Observation as a Data Collection Method

According to Marshall and Rossman (1989) , observation is “the systematic description of events, behaviors, and artifacts in the social setting chosen for study” (p. 79). Several researchers argue that today observation is an underused and is less favored than interviews as a data collection method in qualitative health care research ( Conroy, 2017 ; Dympna, 2006 ; Mulhall, 2003 ). This is surprising because health care providers themselves are trained to be “good observers” and often view observation as essential for their practice. Nightingale (1860/ 1969 ) recognized the importance of observation as a skill for nurses. In “ Notes on Nursing ,” she wrote:

The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe—how to observe—what symptoms indicate improvement—what the reverse—which are of importance—which are of none—which are evidence of neglect—and of what kind of neglect. All this is what ought to make part, and an essential part, of the training of every nurse. (p. 105)

Health care providers often observe their patients’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors when they complete their physical assessments and use these observations to enhance their overall data collection. For example, observations can cue health care providers to ask their patients particular questions. A health care provider might ask about a long sternotomy scar and learn about a patient’s bypass surgery and struggles to quit smoking. Observations can also be used to help interpret things that people verbally report or to further understand peoples’ experiences. As Mulhall (2003) argues, it assists researchers in similar ways, such as by allowing researchers to see what actually happens in a particular, local setting.

Observation is frequently used in qualitative approaches and is either structured or unstructured ( Mulhall, 2003 ). Structured observation requires investigators to unobtrusively record their participants’ physical and verbal actions from afar ( Salmon, 2015 ). It is most suitable for positivistic research and is a useful data collection method when the research question and information needed are defined ( Mulhall, 2003 ). There are examples of structured observation in health care research. For example, Duxbury et al. (2010) used structured observation to code nurse–patient behaviors and interactions during medication administration; and Montgomery et al. (2020) used structured observation to code motor performance in children born preterm.

Researchers who use unstructured observation consider the spontaneous behaviors and interactions of people engaging in their daily activities ( Mulhall, 2003 ). This data collection method is frequently used in traditional ethnographies and is a good fit with the naturalistic paradigm ( Mulhall, 2003 ). O’Connell Davidson and Layder (1994) explain how traditional ethnography “belongs to the tradition of’ ‘naturalism’, which centralizes the importance of understanding the meaning and cultural practices of people from within the everyday settings in which they take place” (p. 165). According to Bisaillon and Rankin (2012) , institutional ethnography is “a critical research strategy located within a post-positive paradigm” (p. 1). Like positivism, post-positivism is rooted in the belief that there is a knowable world ( Guba & Lincoln, 1994 ). Post-positivism, however, holds that researchers’ must reflect on their biases because these can taint the research process ( Guba & Lincoln, 1994 ). Institutional ethnographers can use unstructured observations to begin knowing people’s everyday activities. For example, Corman (2017) completed more than 200 hours of observation to see how paramedics work in and on their ambulances. There is, however, a limit to the knowable world in a particular setting, so institutional ethnographers need to use other data collection methods, like interviews and textual analysis, to trace threads of coordination to other people’s activities located elsewhere. As Smith (2006) explains, while institutional ethnographers begin “where people are and proceeds from there” in an outward direction (p. 3).

Traditional Ethnography

Although both institutional ethnographers and traditional ethnographers use observation, there are differences between these two qualitative approaches that determine how observation is used and prioritized. Most researchers are familiar with traditional ethnography when compared to institutional ethnography ( Conroy, 2017 ). Traditional ethnography became a popular approach at the end of the 19th century, during the era of western colonialism and is one of the oldest qualitative methodologies ( Rashid et al., 2015 ). Traditional ethnographers seek to develop a “formal description of foreign people, their habits, and customs” ( Almagor & Skinner, 2013 , p. 2). When people think about traditional ethnography, they often picture researchers who live among and observe a particular cultural group to learn about specific aspects of their daily lives. Frank Hamilton Cushing is a well-known early traditional ethnographer who spent four and a half years as a participant observer with the Zuni Pueblo people around the year 1879 for a study for the Smithsonian Institute’s Bureau of Ethnology ( DeWalt & DeWalt, 2002 ). Traditional ethnographers often rely on observation because it allows them to see what a particular group in a particular setting is doing at a particular time ( Conroy, 2017 ). Although many researchers agree that traditional ethnography belongs to the tradition of “naturalism” (O’Connell-Davidson & Layder, 1994), some researchers are critical of traditional ethnographic descriptions ( Hammersley, 1990 ). Hammersley (1990) argues these descriptions become realistic because the phenomena of interest are described in a single, objective way ( Hammersley, 1990 ).

