Ethnography in Education - Definition, Origin, and Features - Essay Example

Ethnography Name: Institution: Date: Ethnography Introduction Ethnography roots can be traced way back in the sunset of the 18th century during the study of social arrangement and belief system of cultures and societies. Ethnography is simply the study of participants in their own environment applying methods like face-to-face interviews and participant observation (Richardson, 2000). Ethnography has a wide range of applications that include rapid assessments and formative evaluations, setting scene for prevalence survey, used in randomized controlled trials, augmenting and conforming other research findings, it is an essential part of process evaluation; complements epidemiological studies, in the development of action research projects, used as a strategy of multi-indicator research, and being part of social network as well as mapping exercises (Lassiter, 2005). Therefore, there are many applications of ethnography in research methods that have enabled innovation of new products since it can be used to tell the unmet needs of the user and forecast demand for unknown product. Ethnography has been used in educational, clinical and social science studies and it provides a holistic view of the subject under study. The researcher/ethnographer has the chance of immersing himself in the context of the subject of the study. Ethnographic research is qualitative in nature. The application of statistics is not very necessary in qualitative research. Classic ethnographic research entails an elaborate description of the whole of a culture outside the context of the researcher. Ethnographic research is descriptive and interpretive since details are crucial. This response paper defines ethnography and traces its origin while exploring main features and application of ethnography is various fields of study. Definition and origin of Ethnography Ethnography is the study of behaviors, social interactions, as well as perceptions that happen in a group, organization, team, and communities. Its origin can be found way back in anthropological studies rural or remote societies that were carried out in the 1900s when scholars like Alfred Radcliffe-Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski engaged in these societies for long periods and wrote about their belief system and social arrangements. Ethnography is strategy for scientific usually applied in social science. It is used for collecting empirical data on human societies as well as cultures. Collection of data is performed through interviews, participant observation, questionnaires among others. Ethnography targets to describe the nature of the subject of the study through writing. Ethnography entails a systematic study of people and their cultures. It tailored to pursue cultural phenomena whereby the researcher looks at the society from the perspective of the study’s subject. It represents in writing and graphically the culture of a group. The system and meanings in the lives of a cultural group encompasses ethnography. The approach used by the scholars were adopted by Chicago School of Sociology and used in various urban settings while studying their social life. Qualitative researchers make use of ethnography in their research methods and it has been widely used in the field of research. The main objective of ethnography is to offer holistic, rich insights into people’s actions and views together with the nature of their inhabit using detailed interviews and keen observations while interacting with them. The work of an ethnographer is to document the perspectives, practices and culture of the people in particular settings (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013). The researcher goes to live within the setting of the subject of the study to get the actual feel and true perceptions being investigated in the research. Ethnography aims at exposing the cultural setting of the subject in order to understand the phenomenon being studied from within. There are newer advances in ethnography inquiry that include meta-ethnography, auto-ethnography, and online ethnography. Virtual or online ethnography goes beyond the traditional perspective of ethnography from face-to-face researcher-participant interactions and situated observations to technologically-tailored interactions in online communities and networks. Auto-ethnography is whereby researchers’ own perspectives and thoughts from their social interaction are the central aspect of the study. Meta-ethnography is whereby qualitative research texts are synthesized and analyzed to empirically come up with new knowledge and insights. Features of ethnography In ethnography there is a strong focus on investigating the nature of a specific social phenomenon as opposed to embarking on testing the hypotheses concerning it. Researchers have a habit of working primarily with data that is unstructured. Unstructured data is data that has not yet been coded during data collection as a closed type of analytical categories. Moreover, there is data analysis that entails explicit interpretation of the functions and meanings of human actions; the outcome of this analysis basically takes the form of explanations as well as verbal descriptions (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). Ethnographers get understanding of culture through representation of emic perspective or what is known as the ‘insider’s point of view’. Ethnographic approach for qualitative research emanates widely from the anthropology field. The focus is to study the entire culture of the subject. Previously the concept of culture was pegged on the concept of geographic location and ethnicity but is has been extended to