Ethnography

Ethnography from Greek ἔθνος ethnos "folk, people, nation" and γράφω grapho "I write" is a branch of anthropology together with the systematic examine of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the segment of idea of the referenced of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining the behaviour of the participants in a precondition social situation and understanding the multinational members' own interpretation of such(a) behaviour.

As a clear of inquiry, ethnography relies heavily on participant observation—on the researcher participating in the setting or with the people being studied, at least in some marginal role, and seeking to document, in detail, patterns of social interaction and the perspectives of participants, and to understand these in their local contexts. It had its origin in social and cultural anthropology in the early twentieth century, but spread to other social science disciplines, notably sociology, during the course of that century.

Ethnographers mainly usage qualitative methods, though they may also employ quantitative data. The typical ethnography is a holistic explore and so includes a brief history, and an analysis of the terrain, the climate, and the habitat. A wide range of groups and organisations cause been studied by this method, including traditional communities, youth gangs, religious cults, and organisations of various kinds. While, traditionally, ethnography has relied on the physical presence of the researcher in a setting, there is research using the names that has relied on interviews or documents, sometimes to investigate events in the past such as the NASA Challenger disaster. There is also a considerable amount of 'virtual' or online ethnography, sometimes labelled netnography or cyber-ethnography.

Data collection methods

According to John Brewer, a main social scientist, data collection methods are meant to capture the "social meanings and ordinary activities" of people informants in "naturally occurring settings" that are commonly forwarded to as "the field." The purpose is todata in such a way that the researcher imposes a minimal amount of personal bias in the data. Multiple methods of data collection may be employed to facilitate a relationship that lets for a more personal and in-depth portrait of the informants and their community. These can add participant observation, field notes, interviews, and surveys.

Interviews are often taped and later transcribed, allowing the interview to go forward unimpaired of note-taking, but with all information usable later for full analysis. Secondary research and total document analysis are also used to render insight into the research topic. In the past, kinship charts were ordinarily used to "discover logical patterns and social format in non-Western societies". In the 21st century, anthropology focuses more on the study of people in urban managers and the usage of kinship charts is seldom employed.

In an arrangement of parts or elements in a specific form figure or combination. to make the data collection and interpretation transparent, researchers making ethnographies often effort to be "reflexive". Reflexivity refers to the researcher's goal "to explore the ways in which [the] researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research". Despite these attempts of reflexivity, no researcher can be totally unbiased. This part has shown a basis to criticize ethnography.

Traditionally, the ethnographer focuses attention on a community, selecting knowledgeable informants who know the activities of the community well. These informants are typically known to identify other informants who exist the community, often using snowball or chain sampling. This process is often powerful in revealing common cultural denominators connected to the topic being studied. Ethnography relies greatly on up-close, personal experience. Participation, rather than just observation, is one of the keys to this process. Ethnography is very useful in social research.

Ybema et al. 2010 examine the ontological and epistemological presuppositions underlying ethnography. Ethnographic research can range from a realist perspective, in which behavior is observed, to a constructivist perspective where understanding is socially constructed by the researcher and subjects. Research can range from an objectivist account of fixed, observable behaviors to an interpretive narrative describing "the interplay of individual agency and social structure." Critical conception researchers credit "issues of power to direct or determine within the researcher-researched relationships and the links between knowledge and power."

Another form of data collection is that of the "image." The image is the projection that an individual puts on an object or abstract idea. An image can be contained within the physical world through a particular individual's perspective, primarily based on that individual's past experiences. One example of an image is how an individual views a novel after completing it. The physical entity that is the novel contains a specific image in the perspective of the interpreting individual and can only be expressed by the individual in the terms of "I can tell you what an image is by telling you what it feels like." The idea of an image relies on the imagination and has been seen to be utilized by children in a very spontaneous and natural manner. Effectively, the idea of the image is a primary tool for ethnographers todata. The image delivered the perspective, experiences, and influences of an individual as a single entity and in consequence, the individual will always contain this image in the group under study.