ETHNOGRAPHY RESEARCH

GRACE GAYATHRI A/P RAMAKARSININ

(M20202001431)
 DEFINITION
“An attempt to attain a holistic picture of a
particular society, group, institution, or situation. The
emphasis in ethnographic research is on
documenting or portraying the everyday
experiences of individuals by observing and
interviewing them and relevant others.”
(Frankel & Wallen, 2006)
 FEATURES OF ETHNOGRAPHIES
1. Focuses on developing complex and complete description of a
culture of a group, culture sharing group. (doesn’t focus on the study
of culture but the study of behaviour). (Wolcott, 2008a)
2. Looks for patterns of mental activities (ideas and beliefs) expressed
through behaviour within the group (ex: patterns of social
organization). (Fetterman, 2010)
3. Theory plays important role in focusing researchers attention as it
offers broad explanation of what they are going to find.
4. Researcher relies on participants views (emic perspective), reports in
verbatim quotes, synthesizing (through etic scientific perspective) and
then develop overall culture interpretation. (Wolcott, 2008a)
 CHARACTERISTIC OF ETHNOGRAPHY
RESEARCH
1. Ethnographers study about cultural groups of interest through an
extensive field work.
2. It is labour intensive & time consuming task, which could involve
several months most of the time years.
3. Ethnographic studies require a certain level of intimacy with the
cultural groups under study, this requires a long term interaction &
participation with them in their living environment.
4. Researchers use themselves as instruments in the ethnographic
studies. The investigators spend their time with group members to
collect data through informal interactions & observations rather than
using a formal tool for data collection.
 TYPES OF ETHNOGRAPHIES
Realist ethnography
(Van Maanen, 1988)
• A traditional approach by cultural
anthropologists.
• Objective account of situation
written in third-person point of view
• Researcher as omniscient reporter
of facts
• Provide mundane details of every
day life.
Critical ethnography
(Carspecken & Apple, 1992;
Maddison, 2005; Thomas, 1993)
• Including in the research advocacy
perspective.
• Response to current society (power,
prestige, privilege, authority) serve
to marginalize individuals of
different race, gender and classes.
• Speak out against inequality and
domination (empowerment,
repression, hegemony and
victimization)
 ASPECTS OF
CULTURAL LIFE Cultural Behaviour

The researcher studies on

three major aspects of Cultural Artefacts
ethnographic studies

Cultural Speech
 INSTRUMENTS
Ethnographers depend upon several
sources of data collection such as
• observations
• in- depth interviews
• observation of physical evidences
(photographs, diaries, letters etc)
• artefacts
 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES
• Richer comprehensive prospective.
• Lends itself well to research topics that
are not easily quantified.
• Particularly appropriate to behaviors
that are best understood by observing
them within their natural settings.
• Especially suited to studying group
behavior over time.
DISADVANTAGES
• Highly dependent on the particular
researcher’s observations and interpretations.
• No numerical data provided leads to checking
of validity of the researcher’s conclusions.
• Single situations usually observed leads to non-
generalizable results.
• Inevitable ambiguity that accompanies this
method, preplanning and review by others are
much less useful than in quantitative studies.
• Variables and relationships are hard to define
due to research usually beginning without and
hypothesis.
 EXAMPLE
The Remembered Village. Second Edition. M.N.
Srinivas. Oxford University Press. March 2013.
First published in 1976, The Remembered Village is the
first detailed ethnographic village study that narrates in
minute detail the day-to-day social relations between
members of diverse castes living in a small village
community in India, and has been acknowledged as a
classic by many ethnographers and anthropologists. For
those new to the sociology of India this fascinating book
offers an important reminder that everyday caste
relations are fluid and dynamic, just as they are carefully
regulated and circumscribed.
 The Dalits of India: Education
and Development
by Erik Fraser (Jun 23 2010)
https://www.e-ir.info/2010/06/23/the-dalits-
of-india-education-and-development/

'The Edge' for Dalit Communities

in India
14 Jun 2019
https://www.childrenontheedge.org/latest-
stories/the-edge-for-dalit-communities-in-
india

Equity in Education? Schooling of

Dalit Children in India
by Geetha B. Nambissan (1996)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4404063?seq=
1
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