Introduction to Ethnography

Paul LynchDepartment of Management

University of Strathclyde

Definition

The study of people in cultures; also the text that is written based on that study

( Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater, 2007)

Culture

An invisible web of behaviors, patterns, rules, and rituals of a group of people who have contact with one another and share common languages

(Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater, 2007: 3)

Hortense Powdermaker

William Whyte

Fieldworking

Sub-cultures

• Computer interest groups

• Online discussion groups• Listservs• Library user groups• Volleyball teams• Dogwalkers• DREaM workshop

participants

• Group characteristics• Rituals• Insider phrases• Behaviours

Research Methods

Participant observationObservationLibrary and archival researchCultural artefacts FieldnotesInterviews and transcriptsReflective memosFreewritingPhotographs

Naturally Occurring Data

• Allows investigation of the phenomena in their natural setting

• Provide data which is an ‘enactment’ of social behaviour in its own social setting

• Of value where behaviours & interactions need to be understood in ‘real’ world contexts

“There’s a hair on my plate. Should I mention it?”

• Detachment• Subjectivity• Insider

• Involvement• Objectivity• Outsider

DREaM project launch conference British Library Conference Centre 19th July 2011

Naturally Occurring Data Issues and Challenges

• Access to the natural setting & ‘fitting in’• Avoid contamination of the social setting• Researcher’s bias in interpretation• Need to surface social politics of the research

Example:A 45 year old male teetotal academic observing the alcohol

drinking habits and social behaviours of 18-21 year old females in a night club

Reflexivity

• Who am I?• Politics of identity?• Values?• Assumptions?• Worldviews?

Generated Data

• Involves reconstruction • Requires re-processing & retelling of attitudes,

beliefs, behaviour or other phenomena• The experience, thought, event, behaviour etc. is

mentally re-processed & verbally recounted by study participants

• Gives insight into people’s own perspectives• Example: What are your alcohol drinking habits and

social behaviours when you are out with your friends at a night club

Generated Data Issues and Challenges

• Accessibility to research participants that meet sample criteria

• Is the recounting of the research phenomenon likely to be sufficiently detailed, accurate or complete?

• What version of the ‘story’ does the research participant want to make public? Ethics

Example: A focus group of 18-21 year olds talking in front of a researcher of similar socio-demographic profile to their mothers about their alcohol drinking habits and social behaviours when out with friends at a night club

Data Analysis

• Analysis is open to emergent concepts & ideas

• Multiple readings - immersion

• Various styles: Documentary analysis; Conversation analysis; Discourse analysis; Thematic; Line-by-line coding…

Writing Up

• Outputs: focus on the interpretation of social meaning through mapping & re-presenting the social world of research participants

• Multiple versions• Thick description (Geertz,

1973)• Audiencing

Key Elements

• Purposive selection• How do you know what is important to study?• Aims to provide an in-depth & interpreted

understanding of the social world• Data collection methods usually involve close

interaction researcher/research participants• Data is detailed, information rich & extensive

References• Bishop, W. (2011) Ethnographic Writing Research: Writing it

Down, Writing it Up, and Reading it, Heinemann• Bryant, J. (2009) What are students doing in our library?

Ethnography as a method of exploring library user behaviour, Library and Information Research, 33(102): 3-9.

• Clark, D. The Raw and the Rotten: Punk Cuisine. In C. Counihan and P. Van Esterik, Food and Culture: A Reader, Routledge, London, pp. 411-422.

• Davies, B. (2003) Reflexive Ethnography: A Guide to Researching Selves and Others, Routledge, London.

• Ethnography.com, http://www.ethnography.com/• Fetterman, D. (1998) Ethnography: Step by Step, Sage, London.

• Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures , Basic Books, New York.

• Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1995) Ethnography: Principles in Practice, Routledge, London.

• Laurier, E., Whyte, A. and Buckner, K. (2001) An Ethnography of Neighbourhood Café: Informality, Table Arrangements and Background Noise. Journal of Mundane Behavior, 2, 1-30 Available at: http://www.mundanebehavior.org/issues/v2n2/laurier.html

• Lynch, P.A. (2005) Sociological Impressionism In A Hospitality Context, Annals of Tourism Research, 32(3): 527-548.

• Miles, M., Huberman, A. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis, Sage, London.

• Sunstein, B. and Chiseri-Strater, E. (2007) FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research, Bedford/St Martin’s, Boston.

• Whyte, W. F. (1943) Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum, Chicago University Press, Chicago.