1. Ethnography

2. Anthropological tradition: Research that focuses on culture. Focus on cultural themes of community roles and behavior Patterns of behavior, interactions, customs, language, and ways of life (what people do and what people say) Focus on the everyday life of participants Focus on people interacting in ordinary settings to determine pervasive patterns in the life of the community Social structures and functions that help regulate behavior of the group

3. Anthropological tradition: Research that focuses on culture. Descriptive – high level of detail Narrative - reports are presented informally, as a story Use of description, analysis, and interpretation

4. Participant observation Higher level of participation – particular threat of “going native” Extended duration of fieldwork Researcher gathers information from interviews, observations, documents, and artifacts Immersion in the community – the goal to become an unobtrusive observer and recorder is unrealistic. Some (see Angrosino, et al.) view participation as necessary and unavoidable. Ideally the researcher’s increased presence helps mitigate reactivity and deception.

5. Product An holistic portrait of the cultural group from an “emic“ perspective.

6. Research questions (Spradley, 1980) What is the social situation to be studied? How does one go about observing this situation? What is recorded about this situation? What is observed about this situation? What cultural domains emerge from studying this situation? What more specific, focused observations can be made?

7. Research questions (Spradley, 1980) What taxonomy emerges from these focused observations? Looking more selectively, what observations can be made? What components emerge from these observations? What themes emerge? What is the emerging cultural inventory?

8. Spradley’s Classification Scheme for Observation 1. Strict inclusion (X is a kind of Y) 2. Spatial (X is a place in Y, X is a part of Y) 3. Cause-effect (X is a result of Y, X is a cause of Y) 4. Rationale (X is a reason for doing Y) 5. Location for action (X is a place for doing Y) 6. Function (X is used for Y) 7. Means-end (X is a way to do Y) 8. Sequence (X is a step or stage in Y) 9. Attribution (X is an attribute, or characteristic, of Y)

9. Validity Generalization is not a goal of ethnography – site- specific nature of the inquiry. 9 criteria of a “good ethnography” (Spindler and Spindler, 1987) Observations are contextualized Hypotheses emerge in situ as the study goes on Observation is prolonged and repetitive

10. Validity 9 criteria of a “good ethnography” (Cont.) Through interviews, observations, and other eliciting procedures, the native view of reality is obtained Ethnographers elicit knowledge from informant- participants in a systematic fashion Instruments, codes, schedules, questionnaires, agenda for interviews, and so forth are generated in situ as a result of inquiry

11. Validity 9 criteria of a “good ethnography” (Cont.) A transcultural, comparative perspective is frequently an unstated assumption The ethnographer makes explicit what is implicit and tacit to informants The ethnographic interviewer must not pre-determine responses by the kinds of questions asked