Historically, traditional ethnographies often focused on distinct cultural groups, such as the Zunis Pueblo people. According to Morse (2016) , early ethnographic methods were learned “in the apprentice system, by doing it and by staying in the field until you got it right” (p. 875). Traditional ethnography remains a somewhat flexible methodology and appeals to many modern researchers seeking to understand societal interactions and experiences, among other topics. Today, traditional ethnographies may focus on an aspect of a group’s life, such as health care, or different levels of experiences among populations living in society.

Institutional Ethnography

Institutional ethnography is a research approach that was developed during the 1970s and ‘80s by Canadian sociologist, Dorothy Smith, in her work to more accurately study womens’ experiences. She found much of the existing authoritative knowledge of this period subordinated the knowledge women had about their own experiences. This authoritative knowledge was often the knowledge of male scholars and other experts, thus did not give authority of knowing to men and women equally. This was particularly problematic because women often used this “authorized” knowledge to explain their experiences even when these explanations were not accurate.

Smith envisioned “an alternate sociology, a sociology that was not confined to a particular category of people” ( Smith, 2005 , p. 1). She wanted a way to study people’s actual experiences, as they are for them; and validate the knowledge and understanding people have about their own lives. This is significant to health care contexts, where traditionally the male-dominated profession of medicine authorized health care knowledge, dominating over other health professions, such the female-dominated profession of nursing. Until the early 20th century, for example, nursing professionals were taught by physicians, which was problematic because their authorized medical model did not always match nursing professionals’ experiences with their patients.

Smith drew from feminism and Marxism; and sought to develop a sociology that equally represented all people; a sociology in which anyone, regardless of their gender, could participate as a seeker of knowledge ( Campbell & Gregor, 2002 ). Campbell and Gregor (2002) assert that “[t]he claim made for institutional ethnography is that it offers a knowledge resource for people who want to work towards a more equitable society” (p. 103). Institutional ethnography allows investigators to use peoples’ everyday experiences as their entry-points into uncovering how institutions organize and rule their lives ( Devault, 2006 ). It is an approach to social research where the aim is to collect data which explicates how people’s daily activities in a particular, local setting are ruled by larger social institutions located elsewhere ( Ng et al., 2013 ). For example, health care providers’ daily activities with patients are organized by decisions made by administrators in offices far away from the patients’ bedsides. Recently, researchers have successfully used institutional ethnography to generate understanding of many health care issues, such as patient satisfaction, patient-centered care, nurses’ stress, and workplace mental health ( Malachowski et al., 2016 ; McGibbon et al., 2010 ; Rankin, 2003 ; Rankin & Campbell, 2006 ; Rankin & Campbell, 2009 ; Townsend el al., 2003 ).

Similarities and Differences Between Institutional and Traditional Ethnographies

There are many similarities between institutional and traditional ethnographic studies. For example, institutional and traditional ethnographers use similar data collection methods, including observation ( Campbell & Gregor, 2002 ). However, the goals of traditional and institutional ethnographers are different; and this has implications for how data collection methods are used and how data are prioritized/analyzed between these two approaches.

