Ethnographic methods

Overview

Two techniques an ethnographer typically combines, why ethnography usually requires a long period in the field and thick description.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is ethnography?

   Model answer

   The detailed study of a group's way of life from within, usually over an extended period, to describe its culture as its members experience it.

2. 2

   Which theoretical tradition is ethnography most associated with?

   Model answer

   Interpretivism, because it aims to uncover the meanings members give to their own way of life.

3. 3

   Name two techniques an ethnographer typically combines.

   Model answer

   Participant observation and informal conversational interviewing.

4. 4

   Explain why ethnography usually requires a long period in the field.

   Model answer

   Trust takes time to build and a way of life can only be understood by seeing it through its normal cycles rather than in a single visit.

5. 5

   What is thick description?

   Model answer

   An account that records not just what people did but the context and meanings that make the action intelligible.

6. 6

   Give one advantage of ethnography for studying a group hostile to outsiders.

   Model answer

   Extended involvement allows the researcher to become accepted, gaining access to behaviour a visiting interviewer would never see.

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