By: Novita Eka Indah Suryani / MPBI 15

The Summary of ‘Ethnography’

Ethnography is not the most commonly used qualitative research approach in applied
linguistics, it is an approach that has some unique offerings for the field. ‘Ethnographic
approaches are particularly valuable when not enough is known about a context or situation’.
The term ‘ethnography’ refers to both the product- the presentation of the final analysis and
interpretation of the completed study- and also the research process itself. Ethnographers’ main
purpose is to learn enough about a group to create a cultural portrait of how the people belonging
to that culture live, work, and/ or play together. Over time, the ‘classical’ form of ethnography
has metamorphosed, and today there are a wide variety of ethnographic forms, comprising
critical ethnography, feminist ethnography, focused ethnography, confessional ethnography,
autoethnography, virtual ethnography.

There are some definitions of ‘ethnography’. According to Watson-Gegeo (1988), it is

‘the study of people’s behavior in naturally occurring, ongoing settings, with a focus on the
cultural interpretation of behavior’. Researches look at cultures for ‘what people do (behaviors),
what they say (language), the potential tension between what they do and ought to do, what they
make and use, such as artifacts’, which include standardized test scores, photos, handouts, and
surveys. In other words, ethnographic research allows researchers to explore how people create,
sustain, change, and pass on their shared values, beliefs, and behavior- in essence, their culture.
Furthermore, ethnography can be chosen as an approach to conduct ha research when ‘the social
issue or behaviors are not yet clearly understood’, and the researchers are looking for focus. It is
generally used to conduct a study whose participants are in groups rather than single individuals
since ethnography has a strong focus on culture, and culture only exists in groups. Thus, the aim
of ethnographers is to painstakingly develop an understanding of the particular cultural worlds
which people build and live in and explain them to people outside those worlds.

Traditional ethnography is different from nontraditional ones. Traditional ethnography

typically focuses on location, not issues. Ethnographers choose to explore a group living in a
particular place, the aim of building a cultural portrait of the group found there. Meanwhile, in
nontraditional ethnography, in focused ethnography, the focal point of the research is typically
on an issue and in critical ethnography, researchers aim to go beyond rich cultural description to
promoting change. Such nontraditional studies are often conducted in small cultures such as
organizations or institutions. The group studied may be a sample of participants who share a
particular feature, but not necessarily the same location, such the researcher focuses on the
common behaviors, experiences, or identities.

Ethnography used in applied linguistics is recommended because of some reasons. Using

ethnographic research allows the researchers to understand a culture in depth. Another reason is
ethnographic studies are fluid and flexible; the research question employed in these studies can
be dynamic, subject to constant revision, and refined as the research continues to uncover new
knowledge. It also allows for the recording of behavior as it occurs instead of depending on
people’s reports of their past or expected behavior. Moreover, the final reports of ethnography
have the possibility of reaching a wide audience. They can be presented in many different ways,
including narratives, novels, dramas, and documentaries, as well as traditional research articles.
Thus, ethnography has the possibility of having greater practical influence on what teachers are
doing in their classrooms.

This study requires doing extended fieldwork within the culture, and with an open mind
observing firsthand what happens there. In collecting the data, the researchers can use several
instruments, such as interviews to uncover hidden meanings of behavior and to supplement an
observation, and field notes to create meticulous descriptions of the context, participants, and
events they witness. Thus, related artifacts are also investigated. Furthermore, creating maps of
relationships between participants and chronologies of significant events is needed.

There are no prescriptive chronological ‘steps’ that ethnographers follow; however, the
flow of typical ethnographic studies is somewhat predictable. They are (1) determone that
ethnography fits the research question or issue, (2) decide what type of data and where you can
collect it, (3) select your research site and arrange entry, (4) begin the actual data collection, (5)
analyze the data, (6) complete the analysis and interpretation, and (7) write up a report or present
the findings.

The most commonly used methods of collecting data in ethnographic studies are
participant observation (recorded in field notes), interviews (often transcribed and summarized),
and artifact analysis. Participant observation is the most crucial to develop an understanding of
the culture. Richards (2003) lists four main components that observers should make a conscious
effort to note comprising setting (space and objects), systems (procedures), people, behavior. In
traditional ethnography, researchers come from ‘outside’, moving into a community and living
there for an extended period of time, while in focused ethnographies they may continue to live at
home but shadow the people in the study for a specific period of time temporarily become a
member of a given group by, for example, acting as a substitute or visiting teacher in a school.

In participant observation, researchers should consider several things. The researchers

should maintain a balance between their roles as an insider and an outsider and be conscious of
their own part in the research. The researcher maintains an emic (insider or participant
perspective) and etic (outsider or researchers’ perspective) position simultaneously. Also, while
researchers are observing, they write field notes which should be detailed rich contextual
information derived from the setting. Careful attention to field notes prevents researchers from
forming over-generalized impressions and interpretations, and allows them to describe the
phenomenon or event observed more precisely.
 In order readers can visualize the context, thick description should be conducted. By
using thick description, the researchers can record the totality of what they observe so that the
notes can help them remember both the events and the contexts when they return to analyze the
notes later. Also, it allows readers to picture the scene clearly, and since ethnography assumes an
active role for its readers, this is essential. What is more, the researchers should capture not only
the words but also the context in which the participants spoke as richly as possible, and later,
share that richness with the reader.

Interviewing and artifacts are other essential parts of ethnographic research. In

interviewing the participants, the researchers should formulate interview questions based on his
or her own unique etic position and find informants who are articulate and gifted at description
from within the target community to interview in the aim of providing some of the mainstays of
the research data. The artifacts used by ethnographers can be various, such as pre-existing
documents comprising past English grades, standardized test scores, handouts from lessons, end
of term tests, preexisting video footage or photos.

In addition, ‘triangulation’ which is an activity where the gethering and later comparison
of data sources by using combination of methods is used to test the quality of information and
ultimately to put the whole situation into perspective. Good ehnography is usually the result of
triangulation since it enables you to validate claims and discover inconsistencies that require
additional investigation. In this case, the ethnographers must take the time too find the
inconsistencies out and avoid making quick, subjective judgements, because making hasty
judgements can easily lead the researchers to incorrect interpretation.

There is no perspective ‘how to’ gide for organising the data. Some basic starting points
include: (1) keep the notes in well-defined groupd or catagories, (2) write the date, time, and
place where the data collected, (3) file the data in chronological order, (3) make and maintain a
‘contents’ list for each folder (in note book or computer), (4) label files and folders with
unambigous titles (when using a computer) or develop a simple logical code system, and devise
cross-referencing system.

Analysis and interpretation in ethnographic studies are inductive process of methodically

searching for patterns and meaning in the data. There are there basic steps that many researchers
employ. The first step is to read the various kinds of data to gain a deeper understanding. In
reading process, the researchers may write analytic memos that record their ideas and
impressions and help them organize and focus their emerging interpretation. The next step is to
read the texts line-by-lline and code them. If the researchers do not code, they can group or
regroup their ideas. The last step is to discuss interpretation.

Findings of ethnographic studies are commonly presented in quite long written form. A
final ethnographic report is often a cultural potrait of the group, incorporating the researchers’
and the participants viewpoints and term of reference, and it is often presented in a narrrative.
Otherwise, it can be presented in a many ways including taxonomies, novels, novellas, short
stories, poems, plays, dance performances, we-based texts and images, and films. In brief,
ethnogrphers’ ultimate goal is to tell a ‘good story’ about the experience of their research to an
audoence who may be unfailiar with the culture.