As mentioned above, traditional ethnographers seek to describe, from an insider’s understanding or perspective, the experiences of a social or cultural group or an aspect of social life located within a particular setting ( Fetterman, 1989 ). They aim to reveal tacit knowledge of this particular group about their culture and/or social experiences ( Loiselle et al., 2013 ). This is the knowledge that is so widely accepted by a group that its members do not talk about it and may not even be aware of ( Loiselle et al., 2013 ). Traditional ethnographers also worry about misinterpreting their data; and usually triangulate data collected from different methods, for example, document retrieval, observation, and interviews, to increase the accuracy of their research. In triangulation, data collected by different methods are compared to increase the validity of the research ( Fetterman, 1998 ).

Institutional ethnographers also want to collect data that display insiders’ knowledge ( Campbell & Gregor, 2004 ; Tummons, 2017 ). They have, however, a different intent for their data. The ultimate purpose of an institutional ethnography is not to produce an account of or from those insiders’ perspectives, but to explicate the often invisible social relations that rule people’s everyday. Institutional ethnographers are interested in “how things work” and “how they are actually put together” as opposed to “what happens” ( Kearney et al., 2019 ). According to Quinlan (2009) , “An institutional ethnographer’s starting point is the actualities of people’s everyday experience; their end point connects the actualities to the social organization that governs the local setting” (p. 628). Consequently, institutional ethnographers use their data to trace back and describe these social relations that exist beyond people’s everyday experiences in their local setting but connect them to distant ruling institutions. This has important implications for how institutional ethnographers prioritize different data collection methods. While traditional ethnographers may rely primarily on their observations of people’s behavior in a local setting, institutional ethnographers cannot. Observations in local setting alone will not reveal to them how institutions exert their rule from afar.

Institutional ethnographers thus prioritize interviews and textual analysis over observation to gain information about distant ruling institutions. They consider “texts” to be essential to both the existence and ruling of institutions ( Smith, 2001 ). Texts are the material forms of words, including images and sounds that are replicable ( Smith, 2006 ; Turner, 2006 ). Books, radio announcements, photographs, and bus tokens are all examples of texts ( Smith, 2006 ). When a person “activates” a text in a particular setting, he or she becomes connected to other people and processes taking place and organized elsewhere ( Smith, 2006 ; Turner, 2006 ). According to Smith (2006) “institutional discourse is set in texts . . . texts are of central importance to IE because they create this essential connection between the local of our (and others’) bodily being and the translocal organization of the ruling relations” (pp. 118–119).

Institutional Ethnography and Observation

Smith (2001) writes, “exploring how texts mediate, regulate and authorize peoples’ activities in modern societies expands the scope of ethnographic method beyond the limits of observation” (p. 159). Although, through this quote, Smith makes it clear that interviews and the analysis of texts are preferred method of data collection; observation does provide some data that may be different and informative. Observation makes it possible to confirm whether what people say they do and what they actually do match up. It is important to note that both accounts (what people perceive that they do and what they do) provide information, but the information is different. The following two examples demonstrate how observation can add to the data provided by interviews and textual analysis. These examples consider the experiences of two different health care professionals: a physician and a registered nurse. The first example shows how observation can reveal what a physician actually does when they “collaborate” with a team. The second example explains how observation reveals how a registered nurse actually activates a text during their daily work activities.

In an interview, a physician may say “I collaborated with a team,” but the actualities of what they did are missing. What activities belong to the concept “collaboration?” What does “collaboration” mean to this physician? What does it mean to their colleagues or in the hospital where they work? What does it mean to their professional association? What does it mean to the other members of the “team”? As is evident, when interviewing participants, people use language that can make their actual activities unclear. Campbell and Gregor (2002) caution that professional and conceptual language often conceals what people really do. The term “collaboration” is conceptual and may be made even more vague by being part of an institution’s professional or rhetorical language. Consequently, it blankets or covers up what the health care provider’s actual activities are. Observation can help reveal the steps the health care provider took or the texts that were activated to make this collaboration happen. As Diamond (2006) argues, observation enhances institutional ethnography’s goal of connecting people’s activities in a local setting, such as a hospital unit, to the activities of people elsewhere and larger institutions.

