EthnographyBy Cindy Prouty

NNU, Qual

October 2013

Youtube: ethnography video (4 minutes)

http://youtu.be/9tHgNXzS2EY

Research Genre: Ethnography

Description: Creswell (2014) says ethnography is “a qualitative strategy in which the researcher studies an intact cultural group in a natural setting over a prolonged period of time by collecting primarily observational and interview data” (p. 242).

Overview of data collection

Creswell (2014) provides a framework

for research (p. 5).

Overview of Data Collection and Data Analysis

Marshall and Rossman (2011) say that ethnography is “derived from anthropology and qualitative sociology” (p. 19). Data collection can be accomplished through documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observations, and physical artifacts (Yin, 2014).

Overview of Data Collection and Data Analysis

Of direction observations, Yin (2014) says the strength of those observations is that they are completed in real time and are contextual. Two difficulties of ethnographic data analysis are the time consuming aspect and broad coverage needed, which is challenging without a team (Yin, 2014).

Benefits

New interpretations can be made from ethnographic research as the scope can be expanded, lesser data sets can be pooled with bigger sets of data, and more encompassing themes can be established (Chang, Hayter & Wu, 2010).

Challenges

Some ethical predicaments can arise in ethnographic research fieldwork (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). This research genre can also be very time consuming and require multiple researchers (Yin, 2014).

References

Chang, Y., Hayter, M., & Wu, S. (2010). A systematic review and meta-ethnography of the qualitative literature: Experiences of the menarche. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19, 447-460.

Creswell, J. (2014) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hornberger, N. (2009). Hyme’s linguistics and ethnography in education. Text & Talk, 29(3), 347-358.

Jamal, F., Fletcher, A., Harden, A., Wells, H., Thomas, J., & Bonell, C. (2013). The school environment and student health: A systematic review and meta-ethnography of qualitative research. BMC Public Helath. Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/798.

Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (2011). Designing qualitative research, fifth edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. (2006). Using interpretative meta-ethnography to explore the relationship between innovative approaches to learning and their influence on faculty understanding of teaching. Higher Education, 54. doi: 10.1007/s10734-006-9035-3

Yin, R. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.