HW2

Ethnographic Perspective

In: An Applied Guide to Research Designs: Quantitative,

Qualitative, and Mixed Methods

By: W. Alex Edmonds & Thomas D. Kennedy

Pub. Date: 2019

Access Date: April 7, 2021

Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc

City: Thousand Oaks

Print ISBN: 9781483317274

Online ISBN: 9781071802779

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781071802779

Print pages: 152-159

© 2017 SAGE Publications, Inc All Rights Reserved.

This PDF has been generated from SAGE Research Methods. Please note that the pagination of the

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https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781071802779

Ethnographic Perspective

Ethnography is an approach that was developed to describe cultures; this includes any culture that shares

group characteristics such as values, beliefs, or ideas. The ethnographic researcher is interested in

understanding another way of life from the point of view of the participants who make up the culture or group

being studied. Because this perspective is based on understanding anything associated with human behavior

and belief, it is well-suited for the fields of education and the social and behavioral sciences, including more

recent areas of study like the research of culture and its relation to the Internet (see Hine, 2015).

Ethnography can be defined as research designed to describe and analyze the social life and culture of

a particular social system, based on detailed observations of what people actually do. The researcher is

embedded within the culture and takes a firsthand account of the beliefs, motivations, and behaviors of the

individuals in the group. The data that are collected are used to (a) document the lives of the participants

within the context of the culture, (b) understand the experiences of the individuals within the culture, or (c)

interpret the behaviors shaped by the cultural context.

Realist Design

Van Maanen (1988) stressed three aspects of the realist design: (a) the invisible author (i.e., narrating in

third person), (b) thick descriptions of the mundane (using a system of standard categories to organize the

descriptions), and (c) interpretive “omnipotence” (i.e., allowing the author the final word in presenting the

culture). The realist design offers one researcher’s overall perspective of a phenomenon from facts that are

meticulously culled down to support a perspective. Thus, although the researcher’s duty is to objectively

(without bias) present the facts, ultimately the interpretations of the facts come from the “omnipotent”

researcher. In general, Spradley’s (1979, 1980) designs are less “narrative” or “literary” than those of van

Maanen (1988) and Geertz (1998).

Critical Design

The critical design allows for the critiquing (i.e., challenging the status quo) of some existing system while

maintaining a level of scientific inquiry. It provides a scientific framework for advocacy or a structure for

directly examining relationships among cultural features, economic systems, knowledge, society, and political

action. Put simply, Madison (2011) and Thomas (1993) both asserted that the critical design is used to

describe, analyze, and scrutinize hidden agendas, power centers, and assumptions that inhibit, repress,

and constrain. Thus, the real utility of a critical design is the structure it provides for researchers who are

interested in explaining some form of ideology or power relations through the transformation of meaning and

conceptualization of existing social systems.

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Case Study Design

The case study design is often used with the ethnographic perspective; however, it has some distinct

differences from traditional ethnography. While traditional ethnography is focused on group behavior, the case

study design allows for the investigation of individuals as a whole (Creswell, 2012).1 This design provides the

framework for an in-depth contextual analysis of a finite number of events or conditions and their associations.

More specifically, the ethnographic case study allows for the examination of an actual case within some

cultural group. The “case” being explored also can be a group bound by time, place, or environment (i.e., a

group must be considered a unit, which is more than just a homogenous group). Researchers interested in

exploring activities of a group, rather than shared patterns of group behavior, should follow this design.

When to Use Ethnography

• Studying a school, organization, or program in-depth

• Studying what people do

• Studying how things work or run

• Studying “insiders”

• Studying aspects of “culture” (e.g., practices, rituals, lives, interconnections,

customs, values, beliefs, everyday life)

We refer the reader to the following books for further details regarding the ethnographic

approach:

Fetterman, D. M. (2009). Ethnography: Step-by-step (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Madison, D. S. (2011). Critical ethnography: Methods, ethics, and performance (2nd ed.).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Makagon, D., & Neumann, M. (2008). Recording culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. Chicago, IL: University

of Chicago Press.

Example for Figure 12.1

Purser, G. (2009). The dignity of job-seeking men: Boundary work among immigrant day laborers. Journal of

Contemporary Ethnography, 38(1), 117–139.

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Research Aim: Examine the discourses through which Latino immigrant day laborers make sense of, and find

dignity within, their ongoing quest for work.

Procedures: The data collection involved ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with individual day laborers.

The researcher conducted a total of 22 in-depth, loosely structured interviews with day laborers, 10 of whom

regularly sought work out of the employment center and 12 of whom regularly sought work on the street. This

was followed by a series of open-ended questions that focused on the objective and subjective dimensions of

the men’s work experiences and job-searching strategies. Substantial attention was devoted to understanding

how the men made sense of their precarious position on the margins of the labor market.