Similarly, in interviews, people may not fully explain how they, and those around them, activate texts in their workplaces. To illustrate this, in an interview a registered nurse may say, “I administer medications.” The registered nurse may explain, “I use my workplace’s medication administration policy each time I administer my patients’ medications.” This likely does not mean that this register nurse accesses and reads their workplace’s medication administration policy each time they need to administer medications. It does mean this registered nurse knows about their workplaces’ medication administration policy, but may not mean they follow it. Observations allow researchers to see what texts are used in a particular setting (e.g., do they access the medication administration policy?) and what actually happens (e.g., how do registered nurses administer medications?), which provides context for data gathered through interviews or textual analysis. Maybe this registered nurse does not know how to find the medication administration policy through their workplace’s intranet. Textual analysis allows institutional ethnographers to understand policies and other documents, but observation lets them “see” if and how people “activate” these texts locally in their workplaces.

One of the distinctive features of institutional ethnography is termed standpoint, which places a focus on the knowledge of people as opposed to the overarching explanations of researchers ( Tummons et al., 2015 ). Kragelund (2013) recommends researchers use “obser-views” or observations immediately followed by interviews. Through “obser-views,” questioning may become a catalyst for informants’ reflection on the actions they completed ( Kragelund, 2013 ). Kragelund’s (2013) “obser-views” may provide a way for institutional ethnographers to both locate their informants’ standpoint and situate their research “looking up from where [they] are” ( Smith, 2006 , p. 5) within the institution.

Challenges and Opportunities for Observation With Institutional Ethnography

There are many challenges, as well as opportunities, when using observation with IE ( Dympna, 2006 ; Mulhall, 2003 ). The main challenges include the presence of the researcher, time commitment, field site access, selective reporting/researcher biases, and informed consent/deception ( Dympna, 2006 ; Mulhall, 2003 ). Each of these issues have been discussed and debated in nursing and other literature. They will only be discussed in this article as they relate to the use of observation in institutional ethnography, which may be different from other research approaches. Opportunities related to each challenge are also discussed.

The researcher’s presence

Researchers often worry about how their presence will affect peoples’ activities at their field sites. Campbell and Gregor (2002) argue that traditionally “the researcher’s presence” has been treated “as a problem that must be overcome” (p. 14). Traditional ethnographers worry about how their presence will change people’s activities and often triangulate their observational data with other data, such as interviews, to verify their “trueness” and give them evidential weight. Institutional ethnographers, however, are interested in how their observations in local settings occur and are organized and connect back to ruling institutions. Thus, the changes an institutional ethnographer’s presence creates in people’s activities becomes part of the analysis. Institutional ethnographers often represent ruling institutions, such as universities, and through their research, their presence becomes another social relation that exists in people’s local settings.

Time commitment

Concerns have been raised that observational research can be too time-consuming. Above, for example, we mention how Frank Hamilton Cushing spent four and a half years observing the Zuni Pueblo people ( DeWalt & DeWalt, 2002 ). This amount of time and quantity of observational data is not needed for most institutional ethnography studies; in fact, observational data may not prolong time spent at a field site. In a discussion article, Bisaillon and Rankin (2012) discribed their experiences using institutional ethnography as a research method, working independently of each other and on separate projects. They both reflected on how their presence, just “waiting,” at field sites for interviews with people provided them with impromptu opportunities to collect observational data; which helped support and better inform their interviews ( Bisaillon & Rankin, 2012 ). Bisaillon and Rankin (2012) explained how the process of waiting often had them “sitting in the same chairs” as the people they interviewed. Their observational data did not “add time” to their research projects because they used time that needed to be spent at their field sites for interviews anyway.

Field site access

Oftentimes researchers have difficulty gaining access to field sites, particularly hierarchal government-run institutions ( Taber, 2010 ). For example, Taber’s (2010) research focused on the everyday experiences of women working in the military. She met with resistance when she tried to observe military women’s groups ( Taber, 2010 ). She reflected afterwards that although her experience was frustrating, it encouraged her to deepen her understanding of institutional ethnography so she could adapt her original approach ( Taber, 2010 ). Her experiences with her application to observe the women’s group also made her reflect on how inflexible the military’s processes are. To avoid frustrating experiences, Bisaillon and Rankin (2012) encourage researchers to reflect on their field sites and try to anticipate challenges, such as access, before they arise. They also recommend that researchers remain flexible and open to unexpected opportunities to collect data, such as those presented while “waiting” ( Bisaillon & Rankin, 2012 ).

