ETHNOGRAPHY

ETNOGRAFI

WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY?
The term ethnography has come to be equated with
virtually any qualitative research project
The intent is to provide a detailed, in -depth
description of everyday life and practice. This is
sometimes referred to as "thick description" -- a
term attributed to the anthropologist Clifford Geertz
Thus, an ethnography is a study that focuses on
detailed and accurate description rather than
explanation.

WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY?

Ethnography may be defined as both a qualitative

research process or method (one conducts an
ethnography) and product (the outcome of this
process is an ethnography) whose aim is cultural
interpretation.
The ethnographer goes beyond reporting events
and details of experience. Specifically, he or she
attempts to explain how these represent what we
might call "webs of meaning" (Geertz again), the
cultural constructions, in which we live.

WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY?

Ethnography, as the empirical data on human

societies and cultures, was pioneered in the
biological, social, and cultural branches of
anthropology but has also become a popular in the
social sciences in general - sociology,
communication studies, history - wherever people
study ethnic groups, formations, compositions,
resettlements, social welfare characteristics,
materiality, spirituality, and a peoples ethnogenesis

CONDUCTING ETHNOGRAPHY
Typically ethnographers spend many months or
even years in the places where they conduct their
research often forming lasting bonds with people.
Due to historical development and disciplinary
biases, in the past most ethnographers conducted
their research in foreign countries while largely
ignoring the potential for work right here at their
home countries.
Increasing numbers of cultural anthropologists,
however, have begun doing fieldwork in the
communities where they themselves live and work.

THE MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPTS THAT GUIDE

ETHNOGRAPHERS IN THEIR FIELDWORK
Culture: patterns of behavior, customs, and way of
life,
Holistic perspective and contextualization: a
comprehensive and complete picture of a social
group.
Emic and etic perspective: the insider s or natives
perspective of reality that help to understand why
members of the social group do what they do, and
external social scientific perspective on reality

EMIC & ETIC

Ethnographers generate understandings of culture
through representation of what we call
An emic perspective, or what might be described as
the "'insider's point of view." The emphasis in this
representation is thus on allowing critical
categories and meanings to emerge from the
ethnographic encounter rather than imposing these
from existing models.
An etic perspective, by contrast, refers to a more
distant, analytical orientation to experience.

THE MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPTS THAT GUIDE

ETHNOGRAPHERS IN THEIR FIELDWORK
Nonjudgmental orientation and inter - and
intracultural diversity, and
Symbol and ritual: condensed expressions of
meaning that evoke powerful feelings and thoughts,
and repeated patterns of symbolic behavior that
play a part in both religious and secular lives

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

Participant Observation :
Long-term engagement in the field setting or place where the
ethnography takes place, is called participant observation.
This is perhaps the primary source of ethnographic data.
The term represents the dual role of the ethnographer. To
develop an understanding of what it is like to live in a setting,
the researcher must both become a participant in the life of
the setting while also maintaining the stance of an observer,
someone who can describes the experience with a measure
of what we might call "detachment.
In a non-continuous participant observation, the researcher
can apply ethnographic techniques to the study but cannot
conduct an ethnography

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

Interviewing: The interview is the ethnographer s
most important data-gathering technique. General
interview types include structured, semi-structured,
informal, and retrospective interviews.
Key Actor or Informant Interviewing: Some
people are more articulate and culturally sensitive
than others. These individuals make excellent key
actors or informants
Questionnaires: Structured interviews (usually
online)

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

Unobtrusive Measures: Researchers collect other
sources of data which depend on the specific
nature of the field setting. This may take the form
of representative artifacts that embody
characteristics of the topic of interest, government
reports, and newspaper and magazine articles

EQUIPMENT
Ethnographic equipment ranges from simple paper
and pen to high-tech laptop and mainframe
computers, from tape recorders and cameras to
digital camcorders. The proper equipment can
make the ethnographer s sojourn in an alien culture
more pleasant, safe, productive, and rewarding

ANALYSIS
Analysis is one of the most engaging features of
ethnography. It begins the moment a fieldworker selects a
problem to study and ends with the last word in the report or
ethnography.
Ethnography involves many levels of analysis. Some are
simple and informal; others require some statistical
sophistication.
Ethnographic analysis is iterative, building on ideas
throughout the study.
Triangulation is basic in ethnographic research. It is at the
heart of ethnographic validity, testing one source of
information against another to strip away alternative
explanations and prove a hypothesis

WRITING
Ethnography requires good writing skills at every stage of
the enterprise. Research proposals, fieldnotes , memoranda,
interim reports, final reports, articles , and books are the
tangible products of ethnographic work. The ethnographer
can share these written works with participants to verify
their accuracy and with colleagues to review and consider
them.
Writing is part of the analysis process as well as a means of
communication. Writing clarifies thinking . In sitting down to
put thoughts on paper, an individual must organize those
thoughts and sort out specific ideas and relationships.
Writing often reveals gaps in knowledge.

ETHICS
First and foremost, that the ethnographer do no harm to
the people or the community under study. In seeking a
logical path through the cultural wilds, the
ethnographer is careful not to trample the feelings of
insiders or desecrate what the culture calls sacred.
This respect for social environment ensures not only the
rights of the people but also the integrity of the data and a
productive enduring relationship between the people and the
researcher .

Professionalism and a delicate step demonstrate the

ethnographer s deep respect, admiration, and
appreciation for the peoples way of life. Noninvasive
ethnography not only is good ethics but also is good
science.

ETHICS
Ethnographers must formally or informally seek
informed consent to conduct their work.
Ethnographers must be candid about their task,
explaining what they plan to study and how they
plan to study it.
Overt versus covert ethnography

FINALLY,
Ethnography should be acknowledged as a mutual
product born of the intertwining of the lives of the
ethnographer and his or her subjects

ASSIGNMENT
Micro-ethnography: In the case where we can not
conduct a full-scale ethnography that entails a long
period of time in the field, it may be possible to
carry out a form of micro-ethnography. This would
involve focusing on a particular aspect of a topic, in
a relatively short period of time