HOW TO DO ETHNOGRAPHY You are so very welcome. Love, Dr. W

Ethnography is two things: (1) the fundamental research method of cultural anthropology, and (2) the written text produced to report ethnographic research results.

In other words, it is  WHAT YOU DO TO RESEARCH YOUR SUBJECT, AND  HOW YOU REPORT IT

Ethnographic questions generally concern the link between culture and behavior and/or how cultural processes develop over time.

"participant observation" researchers participate as much as possible in local daily life (everything from important ceremonies and rituals to ordinary things like meal preparation and consumption) while also carefully observing everything they can about it.

EMIC PERSPECTIVE ethnographers seek to gain what is called an "emic" perspective, or the "native's point(s) of view" without imposing their own conceptual frameworks. EMIC = INSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE

ETIC PERSPECTIVE The emic world view, which may be quite different from the "etic", or outsider's perspective on local life, is a unique and critical part of anthropology. ETIC = OUTSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE

Students learning about ethnography for the first time are often attempt to be "objective" in their research and to learn what is "really" happening in the field. However, anthropologists have long since acknowledged that ethnographic research is not objective research at all.

Interpretation vs. Objectivity Ethnographers are interpreters is an interpretative endeavor. The data used in ethnographies is usually extensive description of the details of social life or cultural phenomena ● Fieldnotes ● Interviews ● Artifacts

Reflexivity providing readers with a brief, clear picture of how the research we have done has been or could have been affected by what we bring to it. How does my perspective influence the observations I'm making? Triangulation we expect to have a collection of fieldnotes, interviews, and site documents (where possible) which work together to support our claims. This is called triangulation.

Choosing a topic and guiding question It is possible to choose a field/topic first and then to make a guiding question appropriate to the field/topic. It is also possible to start with a question about a certain cultural process and to find a site where that question might be appropriate. Either method for setting up a project can work, as long as the site and the question are relevant to one another.

Guiding Question How do members of a particular group perceive of or understand a certain social or cultural phenomenon? (This is often seen through behavior of some kind.) Example: How do high school women’s field hockey players at Assumption High School balance practice and academics? a particular group a certain social or cultural phenomenon

Guiding Question How is a certain social or cultural practice socially constructed among members of a certain group? Example: How is arranged marriage socially constructed among matchmakers in contemporary Japan? what does it mean to be socially constructed? put simply: the way that people understand things based on the social structure they were raised in.

Fieldnotes Ethnographers engage in participant observation in order to gain insight into cultural practices and phenomena. fieldnotes will constitute a major part of the data on which later conclusions will be based.

Fieldnotes should be written as soon as possible after leaving the fieldsite. It's easy to forget important details, so you should block out time after your observations in order to record what you saw.

What do fieldnotes look like? Date, time, and place of observation Specific facts, numbers, details of what happens at the site Sensory impressions: sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes Personal responses to the fact of recording fieldnotes Specific words, phrases, summaries of conversations, and insider language Questions about people or behaviors at the site for future investigation Page numbers to help keep observations in order

JOTTINGS These are brief notes taken at the fieldsite that will help you remember things later. If you're writing the entire time you're observing, you stand to miss something. Try to keep your jottings brief and only write things down that you consider very important in triggering your later recollection.

DESCRIPTION Should be written immediately after an observation. Describe everything you can about what you saw. While it is useful to focus primarily on things you did or observed which relate to the guiding question, some amount of general information is also helpful.

ANALYSIS This is where you start to think about what you learned in the setting regarding your guiding question and other related points. ● What themes can you begin to identify regarding your guiding question? ● What questions do you have to help focus your observation on subsequent visits?

REFLECTION What was it like for you to be doing this research? What felt comfortable for you about being in this site and what felt uncomfortable? In what ways did you connect with informants, and in what ways didn't you? This is part of the reflexivity of ethnography

Interviews When might it be useful to conduct interviews?  when choosing a site/topic  when choosing a guiding question  after much participant observation  when the informants are going through changes that interest you

Before the interview Ask yourself: what do I want to learn from the interview? Make a list of possible open ended questions which can help to hone in on different aspects of the guiding question. Be sure to record important information like the date and place of the interview and why this informant seemed like a good choice for the project.