include virtually any organization or group. The participation of the ethnographer is the main feature of ethnographic research. The ethnographer take part in observing what is happening around them and they further talk to those in the community concerning what he observes, he looks for patterns, he asks questions and experiences what they learn (Lassiter, 2005). It is the opposite of experimental research that is carried out in the lab whereby the researcher is separate from what he is observing. The ethnographer has to recruit on the fringe. He should be prepared to cast a wider net during recruitment for ethnographic studies. The participants have to span the spectrum of all user types. As opposed to usability research, whereby experiences of participants are summarized and lumped together. The goal of ethnography is to divulge unique application of anomalies and cases. Consequently, diverse representation is required through inclusion of a broad variety of user types hence increasing the chances of groundbreaking discoveries (Anfara & Mertz, 2006). Less-skilled and new users are usually essential sources for real-world insights. They assist in identification of obstacles as well workarounds invented to address the barriers. During ethnographic research, individual stories carry the day; what can work for one person may show areas of opportunities where most compelling ideas can be conceived. Ethnographers essentially collect participant observations, occasioning involvement and engagement with the world that they are studying. Due to social life complex nature, ethnographers have to record a range of elements in their field notes. The researcher is immersed in the culture being an active participant and keep extensive notes from the field. There is no preset constraining what to be observed and no actual end point during am ethnographic study. Ethnographic research uses techniques such as video diaries, observation, contextual interviews, photographs, and artifacts’ analysis like tools, devices or paper forms that can be applied as part of the job of the person (Fine, 1993). Observations can be conducted at work, at home, or in leisure settings. People could be studied on their won, their family, with colleagues at work, or just a part of friends’ group. In many circumstances one participant can be recruited but other may be studied as being part of the subject’s friends or family. Data collection takes up to 4 to 5 hours of contextual interview or a number of days or several weeks or months. Ethnographic research can offer highly rich insight into the actual or real life behavior and can be applied in identification of new or presently unmet needs of the user (O’Reilly, 2012). The research may not always involve full immersion into the subject’s life; it can take the form of the person being interviewed at length in his home or the person keeping a video diary of their life of a specified period of time. Ethnographic fieldwork is normally shaped by professional and personal identities while these identities are inadvertently shaped by individual experiences in the field. However, the ethnographic research has been for a long time down played. Diary studies call for participants to self-report their experiences and activities with a certain service or product over a specified period of time (Walford, 2007). The diaries can be submitted in the form of videos, photos, email, text messages and can be collected during, before, of after the on-site interviews. Diaries are used effectively in gathering additional data concerning the context of use and assist in raising the awareness of the participants concerning their behavior as opposed to depending on reconstructive memory during the process of interviewing. When collected before on-site visits, diaries can be used to establish behavior patterns and offer a wealth of information concerning participants’ habits, proclivities, and opinions that will assist in shaping individual interview scripts and maximization of takeaways (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). Furthermore, diaries are essential supplements to ethnography since context and environment often change over time hence enabling the capturing of anything unique in the diary as compared to a single ethnographic interview. Application of ethnography Much research historically in cognitive and language development and in therapeutic and educational effectiveness has applied quantitative paradigms. Qualitative methods like ethnography are offering fresh insight into educational and development issues. The methods are being applied by not only researchers but also clinicians and teachers in the evaluation of clients and students and in the design of teaching and clinical strategies (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011). Ethnography is most crucial during the start of a project and when there is the essence of understanding the actual end user needs, or to grasp the meaning of limits of using a certain new service or product by a defined audience. Ethnographic research off a substantial amount of qualitative data and the procedure can be tiring and time consuming. Ethnography is also applied in the corporate world as a central means of gaining deeper understanding of customers and the business enterprise. Ethnographic results in the world of business can be used in informing functions like strategy as well as planning that is long-range. Ethnography in the social science setting is a brand of anthropology that entails the study of how people live their lives (Atkinson et al, 2001). Anthropological researchers come into people natural settings like homes and offices to listen and observe in a way that is not directed. Even