How to Conduct an Ethnography
Figure out what question you want answered., Secure funding if needed., Pick your team., Find a location., Locate a guide if possible., Think up questions for interview., Select interviewees., Conduct interviews., Complete your analysis., Bring it...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Figure out what question you want answered.
This is the most important step when conducting an ethnography.
You need to make sure that your question, or research findings, can be applied to more than one community.
You also need to make sure that by answering your question, someone will benefit from the knowledge.
Basically, for whom is this research for, and how will they benefit from this research? An example of this would be: how does working with your family effect efficiency in the workplace in the United States? -
Step 2: Secure funding if needed.
Doing qualitative research can be very costly so it would be helpful if you were able to get funding from a university or other research firms by the means of a grant.
A grant is money given to a group of people for the sole purpose of research.
The grant could be used for airfare, transportation, food or an archaeological dig to name a few examples. , In most cases, you will be working with different people to better understand the community that you are studying.
When picking team members, it is important to pick people who work well with people, since anthropology is the study of people.
It is also important to remember to pick people who show passion towards your chosen topic. , Even though this question will probably be answered in the first step, it is important to narrow down where you want to conduct your research.
You need to look at what cities/villages you want to target and stick to those places.
You also need to think about why you have chosen these cities/villages, and what the significance of interviewing people from these places is. , It is difficult to be in a new place, and to be seen as an outsider.
This is precisely why it is so important to contact someone who lives in the city/village that you are going to study.
They will be able to take you to the "prime" locations for interviews, and will also be able to help with language barriers if there are any. , It is important to always link each question back to the overall research question.
It is also important to make a list of questions, and stick to that list throughout the whole interview process.
Changing questions to fit the answers of some interviewees can lead to bias in the data.
The research process should be made as scientific as possible, therefore we need the questions to be kept as constants.
Some examples of questions would be:
How long have you been working with said family member? What members of your family do you work with? How is your relationship with that family member? , When selecting interviewees, you have to keep in mind the biases that the person may have.For that reason, it would be wise to interview different people with different situations (example: different genders, ages, socio-economic status, religion, etc.) By doing this, you will be getting a wider range of answers.
It should also be noted that there is no set number of people that you should interview, usually anthropologists say that they interview people until they stop hearing new things, or if the people they are interviewing all start giving the same information. , This is where you will be collecting all the data for your research.
It is critical to remember to be culturally sensitive to all those that you interview.
Some tips for interviewing would be to have a recorder and record all that is happening.
Another thing would be to take notes of your immediate surroundings and of the person you are interviewing. , After getting all the data, it is time to sit down and analyze what you have.
Again, it is important to take your data and tie it back to your overall "big picture" question.
Even if your data shows the opposite of what you thought or predicted, it is your responsibility to present all the data in an unbiased manner. , Now is the time that you take all of your findings and putting it together.
When writing an ethnography, it is important to keep all of your field notes handy.
You will want to write down everything that you saw, that you felt, how it impacted you or the people you were surrounded by.
It is also important to present to data in a way that can be understood by many. -
Step 3: Pick your team.
-
Step 4: Find a location.
-
Step 5: Locate a guide if possible.
-
Step 6: Think up questions for interview.
-
Step 7: Select interviewees.
-
Step 8: Conduct interviews.
-
Step 9: Complete your analysis.
-
Step 10: Bring it all together.
Detailed Guide
This is the most important step when conducting an ethnography.
You need to make sure that your question, or research findings, can be applied to more than one community.
You also need to make sure that by answering your question, someone will benefit from the knowledge.
Basically, for whom is this research for, and how will they benefit from this research? An example of this would be: how does working with your family effect efficiency in the workplace in the United States?
Doing qualitative research can be very costly so it would be helpful if you were able to get funding from a university or other research firms by the means of a grant.
A grant is money given to a group of people for the sole purpose of research.
The grant could be used for airfare, transportation, food or an archaeological dig to name a few examples. , In most cases, you will be working with different people to better understand the community that you are studying.
When picking team members, it is important to pick people who work well with people, since anthropology is the study of people.
It is also important to remember to pick people who show passion towards your chosen topic. , Even though this question will probably be answered in the first step, it is important to narrow down where you want to conduct your research.
You need to look at what cities/villages you want to target and stick to those places.
You also need to think about why you have chosen these cities/villages, and what the significance of interviewing people from these places is. , It is difficult to be in a new place, and to be seen as an outsider.
This is precisely why it is so important to contact someone who lives in the city/village that you are going to study.
They will be able to take you to the "prime" locations for interviews, and will also be able to help with language barriers if there are any. , It is important to always link each question back to the overall research question.
It is also important to make a list of questions, and stick to that list throughout the whole interview process.
Changing questions to fit the answers of some interviewees can lead to bias in the data.
The research process should be made as scientific as possible, therefore we need the questions to be kept as constants.
Some examples of questions would be:
How long have you been working with said family member? What members of your family do you work with? How is your relationship with that family member? , When selecting interviewees, you have to keep in mind the biases that the person may have.For that reason, it would be wise to interview different people with different situations (example: different genders, ages, socio-economic status, religion, etc.) By doing this, you will be getting a wider range of answers.
It should also be noted that there is no set number of people that you should interview, usually anthropologists say that they interview people until they stop hearing new things, or if the people they are interviewing all start giving the same information. , This is where you will be collecting all the data for your research.
It is critical to remember to be culturally sensitive to all those that you interview.
Some tips for interviewing would be to have a recorder and record all that is happening.
Another thing would be to take notes of your immediate surroundings and of the person you are interviewing. , After getting all the data, it is time to sit down and analyze what you have.
Again, it is important to take your data and tie it back to your overall "big picture" question.
Even if your data shows the opposite of what you thought or predicted, it is your responsibility to present all the data in an unbiased manner. , Now is the time that you take all of your findings and putting it together.
When writing an ethnography, it is important to keep all of your field notes handy.
You will want to write down everything that you saw, that you felt, how it impacted you or the people you were surrounded by.
It is also important to present to data in a way that can be understood by many.
About the Author
Gloria Martinez
Creates helpful guides on home improvement to inspire and educate readers.
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