Bisaillon and Rankin (2012) both needed to make amendments for ethical approval from their respective universities to gain access to new field sites during their research. The work of ethics committees is itself text-based; and receiving ethical approval may be challenging for institutional ethnographers ( Campbell & Gregor, 2002 ). Often institutional ethnographers do not know their interview schedules and other information required for an ethics review ( Campbell & Gregor, 2002 ). This is a challenge for many qualitative researchers. Institutional ethnographers need to clearly explain the particulars of their research approach, so ethics review boards understand why they may need to make changes to their prospective plans as their research progresses ( Campbell & Gregor, 2002 ).

Bias and selective reporting

With other qualitative approaches, such as traditional ethnography, observation is sometimes seen as an alternative to self-reports (Loiselle & ProfettoMcGrath, 2011). Researchers who apply traditional ethnography often attempt to operate in the background as an objective bystander to develop an impartial understanding of their participants ( Dharamsi, 2011 ). For institutional ethnographers, this aim of impartiality is not possible because it relies on one’s ability to remain completely detached from the people one observes ( Dharamsi, 2011 ). Institutional ethnographers are aware that they commit themselves to a certain social relation with the people they are interested in when they begin their projects ( Campbell & Gregor, 2004 ). As Campbell and Gregor (2002) reason, institutional ethnographers’ past experiences and knowledge relate them to the people they are interested in and reveal/establish their location in relation to their collected data. Rather than treating the intuitional ethnographer’s location as a problem of bias, it becomes another way of exposing how knowledge is organized. Smith (2005) , herself, writes, “[t]he experiences that the data produces as data may be our own; it may be gained through participation in a workplace or it may be based entirely on interviews” (p. 125).

Observation as a Starting Point

Institutional ethnographers use observation differently, depending on the purpose of the research study. Diamond (2006) , a sociologist, discusses how observation can be like “a starting point on a map, a ‘you are here’ point” (p. 60). Many institutional ethnographers use it to help them realize a problematic for their studies. Smith describes the problematic as “a territory to be discovered” (Smith, p. 41), generally in the early stages of fieldwork. Oftentimes, the problematic is “discovered” when institutional ethnographers notice “disjunctures” or contradictions between official explanations of what is going on and what actually appears to happen ( Campbell & Gregor, 2002 , Smith, 1990 ). Once institutional ethnographers have a problematic in mind, their goal is to find other data collection methods, such as interviews, the analysis of texts, or observations of other people, to explain it. The following two examples show how two researchers, Kathleen Benjamin ( Benjamin & Rankin, 2014 ) and Timothy Diamond (2006) (both involved in research in long-term care facilities) used their observations to “discover” the problematics of their studies.

In the first example, Kathleen Benjamin, a registered nurse, used her observations of personal support workers working in a long-term care facility as an entry-point into her doctoral work ( Benjamin & Rankin, 2014 ). She observed mealtimes were very rushed, stressful times in long-term care facilities where she was working and absorbed much of the personal support workers’ time ( Benjamin & Rankin, 2014 ). She noted how the standards in place by the long-term care facilities to provide the residents with a pleasant dining experience actually did the opposite and reduced the time the personal support workers had to support the residents’ physical activity ( Benjamin & Rankin, 2014 ). Benjamin’s problematic emerged from her observations of mealtimes, and her next step was to look for more data that further explicated it ( Benjamin & Rankin, 2014 ).