Figure 12.1 Realist Design

This study involved an inductive approach to data analysis. The third-person voice was used, and no

personal ideas were included in the report; rather, the facts were presented through the actual words of

the participants. Objective data were reported without personal bias or judgment. Ordinary details of each

participant’s life were included, and standard categories for cultural description were used (e.g., work life and

family systems). The final interpretive report allowed the researcher to provide subjective explanations of the

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data representing the culture being studied.

Design: Qualitative method using an ethnographic perspective with a realist design

Figure 12.2 Critical Design

Example for Figure 12.2

Varcoe, C., Browne, A. J., Wong, S., & Smye, V. L. (2009). Harms and benefits: Collecting ethnicity data in a

clinical context. Social Science & Medicine, 68, 1659–1666.

Research Aim: Critically examine the implications of collecting ethnicity data in health care settings.

Procedures: Data were collected in four modes: (a) in-depth interviews with decision-makers and policy

leaders affiliated with health authorities, (b) focus groups of community leaders who served on committees

of the health authority to represent patients’ perspectives concerning health care planning, (c) semistructured

interviews with patients seeking health services in either a subacute area or a community health center, and

(d) interviews with health care workers who were involved in either administering an ethnic identity question in

health care agencies or whose agencies were considering doing so as part of intake data. Patient interviews

were focused on their thoughts of their identification of ethnicity in health care settings, past experiences with

being asked, and their thoughts on the benefits and concerns.

An interpretive thematic analysis was conducted. The theoretical perspective was guided by an ethical

lens. Each transcript and associated field notes were read to get a sense of the whole and then coded

thematically. Collaboration with participants occurred throughout the process to optimize the study’s benefits

and avoid harm. The meaning of the phenomenon under investigation was connected to the broader context

of power and the social positions of patients within existing power structures. Themes were compared across

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interviews and revised, based upon the views and biases of the researcher and participants. The final report

advocated on behalf of the participant group. The researchers challenged the status quo assumption that

providing quality care in the clinical context requires the collection of ethnicity data. The intent was to change

societal standards by a call to action and to address the structural inequities at health care settings.

Design: Qualitative method using an ethnographic perspective with a critical design

Example for Figure 12.32

Richardson, J. B. (2009). Men do matter: Ethnographic insights on the socially supportive role of the African

American uncle in the lives of inner-city African American male youth. Journal of Family Issues, 30(8),

1041–1069.

Figure 12.3 Case Study Design

Research Question: What is the role of the African American uncle as a form of social support and social

capital in the lives of adolescent African American males living in single-female-headed households?

Procedures: The study involved in-depth life-history interviews and ethnographic participant observations of

young men and their single mothers over a period of 4 years. The use of ethnography provided exhaustive

and rich contextual data. The qualitative inquiry highlights the contextual nature of social life; it explores

subjective perceptions and meanings, and it identifies social processes and dynamics. In the three cases

studied, the young men in the sample and their mothers were able to clearly identify and explain the socially

supportive role that uncles filled as surrogate fathers. In some instances, the uncles themselves articulated

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their roles as surrogate fathers.

First, a phenomenon (role of the African American uncle as a form of social support) was identified. Next, the

appropriate case(s) (individual, activity, event, or process) were chosen that allowed for the examination of

the phenomenon. The description and comparisons of three cases helped to provide insight into the role of

the African American uncle as a form of social support in the lives of adolescent African American males (i.e.,

the phenomenon). Multiple forms of data were collected to increase the depth of understanding regarding

the phenomenon of interest. The cases were also presented within a larger context (setting, political climate,

social and economic status).

Design: Qualitative method using an ethnographic perspective with a case study design

Reviewing the Content and Testing Your Knowledge

Exercise

Develop a hypothetical research scenario that would necessitate the use of the Qualitative Method and the

Ethnographic Perspective. The research will be considered nonexperimental.

1. Identify the research scenario, including the general area of focus.

2. Identify the most appropriate approach and then design. Provide a rationale as to why this

approach and design would be most appropriate.

3. Develop the appropriate primary research question to be associated with this design.

4. Discuss the sampling strategy and technique to be used.

5. Based on the design, briefly discuss the data collection procedures to be used. Be sure to

include the area of focus and targeted sample as part of these procedures.

6. Discuss the themes, theory, and/or phenomenon that would be anticipated to emerge as a

result of the examination.

7. Briefly discuss the strengths and limitations associated with this approach and the specific

design.

1 Creswell (2012) identified many different types of designs within the ethnographic approach, such as

confessional, life history, autoethnography, microethnography, feminist, postmodern, and ethnographic

novels.

2 According to Creswell (2012), this example is a collective case study, with several (there can be more than

three) cases that provide insight into a phenomenon. There is also an (a) intrinsic case study design, which

explores a single unusual case, and (b) an instrumental case study design, which examines a single case to

gain insight into a phenomenon.

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Ethnographic Perspective
In: An Applied Guide to Research Designs: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods