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Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title PSY-P3: Qualitative Methods

Module No and Title M14 : Ethnography

Module Tag PSY_P3_M14

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. : PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods

MODULE No. : M14: Ethnography
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. History

4. Purpose and Uses

5. Features of Ethnographic approach
6. How to conduct ethnographic research
7. Evaluation of ethnographic research
8. Ethics in Ethnographic research.
9. Summary

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. : PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods

MODULE No. : M14: Ethnography
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1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to
· Know and understand the definition, features and history of ethnographic research
method

· Learn about how to conduct ethnographic research.

· Learn about strength and weakness of ethnographic research method

2. Introduction
Warner in 1987 defined Ethnography as a kind of description which describes the origin of any
culture in its real sense (Warner, 1987). According to Hammersley and Atkinson’s classic text on
the ethnography, they defined ethnography as “a process in which the researcher participates,
overtly or covertly, in people’s everyday lives for a sustained period, watching what happens,
listening to what is said, asking questions and collecting any other relevant information”
(Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983). A totally covert role would mean that the researcher was
completely under cover and avoids the need to negotiate access to the research site in anything
other than the researcher’s under cover role whereas in a totally overt role-all the people the
researcher comes into contact with would be aware that she/he was conducting a research study.
In the most ethnographic studies the researcher is in a relatively overt role with key participants
but may come into contact with many people who of necessity remain unaware of his/her
activities.
According to Spradley, it is a way of studying culture which consists of a body of knowledge
including research techniques, ethnography methods and hundreds of cultural description
(Spradley, 1979).
In 1998 David M. Fetterman gave another definition of Ethnography. Ethnography can be defined
as a science and art of describing a culture or group. (Fetterman, 1998).

In other words, one can also be define ethnography as a way of carrying out research by focusing
on the understanding of actors’ behavior and therefore theorizing their action means attributing
them to some other.

Researchers have examined the traditional and the epistemological assumptions underlying
ethnography. Ethnographic research can vary from a realist perspective in which behavior is
observed to a constructivist perspective where understanding is socially constructed by the
researcher and subjects. (Yabena, Yanow, Wels, and Kamsteeg 2010).

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3. History
The historical context of ethnographic research can be traced back to Gerhard Friedrich
Müller who while participating in the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733–43) as a professor of
history and geography, developed the concept of ethnography as a separate discipline. He
differentiated Völker-Beschreibung as a distinct area of study, while involved in the expedition.
This then became known as Ethnography. However, the term ethnography was introduced into
the academic discourse by August Ludwig von Schlözer and Christoph Wilhelm Jacob Gatterer;
inorder to change the contemporary understanding of the world history.
Anthropologists such as Malinowski (1922) and Mead (1928), who investigated the sexual
practices of island peoples in the pacific and Polynesian islands respectively and Banister et al.
(1994) cite studies by Fanny Wright in 1821 on ‘A View of Society and Manners in America’ and
Harriet Martineau on ‘Society in America’ in 1827 as early examples of ethnographies of
everyday life.
Contemporary ethnography belongs to a tradition of naturalism which focuses on the importance
of understanding the meanings and cultural practices of people from within everyday
circumstances. Ethnography has been originated from the fields of anthropology and sociology.
Present-day practitioners conduct ethnographies in organizations and communities of all kinds.
Ethnographers study various areas including schooling, public health, rural and urban
development, consumers and consumer goods.

4. Purpose and Uses

The purpose of conducting ethnography is
· to from an insider’s view of what is occurring.
· Through the collection of detailed observations and interviews, ethnography gives a
rich and whole insight into the people’s views and actions as well as nature of the
location they live in.

The task of ethnographers is to look at the way how people perceive the world.(Hammersley, M.
1990).

A study was done in which the researchers got themselves admitted into the mental hospital
inorder to get the in-depth knowledge of the hospital and experienced how a patient feels. They also took
the notes and since the staffs were use to this odd behavior so they did not found them unusual.
(Rosenhan, 1973).
.

Ethnographic research method is appropriate when

· A person want to know how, when and why people behave the way they do when they
interact with others in a particular setting or situation (i.e. social interaction)

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· A person want some data as an evidence for

supporting one’s own understanding of the
complexity of society

· When one wishes to understand the operation of a naturally occurring group, community
or culture.

· When one wish to study boarder concept or when one is interested in broader
observation.