In the second example, Diamond (2006) reflected on how he completed an institutional ethnography in several long-term care facilities in America. He described how he was surprised to observe an expensive-looking fur coat in a resident’s closet ( Diamond, 2006 ). Diamond (2006) knew this long-term care facility was subsidized and most of the residents came from underprivileged backgrounds. Observing the coat helped Diamond (2006) to see the social relations behind its presence in the resident’s closet. He questioned the resident and learned she once lived in a nice suburb and wore the coat to church with her husband ( Diamond, 2006 ). According to Diamond, “the coat’s journey was a journey of policy in motion” ( Diamond, 2006 , p. 68). The resident went from her home in the suburbs, to a hospital, to a Medicare long-term care facility, and finally to a subsidized facility after her personal resources were depleted ( Diamond, 2006 ).

Above, we discussed how institutional ethnography differs from traditional ethnography; and how this has implications for how institutional ethnographers use and prioritize their data collections methods, particularly observation. Traditional ethnographers use observation to create “accurate” descriptions of people’s lives in a local setting ( Loiselle et al., 2013 ), they want to answer the question, “what happens?” Institutional ethnographers strive to go beyond descriptions in a local setting to understanding how people unconsciously sustain and support large social institutions through their activation of texts ( Turner, 2006 ). An institutional ethnographer’s goal is not to describe the lives of the people they are interested in—but to map out the social and ruling relations that connect, coordinate, organize, and control them ( Turner, 2006 ).

As institutional ethnographers want to answer the questions “how do things work?” and “how are they put together?” ( Kearney et al., 2019 ), their data collection methods must expand beyond just what people do in a local setting; therefore, it is understandable that institutional ethnographers prioritize interviews and textual analysis over observation. Observation is still arguably an important data collection method and can provide context to how and by whom texts are activated in local settings. Observation makes it possible to confirm whether what people say they do and what they actually do match up. In interviews, institutional ethnographers listen to people describe their actions, usually in past tense—but through observation, institutional ethnographers see peoples’ actions, as they occur, in a particular setting. Institutional ethnographers can use observation to reveal discrepancies between what people self-report and what actually occurs. In addition, conceptual and professional language/rhetoric can conceal what people really do and only direct observation makes such discrepancies known.

Many qualitative approaches use observation as a data collection method, even though there are some issues with this approach, such as the researcher’s presence, bias/selective reporting, time commitment, and accessibility to the field site ( Dympna, 2006 ; Mulhall, 2003 ). Despite these issues, observations can create a fuller picture for researchers and can be a valuable and useful data collection method. Consequently, institutional ethnographers could consider how these issues pertain to their individual studies, and institutional ethnography as a research approach, before being deterred from using it.

In conclusion, there are aspects of peoples’ lives that are ruled and organized by institutional guidelines, principles, and regulations, which people or health care professionals may not understand or be able to explain/describe. They may not even be aware how these rules and regulations influence their work or interventions. Including observations as a data collection method creates a contextual picture with interviews and documents/texts of a reality of institutional settings, collaborative approaches, and what actually happens in a local setting. Observation can help institutional ethnographers understand how peoples’ lives are ruled by institutions in ways that they, themselves, may not understand or be able to explain or describe.

Author Biographies

Dr. Sarah Balcom is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick. She is interested in inter/intraprofessional colloaboration in healthcare.

Dr. Shelley Doucet is the Jarislowsky Chair in Interprofessional Patient-Centred Care, Professor in Nursing, and Director of the Centre for Research in Integrated Care at the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Doucet is also an Adjunct Professor with Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick and is recognized as a leader in integrated care within Canada.

Dr. Anik Dube is a Professor and researcher for the School of Nursing. She has a keen interest in qualitative research integrating community-based approach to care within a Primary Healthcare focus.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Genai-assisted database deployment for heterogeneous indigenous–native ethnographic research data.

