Ethnographic information can take many different forms. Pdf participant observation download full pdf book. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly, cultural anthropology, but also sociology, communication studies, and social psychology. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and everyday.
Participant observation as a data collection method. Identify some of the contemporary ethnographic fieldwork techniques and perspectives. Ethnography is a qualitative research method that seeks to. Participant observationwikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ethnography and participant observation sage research methods. Ethnography participant observation, a potentially revolutionary. Discuss what is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and how it emerged as a. The ethnographic self feminist ethnography critical ethnography sculpting the truth in ethnographic accounts recording the miracle keywords ethnography participant observation fieldwork reflexivity natural settings printed by.
Ethnography literally means a description of a people. Before ethnography was a fully developed research method, anthropologists in. Participant observation is a type of research strategy. Pdf there is a strong tradition of observational research in most areas of the social sciences, especially in anthropology and sociology. Participant observationedit participant observation is a method for anthropological fieldwork, used to collect data such that the anthropologist must create an intimate relationship between themselves and the culture studied. Anthropology 1610 ethnographic research methods 4 week 4. Until i was seated in the piper navajo propeller plane, flying above the roadless boreal forest, i was excited to begin my fieldwork. During participant observation, the researcher works to play two separate roles at the same time.
Nonparticipant observationethnography flashcards quizlet. Ethnography, descriptive study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study. Participant observation and the nonnative ethnographer. Explain how traditional approaches to ethnographic fieldwork contrast with contemporary approaches. How does ethnography and participant observation differ. It is argued that participant observation is not merely a method of anthropology. By assuming a covert research role, i was able to observe natural occurrences of female gambling activities but unable to make peace with disturbing feelings of my research concealment. Although covert participant observation is more likely. The history of participant observation as a method participant observation is considered a staple in anthropological studies, especially in ethnographic studies, and has been used as a data collection method for over a century. This course provides an introduction to the technique of participant observation ethnographic fieldwork in cultural anthropology. Name date ethnographic observation i set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what i may find. Third, and at the heart of the chapter, i survey the defining debates surrounding ethnographic methods arising from the culture wars of the 1980s in anthropology. Participant observation research methodologies guide. Culture in actionintroduces the participantobservation method as one way to learn more about the culture of your organization.
Conducting ethnographic fieldwork with emergency responders. The appendices include research questions and writing tasks. Ethnography and participant observation 431 chapter guide ethnography and participant observation entail the extended involvement of the researcher in the social life of those he or she studies. Participant observation involves the observer being a member of the setting in which they are collecting data there are quite a few variations of this definition observation is normally associated with an ethnographic methodology more later but can be used as part of other research designs. Anthropology, fieldwork and organizational ethnography anthropology and fieldwork although, as a discipline concerned with cultural and social life, anthropology has much in common with other social sciences and humanities, it is particularly characterised by two features. The participant observation method, also known as ethnographic research, is when a sociologist actually becomes a part of the group they are studying in order to collect data and understand a social phenomenon or problem. Long term immersion and participant observation is often. Ethnographic participant observation could be overt or covert, with or without revealing research purpose and research identity to the researched.
Ethnography is today used for both the actual fieldwork during which the anthropologist collects material, and the. Ethnography cambridge encyclopedia of anthropology. Lse has developed lse research online so that users may access research. A great book if you are doing fieldwork for the first time. Anthropologists have traditionally undertaken ethnographies by undergoing participant. Even only an overview of the key ethnographies done so far, within national and disciplinary boundaries or across them, would call for a chapter in itself. Drawing on experiences of recent ethnographic fieldwork among members of churches in a village in southern ghana, this paper. However, the former term is also frequently taken to refer to the written output of that research. This guide is intended as a starting point for your preparations for the field, and is not comprehensive. Like the fieldwork experience itself, what you do to plan for the field will be unique. Through readings, lectures and digital resources, the course will present students with the opportunity to consider the ethical, philosophical and practical issues faced by cultural anthropologists doing field research.
So i decided to look around at what is close to my home that isnt a place i frequent or have even visited. The idea of ethnography is to get a full and holistic view of the cultural experience of a person. Participant observation and the ethnographic interview participant observation qualitative research. Ethnographic observation exercise due in class february 4, 2008 introduction this assignment is designed to give you the opportunity to make observations of a cultural scene as an anthropologist would and to try out a key method of anthropological research for yourself. Ethnography participant observation, a potentially.
But i also want to insist that participant observation and ethnography are not the same. Ethnography, fieldwork and participant observation anderson, e. The challenges of participant observations of cultural encounters. It is suggested that an ethnographic perspective can help delineate patterns of human action when document analysis is conceptualized as fieldwork. Participant observation qualitative research guide. Although the methods used are not exclusive to ethnography, it is the depth of fieldwork and the continuous process of engaging with participants and their natural environments that is central and adds strength to the findings of ethnographic studies.