5. Features
“Ethnography focuses on cultural interpretation and aims to understand the cultural and symbolic aspects
of people’s actions and the contexts in which those actions occur. Ethnographic research usually focuses
on a specific group of people or a case involving culturally significant practices or actions. In addition,
Punch (1998) and Denscombe (2003) identify several important features of the ethnographic approach:

a) Ethnography is founded on the assumption that the shared cultural meanings of a social group are
vital for understanding the activities of any social group. The task of the ethnographic
researchers, routine and mundane aspects of everyday life are considered worthy of investigation
as research data.

b) Ethnographic researchers are attuned to the meanings that behavior, actions, contexts and events
have from the perspective of those involved. Ethnography seeks an insider’s perspective, aiming
to understand a phenomenon from the emic points of view of those involved- which can be
diverse, complex and contradictory.

c) A specific social group or case will be studied in its natural setting i.e. not in the research
laboratory or in an artificially manipulated or controlled environment. A full ethnography
involving participant observation entails the researcher becoming part of this natural setting.

d) Ethnographic studies tend to be relatively loosely structured, evolving and developing over time
in relation to the activities, events and cultural practices and priorities of the group being studied.
Research questions, hypotheses and data collection procedures may develop as the study
proceeds, although most ethnographic studies do begin with a set of research questions, an overall
research design and a strategy for data collection and analysis.

e) Ethnography is a multi-method form of research including structured or semi-structured

questionnaires and /or interviews, non-participant through to full participant observation, field
diaries, film or video records and official documents.

f) Ethnographic research frequently involves prolonged periods of field work for data collection.
This is partly because it usually takes time for the researcher to become sufficiently familiar with
the cultural world being studied. Ethnography involves a holistic approach, emphasizing the inter-
connectedness between people and social processes. There is a commitment to avoid isolating
aspects of a given culture or social process from the wider context in which it exits (Denscombe,
2003).

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g) Ethnographers have devoted considerable attention to

reflexivity that is they recognize that as researchers
they are part of the social world they are studying and cannot avoid having an impact on the
phenomena under investigation.” (Willig, C, 2001).

6. How to conduct ethnographic research?

1) Formulating the research question

Ethnography is employed where the researcher has a broad area of study to address
though it is unlikely that at initial stages they will have a focused research question in
mind. The researcher reformulates or otherwise develops their idea during the course of
ethnographic research.

2) Question whether a particular area of interest lends itself to participant observation

There are many activities which are regarded as essentially private and these are unlikely
to be amenable to investigation using ethnography. For example sexual activity etc. This
may involve a rethinking of the area of research.
3) Define what is to be addressed in the ethnography process.

The research question helps in identify the aspects of the situation that the researcher will
study.

4) Defining the researcher’s role

A major consideration in ethnography is for the researcher to define a variable role which
permits the researcher to participate in a setting or to be sufficiently at its periphery to
enable the observation to take place.
5) Entry to the research location/entry to the community

The research location for ethnography vary in the extent to which they are formal settings
such as a factory or informal settings in the community such as say football match. The
means of entry will differ between the two. The formal organization usually requires a
formal request for entry to carry out research- so, for example, the researcher may need to
approach senior managers. The informal organization, however, is not one without a
social structure.
6) Continuing access

Ethnography involves maintaining relations with group studied and not just the entry
process to the research location.
7) The use of key informants

In any social environment, some individuals take on more important roles in our lives
than others. Similarly in ethnography some individuals tend to have a more important
role in relation to the researcher. There are several reasons for this. In particular, the key
informant a) may play a more central role in most aspects of the group’s activities than
others, b) may have an interest in the research which is greater than that of the others, or
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c) may have a special rapport with the

researcher. Key informant can play a role in
smoothing out the research process and may act as a source of social support at difficult
times.
8) Field notes/ data logging

In any setting or situation, there are various activities that keeps on going, so one find it
difficult to decide which information one should leave out and which information one
should focus on. In most cases, we take notes, which is the main method of recording the
data. This notes are handwritten which are taking either at the time we are observing or
just after the activities is over. There are two level’s of note taking; 1) one is when we
write what we have observed or what we have heard and 2) when we write observers
view of what he has observed. The main purpose of taking field notes is to have a record
of what one has observed in the field setting.

9) How to sample

In Ethnographic research researchers prefer a small sample because they focus on a

complete understanding of a particular situation rather than on generalization of result.

There is a difference in the Sampling in ethnography and sampling that we folloe in

quantitative research design because ethnographer focuses on creating themes and
categories and even theories from the data that we obtain from the people we are
studying. Ethnographers generally use convenience sampling and snow balling technique
for the selection of the subjects.