1. Introduction

• Background Information: This provides background information on subjects such as age, gender, education, occupation and family background.
• Environmental Data: These describe geographical location, weather, traffic conditions, social environment and cultural background.
• Fieldwork Notes: These are detailed records of the subjects’ conduct, activities, expressions and conversations.
• Interview Records: These contain the content of interviews conducted with subjects, but do not include their responses, reactions and emotions.
• Imagery Data: These include the photographing or videoing of locations, environments and objects to help researchers better understand and describe their subjects and settings.
• Researchers’ Personal Notes: Researchers’ observations and analyses on fieldwork are vital records, aiding in understanding the research process and outcomes.
• Survey Data: These include subjects’ answers to questionnaires, gathering information and opinions relevant to a research topic.
• Data Attributes Variations: Even within the same data type or structure, attribute values are inconsistent. For example, the three field surveys and interview records may differ significantly in the number and type of attributes they include.
• Structural Inconsistency in Data: Upon review of the sample data, it becomes clear that the data fall into several categories: comprehensive tables, fieldwork records, transcripts and presentations.
• Containing Images: Among the samples, a significant portion of the data contain images, with all types incorporating visuals, except for verbatim transcripts. Typically, these data entries contain between two and six images. Consequently, these data cannot be stored using purely text-based methods.

2. Research Methodology

• Ease of Initial Database Construction: This metric refers not to the configuration of the database system itself but to the process of preparing the schema (if necessary) to the point where data can be inserted into the database that is already in place;
• Smoothness of Importing Heterogeneous Data: These include, but are not limited to, text data, images, audio data, video files and geographic co-ordinate data;
• Effectiveness in Querying Data: This measures whether a database can retrieve relevant data based on the intent of a user, which includes the accuracy of keyword searches and the ability to perform semantic searches. This is particularly important for indigenous languages, where language system differences often mean that simple keyword searches may not meet users’ expectations.
• Obtaining written consent from the individuals involved in the data;
• Submitting the data to a tribal council for review if it pertains to traditional tribal knowledge;
• Ensuring that all processed data undergo manual review by experts in the field before public dissemination.

3. Comprehensive Review of Database Type for ERD

3.1. relational databases, 3.2. key-value nosql databases, 3.3. document databases, 3.4. graph databases, 3.5. object-oriented databases (oodb), 3.6. vector databases.

• Enhanced Search Techniques: vector databases hold information in vectors, a series of numbers that represent specific features and these vectors are created using machine-learning principles. Vector databases enable researchers to find nearby results in vector distance. As shown in Figure 4 , this allows users to perform searches by finding the closest results in vector distance, thereby facilitating more nuanced and precise search capabilities compared to traditional keyword-based searches.
• Diverse Data Type Compatibility: Vector databases are capable of effectively processing diverse data types. They have access to a variety of formats including text, audio, image and video. When carrying out possible functions between equally different data types, they can also handle unstructured and structured data. Through machine learning techniques, vector databases would use various set-functioning values to undertake embedding and save the dataset features for accessibility. This also provides vector databases with better efficiency and management.

4. The Pros and Cons of Different Database in Real Implementation

4.1. relational databases.

• Atomicity ensures the transactions are all-or-nothing—rolling back if any part fails;
• Consistency guarantees that transactions that transit into the database from one valid state to another comply with integrity rules;
• Isolation allows transactions to operate independently, thus preventing interference and ensuring that uncommitted changes are not visible to others;
• Durability ensures that once a transaction is committed, its effects are permanent, surviving system failures through mechanisms such as transaction logs. Together, these properties maintain data integrity and reliability in database systems.

4.2. Key-Value NoSQL Databases

4.3. document databases, 4.4. graph databases, 4.5. object-oriented databases, 4.6. vector databases, 5. genai-assisted database deployment, 5.1. document databases, 5.2. graph databases, 5.3. vector databases, 6. discussion and conclusions.

