1. Chapter 15 Ethnographic Designs
Power Point Slides by Ronald J. Shope in collaboration with John W. Creswell

2. Educational Research 2e: Creswell
Key Ideas
Define ethnographic research
When to conduct an ethnography
Development of ethnographic research
Types of Ethnographic Designs
Key characteristics of ethnographic research
Steps in conducting an ethnography
Evaluating an ethnography
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

3. What is ethnographic research?
Ethnographic designs are qualitative research procedures for describing, analyzing, and interpreting a culture-sharing group’s shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, and language that develop over time.
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

4. When do you conduct an ethnography?
Study of a group helps you understand a larger issue
Have a culture-sharing group to study
Want a day-to-day picture
Long-term access to culture-sharing group
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

5. How did ethnographic research develop?
Ethnography has been shaped by cultural anthropology with an emphasis on writing about culture
1928 Mead study of childbearing, adolescence, and influence of culture on personality in Samoa
1920’s ’s Single case emphasis at University of Chicago
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

6. How did ethnographic research develop?
1980’s Educational Ethnographies
1997 publication of Writing Culture that highlighted two major issues
crisis of representation: how ethnographers interpret the groups they are studying
crisis of “legitimacy”: standards do not come from “normal science.” Studies must be evaluated by standards within the participants’ historical, cultural, influences and interactive forces of race, gender and class
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

7. Common types of Ethnographies: Realist ethnography
Narrates study in the third person voice reporting what is observed
Researcher reports objective data free from personal bias, political goals or judgment
Researcher produces the participants’ views through closely edited quotes and has final word on how the culture is to be interpreted and presented.
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

8. Common types of Ethnographies: Case study
Definition: an in-depth exploration of a bounded system (time, place, physical boundaries)
Subject for case studies
individual or several individuals
series of steps that form a sequence of activities
Researcher develops understanding of the case by collecting multiple forms of data
Researcher locates the “case” or “cases” within their larger context
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

9. Types of qualitative case studies
Intrinsic Case Study
Unusual Case
Study an intrinsic, unusual case.
Instrumental Case Study
Issue
Case
Study a case that provides insight into
an issue or theme
Multiple Instrumental Case Study
(also called a Collective Case Study)
Study several cases that
provide insight into an
issue (or theme)
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

10. Common types of Ethnographies: Critical Ethnography
Used by politically minded people
Advocate for the emancipation of marginalized groups
Seek to change society
Identify and celebrate research bias: all research is value laden
Challenge status-quo and ask “Why is it so?”
Create literal dialogue with participants
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

11. Critical Ethnography: Procedural Characteristics
Social issues include: power, empowerment, inequity, dominance, repression, hegemony, victimization
Collaborate actively with participants and negotiate final report
Self-conscious about their own interpretation
Reflexive and self-ware of their role
Non-neutral
Uses contradictions, imponderable, and tension (Denzin 1997)
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

12. Key characteristics of an ethnographic design
Cultural themes from cultural anthropology
A culture-sharing group
Examination of shared patterns of behavior, belief, and language
Data collection through fieldwork
Description, themes, interpretation
Group context or setting
Researcher reflexivity
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

13. Key characteristics: Cultural themes
Cultural Theme: general position, declared or implied, that is openly approved or promoted in a society or group
Drawn from cultural anthropology or literature
Seen in purpose statement or research questions as a Central Phenomenon
Examples:
Persistence
Identity development
Social skills
Enculturation
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

14. Key characteristics: Culture-sharing group
Individuals who have shared
Behaviors
Beliefs
Language
Vary in size
Interacts on regular basis
Interacted over a period of time
Representative of a larger group
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

15. Key characteristics: Discerning shared patterns
A shared pattern is a common social interaction that stabilizes as tacit rules and expectations of the group
Behavior: action taken by an individual in a cultural setting
Belief: how an individual thinks or perceives things in a cultural setting
Language: how an individual talks to others in a cultural setting
Types of patterns
Ideal: What should have occurred
Actual: What did occur
Projective: What might have occurred
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

16. Key characteristics: Doing fieldwork
Fieldwork researcher gathers data in the setting where the participants are located and where their shared patterns can be studied
Types of data
Emic data (data supplied by the participants)
Etic data (ethnographer’s interpretation of participant’s perspectives)
Negotiation data (information participants and researcher agree to use in a study)
Forms of data: Observations, Interviews, Documents
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

17. Key characteristics: Description, Themes, and Interpretations
Description: detailed rendering of individuals and scenes in order to depict what is going on in the culture-sharing group (detailed, thick, rich)
Themes: how things work and naming the essential features in themes in the cultural setting (shared patterns of behavior, thinking, talking)
Interpretation:
inferences and conclusions about what was learned
Relates descriptions and themes back to what was learned
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

18. Key characteristics of ethnographic designs: Context or setting
Setting, situation, or environment that surrounds the cultural group being studied
History, religion, politics, economy, the environment, physical location
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

19. Key characteristics of ethnographic designs: Reflexivity
Researcher openly discusses respect for participants and sites
Talk about themselves
Share their experiences
Identify how their interpretations shape their discussions about sites and groups
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

20. Steps in Conducting Ethnographic Research
Identify intent and type of design and relate intent to your research problem
Discuss approval and access considerations
Collect appropriate data emphasizing time in field, multiple sources, collaboration
Analyze and interpret data within a design
Write report consistent with your design
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

21. How do you evaluate an ethnography?
Group or case clearly identified?
Patterns identified?
Detail provided?
Context specified?
Author reflexive?
Broader interpretation given?
Conveys how the culture works?
Accuracy checked?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell