Ethnography Studies Od Organizations

¶ … Organizational Psychology

Qualitative research is conducted according to several different philosophical orientations, one of which is phenomenology. The science of phenomenology studies the consciousness of individuals according to a first-person point-of-view. Experience is structured by meaning and intentionality toward something or some object, and phenology is the effort to describe the meanings of the lived experiences of individuals. That is to say that, the first person accounts of individuals constitute meaningful, authentic qualitative data. Ethnography is a form of qualitative research in which the investigator becomes immersed in the context in which the inquiry is taking place (Rouleau, et al., 2014).

An ethnographic researcher essentially indwells in order to obtain thick, rich data about individuals in a population and about the environment in which they live their lives (Rouleau, et al., 2014). The field of ethnology requires the researcher to be at once acutely tuned-in to the individuals in the population being studied, and at the same time be conscious of the perceptions and meanings that they bring to the research (Rouleau, et al., 2014). The process of conducting qualitative research is not at all like that of quantitative research, in that, the study and the qualitative researcher are not separate. The qualitative researcher's contact with the study participants is continuous. Qualitative researchers are firmly located in all aspects of their research process; indeed, they are essential to the qualitative research process.

Ethnographers record data from observations they make of the study participants and the behaviors and quotidian activities that occur. This data is reviewed for patterns that emerge based on the researcher's thinking about the data, and on member checks the researcher conducts where the study participants are asked to confirm or clarify the researcher's conclusions about the observations. As the researcher reviews the data collected, memos or notes are made regarding the data, and the researcher continues sifting through the data until themes emerge. The utility of ethnographic research is evident in multinational studies in which the work is conducted in very diverse contexts and the perceptions of the study participants are anticipated to be quite different (Saka-Helmhout, 2007).

In addition to the primary research data that the ethnographer collects directly, secondary data is typically reviewed. This secondary data is often in the form of extant documentation and also earlier research that has generally been conducted by others. The purpose of this secondary data analysis is to carry out a process called triangulation, in which disparate data sources are examined to learn if and how the data may fit with the information being gathered from other sources.

Qualitative data is analyzed for patterns and themes that form the basis for thematic statements about the lived experiences of the study participants. If a qualitative study is grounded theory, then the data is used to search for a theory. However, a phenomenological study focuses on descriptions and first person accounts of the perceived experiences of the study participants (Saka-Helmhout, 2007). Typically, representative or pointed quotes are highlighted in the report, such that the actual words spoken or written by the study participants are highlighted (Saka-Helmhout, 2007).