• Generating vector embeddings through self-trained models shows better results for data containing indigenous languages and scripts, such as the Paiwan language written in Roman script. However, developing these models requires considerable computational resources and requires high hardware construction costs;
• Using commercial services like the OpenAI API can quickly produce results, but the accuracy for indigenous linguistic data is not ideal. This is because current commercial platforms primarily use English training data, making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of languages like Paiwan in our research field in the short term. For example, the paragraph in Figure 17 is an oral conversation of the South-Paiwan language recorded in the Romanized script. The paragraph states that “when I was young, my father and uncle would go out at night with hunting knives and rifles. By dawn, they would return with their catches. Sometimes it was wild boar, sometimes flying squirrels and occasionally pheasants. They would process the catch at home and share it with the members of our community”. However, if a commercial service like ChatGPT 4o is used to analyze and understand the meaning, the results will be displayed as shown in Figure 18 . Responses from ChatGPT 4o exhibit the lack of recognition of indigenous weapons and the understanding of indigenous prey. It is also not understood that hunting takes place at night and the concept of sharing after hunting is a common practice. The model is only capable of summarily identifying the discourse as a familial activity based on kinship terminology. Even within kinship terminology, the distinction between “kama”(father) and “ti kama”(uncle) cannot be discerned. This approach is not only inadequate for our database construction but could also lead to erroneous correlations. Additionally, each data insertion and retrieval incurs extra costs, leading to another type of financial burden for long-term database operations.

Author Contributions

Institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Wang, R.-C.; Yang, D.; Hsieh, M.-C.; Chen, Y.-C.; Lin, W. GenAI-Assisted Database Deployment for Heterogeneous Indigenous–Native Ethnographic Research Data. Appl. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 7414. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14167414

Wang R-C, Yang D, Hsieh M-C, Chen Y-C, Lin W. GenAI-Assisted Database Deployment for Heterogeneous Indigenous–Native Ethnographic Research Data. Applied Sciences . 2024; 14(16):7414. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14167414

Wang, Reen-Cheng, David Yang, Ming-Che Hsieh, Yi-Cheng Chen, and Weihsuan Lin. 2024. "GenAI-Assisted Database Deployment for Heterogeneous Indigenous–Native Ethnographic Research Data" Applied Sciences 14, no. 16: 7414. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14167414

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• Published: 20 August 2024

Spatial sampling bias influences our understanding of early hominin evolution in eastern Africa

• W. Andrew Barr   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9763-6440 1 &
• Bernard Wood   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0273-7332 1  

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• Biological anthropology
• Palaeoecology
• Palaeontology

The eastern branch of the Eastern African Rift System (EARS) is the source of a large proportion of the early hominin fossil record, but it covers a tiny fraction (ca. 1%) of the continent. Here we investigate how this mismatch between where fossils are preserved and where hominins probably lived may influence our ability to understand early hominin evolution, using extant mammals as analogues. We show that the eastern branch of the EARS is not an environmentally representative sample of the full species range for nearly all extant rift-dwelling mammals. Likewise, when we investigate published morphometric datasets for extant cercopithecine primates, evidence from the eastern branch alone fails to capture major portions of continental-scale cercopithecine cranial morphospace. We suggest that extant rift-dwelling species should be used as analogues to place confidence intervals on hominin habitat reconstructions. Furthermore, given the north–south orientation of the eastern branch of the EARS, morphoclines that are not aligned along this major north–south axis are likely to be poorly sampled by sites in the eastern branch. There is a pressing need for research on the geography of early hominin morphoclines to estimate how morphologically representative the hominin fossil sample from the eastern branch may be.

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Data files necessary for producing the figures and analyses are available on Github at https://github.com/wabarr/outside-rift .

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to A. Cardini, S. Elton and S. Frost for generously providing access to datasets and providing spatial coordinates. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at GWU, the GWU Department of Anthropology and the GWU Office of the Provost. Thanks to members of the PAPER discussion group for fruitful discussion, to S. McPherron and S. Elton for helpful feedback after a conference presentation of some of the ideas in this paper, and to C. Campisano for answering our geological questions about the rift.

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W.A.B. devised the research question, compiled the datasets, wrote all code, interpreted all statistical analyses, wrote the first draft of the paper and revised the paper. B.W. contributed to the development of the research question, consulted on analytical strategy and revised the paper.

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A GIF animation showing the placement of random sampling units on the continent of Africa.

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Barr, W.A., Wood, B. Spatial sampling bias influences our understanding of early hominin evolution in eastern Africa. Nat Ecol Evol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02522-5

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02522-5

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