Ethnography as a research methodology in sociology and anthropology

Ethnography

There are a number of issues that Sociologists find themselves dealing with. It is important to examine what ethnography is, provide some examples, and determine how we are all part of ethnography in order to gain a better understanding of the concept.

Defining Ethnography

There is not a set definition of ethnography, as it "can be both a process and an outcome. The term can apply to both the methodology and to the written account of an ethnographic project. Ethnography has its roots in social anthropology, which traditionally focused on small-scale communities that were thought to share culturally specific beliefs and practices (Pellatt)."

Ethnography is the main research methodology of cultural anthropology. In theory, "ethnography has two purposes: (1) to elaborate cultural diversity through a close study of the so-called 'native point-of-view'; and (2) to provide a culturally informed, critique of Self and Society. In practice, however, ethnographers have long struggled with the political implications of simultaneously studying Others from the 'native point-of-view' and writing informed critiques of Self and Society (Lassiter)."

Ethnography is also a "traditional method of sociology. It involves the study of people performing activities and interacting in complex social settings in order to obtain a qualitative understanding of these interactions (www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/681/1997/amy/ethnography.html)."

Ethnography Methods

The method used to capture data must be reliable in order to determine "the true needs of the system's end-users (www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/681/1997/amy/ethnography.html)," which is the basis of ethnography. This method has been adapted to deal with problems due to the "qualitative and non-judgmental nature of studies. Variations of this method are:

Ethnomethodological (Informed) - Design is influenced by an ethnographic study that is concurrent with system development.

Quick and dirty' (Innocent) - Brief ethnographic study to provide a general understanding of the setting.

Evaluative - Ethnographic study to verify/validate design decisions.

Re-examination of previous studies - Initial design development (www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/681/1997/amy/ethnography.html)."

Research

Ethnography is a "form of research focusing on the sociology of meaning through close field observation of sociocultural phenomena. Typically, the ethnographer focuses on a community (not necessarily geographic, considering also work, leisure, and other communities), selecting informants who are known to have an overview of the activities of the community (www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/ethno.htm)." It is important for these informants to be interviewed a number of times in order to clarify the information received and eventually reveal cultural awareness. This awareness is subjective, however it is often considered to be more important than any objective data collected. Ethnography can be "approached from the point-of-view of art and cultural preservation, and as a descriptive rather than analytic endeavor (www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/ethno.htm)."

Global Ethnography

When exploring social structures that are "constituted across multiple scales and sites, ethnography is an especially suitable methodology. Even the most sophisticated statistical methods tend to rely on a nested hierarchy of scales and units of analysis, whereas ethnography can strategically locate itself at critical points of intersection of scales and units of analysis and can directly examine the negotiation of interconnected social actors across multiple scales (Riain)."

The formation of an "external force or overarching structure - capitalism, modernity, science (Riain)" is the foundation of mast ethnographic studies.. These "ethnographies at their best reveal not just the impact of an impersonal force but also how localities are made penetrable by forces, how localities assimilate these forces into their own socioscapes, and how forces are resisted, accommodated to, and fled from. These forces are in reality also place-making projects but are analyzed in these ethnographies from the point-of-view of those caught up in these projects with little ability to influence them (Riain)."

Development of Ethnography

In the early 1900s, ethnography began to develop into its modern form, "emerging within the milieu of unilineal evolution, social Darwinism, and eugenics. Non-Western peoples were generally perceived to be at a lower level of cognitive development than Westerners; by extension, 'less fit' than Westerners and, by virtue of their non-White 'race,' biologically inferior to Westerners (Lassiter)."

During the 1930s and 1940s, ethnography played a role changing many academic theories from "biologically-based assumptions of human behavior to culturally-based understandings of human behavior. However, by the 1960s and 1970s anthropologists began to recognize a disparity between ethnographic theory and practice, between the ethnographic text and the so-called 'research site,' and between 'the ethnographer' and the 'natives' (Lassiter)."

Ethnographers today have studied and disputed these interpretations and determined that "the 'native point-of-view' illustrated that non-Western minds were just as complicated as Western ones; that there was no basis for judging one society as 'more fit' than another; and that race could not serve as a foundation for understanding diverse human behavior (Lassiter)."

Navel-Gazing

Ethnography is not meant to be an autobiography, but instead is supposed to depict a certain aspect of another person's culture. As recent as 50 years ago, "anthropologists strove to eliminate themselves from their reportage, the better to maintain as appearance of scientific objectivity, however other genres kept showing through (Metcalf)."

Uncertainty about providing useful information about the Cultural Other has resulted in many anthropologists failing to report "beyond how they felt about their fieldwork experiences. This has resulted in the odd genre known as 'navel-gazing ethnography' (Metcalf)."

Writing an Ethnography

An ethnographer writing an autobiographical and biographical ethnography must examine diaries which belong to him or her. This form of fieldwork is a "result of what is euphemistically called 'unstructured' research' or 'deep hanging out'. Instead of manipulating what is going on, ethnographers try to participate as far as possible in everyday life, and rather than grilling people with the help of pre-set questionnaires, they allow conversation to unroll in its own way, hoping thereby to discover what cultural categories are locally salient (Metcalf)." The data is collected by observing rites and listening to comments made, writing it down as soon as possible.

These diaries can be changed as interests change which can affect the person's viewpoint. In later years, the ethnographer is able to examine his or her life, and the "confrontation with the younger self is not always pleasant. There is plenty of time to re-resent petty humiliations or wince over one's own stupidity or insensitivity. Writing ethnography is a purgatory of pensees d'escalier (Metcalf)."

Part of Ethnology

As a whole, we are all part of ethnology. Everyone is a part of some type of culture, and this culture is open to interpretation by any ethnographer.

Our cultures are what shapes who we are, and how we react to a given circumstance. These cultures many times have beliefs and practices that are several centuries old, and have stood the test of time.

Conclusion

Ethnography is a method of sociology research which explores the ways of life of a culture. There are a number of different types of ethnography, and each sociologist must decide the method to employ in their research. While there are many different cultures throughout the world, we all share the common thread that we are part of ethnology.