Both scientific and artistic in perspective and approach, ethnographic fieldwork is characteristic of the work of cultural anthropologists who seek explanation andor interpretation of human behavior, practices, ideas, and values. Pdf participant observation as ethnography or ethnography as. Ethnographic research this chapter will provide information on. Spradley shows how to analyze collected data and to write an ethnography. Ethnography that deals with business issues often involves shorter periods of participant observation than the classic ethnographies. An anthropological reader second edition provides readers with a picture of the breadth, variation, and complexity of fieldwork. Plan and conduct ethnographic fieldwork, selecting the field, gaining access.
In this how to account i will describe the process by organizing my description around the following seven questions. This method requires that an anthropologist participate in a social event that is part of a specific culture. It examines things like race, class, gender, religion, kinship, economics, political systems and others. In this entry, however, the emphasis is on continuities and discontinuities in the ethnographic traditions and the centrality of fieldwork, conducted through participant observation.
A word or short phrase that iden,fies a concept, a process, an event, or some other phenomenon of sociological interest. This text is a followup to his ethnographic research handbook, the ethnographic interview, and guides readers through the technique of participant observation to research ethnography and culture. Ethnography, field research, qualitative research, participant observation, and methodological issues i recently had the pleasure of learning how to conduct ethnographic research for the first time. In participant observation, the researcher immerses himself in a cultural environment, usually over an extended period of time, in order to gain a. Sometimes ethnography and participant observation are grouped together in method texts e. It is often used somewhat indiscriminately to refer to a very wide variety of qualitative research strategies. Ethnography is, at heart, an observational method, and particularly in the more. The updated selections offer insight into the ethnographers experience of gathering and analyzing data, and a richer understanding of the conflicts, hazards and ethical challenges of pursuing fieldwork. Participant observation data are recorded in the form of daily fieldnotes that must be entered into a database then coded, sorted, and analyzed for patterns of recurrent behavior or illustrative instances of a pattern that might have popped up in another form e. Long term immersion and participant observation is often considered to be crucial and a defining feature of good ethnographic fieldwork. In this essay i reflect on the ethical challenges of ethnographic fieldwork i personally experienced in a female gambling study. Critically discuss this with reference to the debates about multisited ethnography or fieldwork at home. A very common form is a book written by the person participating in the research or observation. Participant observations participant observations of the ce in between families with children and nurses will be carried out in several health centers in navarra spain.
Participant observation as a data collection method kawulich. Spradley participant observation pdf, please inform us about that so we can fix it. For this exercise, each student will spend two hours in the. Participation observation field guide pdf from duke university, a thorough overview of participant observation. Participant observation is a core activity in ethnographic research.
Implications of positioning on discoursecentered fieldwork. It is a way, as i would like to put it, of corresponding with people. From participant observation to observant participation. Find out how to use ethnographic research methods and participant observation in our detailed guide. This essay focuses on the core of ethnographic researchparticipant observationto argue that it is a potentially revolutionary praxis because it forces us to question our theoretical presuppositions about the world, produce knowledge that is new, was confined to the. It is sometimes referred to as an unobtrusive method participant observation involves the observer being a member of the setting in which they are collecting data there are quite a few variations of this definition observation is normally associated with an ethnographic. Ethnographic fieldwork is an indepth localized research process aimed at the description and analysis of cultural systems. Ethnographic work requires intensive and often immersive longterm participation in the community that is the subject of research, typically involving physical relocation hence the term fieldwork. Participant observation and ethnography, at large, are an everyday staple for researchers in migration, ethnic and mobility studies. Labelling, categorizing, and sor,ng data to organize them and let you see paherns. This essay focuses on the core of ethnographic researchparticipant observationto argue that it is a potentially revolutionary praxis because it forces us to question our theoretical presuppositions about the world, produce knowledge that is new, was confined to the margins, or was silenced. It has been claimed that all research directly or indirectly involves participant observation in the selection of a. A reflection on ethnographic fieldwork jun li university of british columbia, vancouver, canada in this essay i reflect on the ethical challenges of ethnographic fieldwork i personally experienced in a female gambling study. The challenges of participant observations of cultural.
Only observations will be dealt with in this paper. Participant observation, a potentially revolutionary praxis. I also refer to these as basic classical ethnographic methods, to distinguish them from other classical ethnographic methods long employed by anthropologists. Methods our research was based on long term ethnographic fieldwork. Articles, journals, statistical data, and documentaries are just a few of the many forms that ethnographic information can be conveyed. Qualitative research guide participant observation search this guide search. Discuss what is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and how it emerged as a key strategy in anthropology. Participant observation migration ethnography multisited. Using ethnographic methods and participant observation emerald. This usually involves fairly lengthy contact, through participant observation in relevant settings, andor through relatively openended interviews designed to. It is important to understand that ethnography deals with people. Reflections from observing participants daniel briggs, ivan gololobov, aimar ventsel. It starts by distinguishing between fieldwork, which is a method of conducting qualitative research, initially in the discipline of anthropology, and ethnography. Using participant observation find, read and cite all the research.
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