10) When to stop field work

When to stop field work is a difficult process in ethnography because of its unstructured
nature and absence of specific hypothesis to be tested. Because of various reasons, ranging
from occupational career, personal and family life to the end of research funding, an
Ethnographers can lose his or her ethnographical works.

The nature of the topic, marginality of the researcher in social setting and prolongrd
absence from one’s normal life are some of the stressors that an ethnographic researchers
faces (Bryman, 2004). When the ethnographer feels that there are enough data to describe
the culture or problem and to say something significant about it or when same pattern of
behavior emerges over and over again, the ethnographer can stop the field work
(Fetterman, 1989).

7. Evaluation
Ethnography has a number of advantages and limitations.
Firstly the advantages of ethnographic research include:
· The whole aim of ethnography is to develop and examine new theory.

· Its observation can be validated as it is reliable and its result can be replicated.
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· Psychologist should belong to the culture they

are studying.

· Ethnographic research is capable of explaining the ecology of human being.

· There is no one design for an ethnographic study. Its flexibility and relatively open
structure can enable researchers to generate original insights and innovative methods.

· A good ethnographic research reflects the richness, diversity and complexity of human
cultural life from the perspective of insider’s.

· Ethnography is valuable in situations in which phenomenon under investigation is novel,

different or unknown, when researchers are interested in a specific culture or social
process: especially in complex behavioral settings including organizations or institutions.

· Other advantages of ethnographic and observational methods include the capacity to

include an examination of collective cultural practices and a fuller sense of the complex
and diverse social context of people’s lives in the analysis.

Limitations of ethnographic include:

· Time consuming because of the time involved in setting up and carrying out field work
and interpreting complex datasets; and the specialist training required for the
ethnographic method.

· Ethnography is semantic in nature.

· During the replication and cross validation problem may arise.

· In addition, the collection and interpretation of observational data are complex and
specialized activities.

8. Ethics in ethnographic research

Like other researchers, Ethnographers also follow a code of ethics. Code of ethics serve as a
guideline in collection and utilization of information during the research. The primary guide for
ethnographers are the Code of Ethics as given by the American Anthropological Association
(AAA) and the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA).

The American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics states that anthropologists “…have a
duty to be informed about ethical codes relating to their work, and ought periodically to receive
training on current research activities and ethical issues” (AAA 1996). It is important that
researchers informs about the purpose of study, its impacts and sources of support as well as using
information obtained in a appropriate way. It is also imperative on the part of the Anthropologists
to tell their result of research on time. Furthermore, there are various responsibilities that
anthropologists should be aware of including responsibilities to:

· The foremost ethical obligation is towards the people, animal and material they use in their
research. They should obtain informed consent and can apply measures to ensure anonymity. The
people, animals or environment should be protected from intentional harm.

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· They should not misrepresent information or deceive

other intentionally. They should also preserve opportunities for future fieldwork for others
consider all reasonable requests to access data for purposes of research.
· Findings of research should be available to the public, anthropologists and non anthropologists.

· There should be no discrimination on the basis of gender, caste, class, political position etc they
should also try to encourage students towards their interest, provide them with training

The code of ethics given by society of Anthropology is similar to the AAA code of ethics. They
emphasis that people’s participation in the research activity should be voluntarily and be ensured
about the confidentiality of information. They also focus on the prevention of any harm to the
community in which research is carried out.

9. Summary

· Ethnography can also be defined as a way of carrying out research by focusing on the
understanding of actors’ behavior and therefore theorizing their action means attributing
them to some other.

· The historical context of ethnographic research can be traced back to Gerhard Friedrich
Müller. However, the term ethnography was introduced into the academic discourse by
August Ludwig von Schlözer and Christoph Wilhelm Jacob Gatterer; inorder to change the
contemporary understanding of the world history.

· Through the collection of detailed observations and interviews, ethnography gives a rich
and whole insight into the people’s views and actions as well as nature of the location they
live in.

· Ethnography focuses on cultural interpretation and aims to understand the cultural and
symbolic aspects of people’s actions and the contexts in which those actions occur.
Ethnographic research usually focuses on a specific group of people or a case involving
culturally significant practices or actions.

· The process to conduct ethnographic research includes ten steps which need to be
followed. Ethnographic research has various advantages such as it provide an in depth
study of a culture or community in its natural setting and limitation such as it is time
consuming and so on.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. : PSY_P3: Qualitative Methods

MODULE No. : M14: Ethnography