Ethnography: Past, Present

and Future
Ideas to Think With
Trixie Arias

Topics

Understanding Ethnography
Contemporary Issues on Ethnography as a
Research Method: The Three Muddles
Tidying Up the Untidy: New Ways of
Thinking About Ethnography

Topics

Understanding Ethnography
Contemporary Issues on Ethnography as a
Research Method: The Three Muddles
Tidying Up the Untidy: New Ways of
Thinking About Ethnography

UNDERSTANDING ETHNOGRAPHY

To appreciate the authors perspective, we first

understand ethnography as a construct.

Branch of anthropology and is closely related to

phenomenological study.
Ethnography is a qualitative research approach focused on
the culture of a society.
Ethnographic research relies heavily on observation,
description, and qualitative judgments or interpretations of the
phenomena being studied.

UNDERSTANDING ETHNOGRAPHY

The understanding of culture and cultural elements

are central to the pursuit of Ethnography in research.

Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively

large group of people
Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is
the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience
which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior
through social learning .
According to Bolman and Deal. culture is revealed and
communicated through symbols.

UNDERSTANDING ETHNOGRAPHY

The process of ethnographic research is an integrated process in

which procedures are conducted concurrently.
Identification of
subjects

Identification
Phenomenon to be
studied
Formulation of
foreshadowed problems
Hypothesis generation

Data collection
(Observing,
Interviewing,
Reviewing Other
Sources,
Triangulation)

Analysis
Drawing conclusions

Source: Wiersma, W. & Jurs, S. (2005) Research Methods in Education: An Introduction

Topics

Understanding Ethnography
Contemporary Issues on Ethnography as a
Research Method: The Three Muddles
Tidying Up the Untidy: New Ways of
Thinking About Ethnography

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN ETHNOGRAPHY

Globalization has transformed many things about

society and in effect, how we have come to know
culture.

Muddle 1 The Trouble With Culture

Muddle 2 The Enthusiasm (or Not) with Ethnography

Muddle 3 - Whither Ethnographers Responsibility to Others

Topics

Understanding Ethnography
Contemporary Issues on Ethnography as a
Research Method: The Three Muddles
Tidying Up the Untidy: New Ways of
Thinking About Ethnography

NEW WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHY

Culture, as a form of social learning, will be in a state of

untidiness as people continue to evolve within
ecosystems.

Given the cultural productions, permeable boundaries,

dispersed networks and so on, what is a more robust way of
seeing culture?

How do we understand the ways people make sense of the

world, who they are and their place in within the various
networks within which they engage on a day-to-day?

NEW WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHY

A clear focus for culture gives better definition to the

ethnographic methods for a study.

According to Prim:

Ethnographers can trace culture forms upward and outward

within the scope of local networks or larger communities, or
downward and inward in order to explore how external cultural
influences have an impact on the individual

Travelling and collecting material from various places, by

connecting and comparing these findings, they will be able to
somehow live the experiences of the participants by including
as well both the immediate or internal context

NEW WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHY

Ethnographers will have to participate, along with

others, and be clear about their own agenda and
commitment.
To borrow from Senge, on the Ladder of Inference :
1. Becoming more aware of your thinking and reasoning
(reflection);
2. Making your thinking and reasoning more transparent to others
(advocacy);
3. Inquiring into other peoples thinking and reasoning (inquiry)

NEW WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT ETHNOGRAPHY

Ethnographic research provides a good potential for

theoretical contributions.

Ethnographic research focuses on how things are and how they

got that way.

It emphasizes context making it suitable for inquiry into

educational issues that are heavily context dependent.
Ethnographic research can contribute not only to solving
problems but also, in identifying the most important questions
or issues that should be addressed.