the most experienced researchers cannot always get people to express clearly and coherently their unmet needs in a comprehensible way. It is very challenging to determine the interest of non-existent products especially digital ones using a survey (Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2005). It is virtually not possible to verify self-reported behaviors away from a lab setting and ignore evaluating realistically multi-platform interactions. Consequently business stakeholders in charge of digital product innovation, roadmaps, or multi-channel user experience are resorting to ethnographic research. Ethnographic research method has its root in 18th century anthropology during the study of customers of cultures and individuals but its application in technology innovation is very relevant in the modern world. Using ethnographic methods to experiences that are digital can result into a variety of benefits that are beyond validating the functioning of a gadget or identifications of opportunities for improvement (Fine, 1993). Ethnography demonstrates how physical and digital processes work together to assist businesses in addressing gaps and focusing on the whole customer experience. Many researchers can attest to the benefit of ethnographic research and how time-consuming and expensive it can turn out to be. It is important to weigh the pros and cons before investing in an ethnographic research. Investment into ethnography research does pay off as because the outcome can be applied in many areas (McKechnie, 2000). The user experience can be viewed as a composite of the interface, the context, and the user where the context is a combination of the situation and the environment. Research is carried out in the field in the ethnographic study where real-world interactions and behaviors of the users with services and products happen; so that researchers can get insight into the manner the context affect the experiences of the user. Ethnographic research is concerned about the discovery of the unknown and uncovering unexpected insights. Ethnography is best placed in identifying the user needs that have not been met by a product. It can be applied during testing of market demand for products that are not yet in existence. Ethnography research offers a holistic view of a defined problem and exposes opportunities for the purpose of competitive differentiation. The main benefit of ethnography method of research is the capacity to see the effect of the physical world on the factors that can drive or determine in digital design. When researchers are in the field they are bound to see something that will surprise them and this becomes the root towards innovation of new products (Forsey, 2010). Ethnography has also been used in health services research to determine several dimensions about patients’ behavior. Conclusion Ethnography has been used widely in education, corporate world, social science and clinical context in providing holistic view about the perceptions and beliefs of the participants. The objective of ethnography is to offer holistic, rich insights into the actions and views of people and the nature of their habitat using collection of detailed interviews and observations. Forecasting of demand for new products has been made possible through ethnography and innovative ideas have come up in the course of ethnographic research. The unmet needs of users are best exposed when ethnography study is used. The ethnographer immerses himself fully in the context of the participants and observes keenly what is happening. Cultural aspects in the natural habitat of the participants enable the researcher to get the holistic view of the element that is being investigated. Despite the fact that ethnography is time consuming and expensive, it can be applied in pursuing important cases like studying customers behavior and new product development. The ethnography observes and records his observation and still conducts detailed interview with the participants. Aspects that may not have surfaced during other studies can come up when ethnography is used as one of the methods since it augments and supplements other research methods. References Anfara, V.A., Jr. & Mertz, N.T. (Eds.) (2006). Theoretical frameworks in qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Ch. 1 Atkinson, P., Coffey, A., Delamont, S., Lofland, J.,& Lofland, L. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of ethnography, London: Sage. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education (7th Ed.). London: Routledge. Ch. 1 Fine, G. A. (1993). Ten lies of ethnography, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22(3), p. 267-294. Forsey, M. G. (2010). Ethnography as participant listening, Ethnography, 11(4), 558-572. Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in practice (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Kamberelis, G., & Dimitriadis, G. (2005). On qualitative inquiry: Approaches to language and literacy research. New York: Teachers College Press. Ch. 1 Lassiter, L.E. (2005). Collaborative Ethnography and Public Anthropology, Current Anthropology, 46(1):83-106 McKechnie, L. (2000). Ethnographic observation of pre-schoolchildren, Library & Information Science Research, 22(1):61–76. O’Reilly, K (2012). Ethnographic methods (2nd Ed.). London: Routledge. Ch.2 Richardson, L. (2000). Evaluating ethnography, Qualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 253-255 Savin-Baden, M. & Major, C.H. (2013). Theoretical and conceptual frameworks in Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice, pp. 131-147. London: Routledge. Walford, G. (Ed.). (2007). Methodological developments in ethnography (1st ed.). Amsterdam, Netherlands: JAI Press. Read More