Recording the Interview Make sure your informants know they will be recorded and obtain their permission on tape before the interview gets underway. "This is October 20th at 3pm at The Assumption Green and I am interviewing ____________. Do I have your permission to record?" You should have their permission before you start to record; this is simply a recorded formal agreement between the two of you.

Advantages to Recording When you are able to rely on a recording later, you can devote more attention to actually talking to people and less time trying to frantically scribble notes while they talk. If you decide to transcribe interviews and use them in your portfolio, you may be able to see patterns in their words that you otherwise may not have noticed.

Establish rapport Be a good listener. Choose a place where your informant can speak freely and neither of you will be distracted. If you're recording the interview, you should try and minimize background noise. Be sure that the informant knows that the interview is data for a research project and understands the implications of being interviewed

Be flexible If the informant goes off on a tangent in answering the question, listen for a while instead of immediately insisting on the prepared agenda. This often leads to very useful information that we didn't know was needed! Don't worry if not all of the questions you had planned to ask get asked and answered; it is far more important to come away with information that addresses the guiding question.

Site Documents In addition to participant observation and interviews, ethnographers may also make use of various documents in answering guiding questions. Thinking carefully about our field sites and how they function and asking questions of our informants helps us to decide what kinds of documents might be available.

What kind of documents? There are a variety of kinds of documents which might be relevant for our projects. These documents are not produced for research purposes. Generally, these documents can be divided into three categories:

1. by the people in your fieldsite 2. by people somehow like the people in your fieldsite 3. about the people in your fieldsite Documents might be produced:

Some examples of site documents:

How to WRITE ethnography: Ethnographic papers are generally centered around a guiding question. They then proceed to explore this question and analyze it in light of the fieldwork that has been conducted. Therefore, it is useful to clarify early in the paper why the question is important and why it is worthy of investigation.

The thesis is often the answer to the guiding question. Evidence for the thesis is primarily drawn from your fieldwork. Your evidence should be based upon description and analysis from fieldnotes, interviews and site documents.

The process of developing a thesis that will attempt to answer your guiding question is closely linked to the process of data analysis.

Data Analysis In ethnography, data analysis takes place throughout the project. You will learn from the data you gather during visits to the field what to watch for, notice, or ask during the next visit. As fieldwork progresses, you will be constantly refining your ideas of what might be happening.

Eventually, you will turn your attention more fully to working with the data you have gathered already. ● What does my data mean? ● What have I learned? ● What can I say regarding my guiding question? In short, how might I best analyze the data I have gathered?

While there is no single way to approach ethnographic data, the following points may be useful in helping you arrive at some conclusions:

Read through the fieldnotes, notes on interviews, interview transcripts, site documents, or whatever data has been gathered several times. Becoming very familiar with the information you have collected before you begin writing will help you better understand how to proceed.

Mark the data and take notes on any patterns, connections, similarities, or contrastive points in the data. Does anything stand out as a usual way of doing things? What seems unusual, and why? What becomes clear that was not clear before?

Look for "categories of meaning" in the data. Try to come up with a list of "categories" from the data. What themes begin to appear in the data you've collected? What can you as a researcher identify as themes, even if your informants don't?

Triangulate among the various forms of data you have gathered. If a point or an explanation holds across several sources you have gathered-- if it can be supported by fieldnotes, interviews, and/or documents-- then you can be more sure that you have found something integral to understanding your topic.

Are there alternative explanations for what you think you have seen so far? What can you learn from looking at the data from a variety of perspectives?

Try respondent validation, or explaining your developing conclusions to your informants. The informants might be in a position to share additional things which help to confirm or complicate what you have learned.

Respondent validation Keep in mind that the informants may or may not agree with the analysis because of their positions or perspectives within the social network you're investigating. Agreement from informants doesn't necessarily mean you're right, and disagreement doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.

Once you have arrived at some conclusions from your data, you must consider how to focus on the guiding question which drove your research. Can that question be answered from what you learned? Is another question more appropriate? Has the research provoked other questions?

Remember that your thesis should attempt to answer your guiding question. In order to do this, it is important to work back and forth between your emerging conclusions and your guiding question.

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