Chapter 3: How Is Ethnographic Research Different From Other Social Sciences

Ethnography is the systematic study of people and cultures, it is designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study. It is the best qualitative method for collecting data often used in the social and behavioral sciences. Data are collected through observations and interviews, which are then used to draw conclusions about how societies and individuals function

Ethnography tells about a culture and the members that comprise this culture. A definition is the scientific description of the customs and individual people of a culture. The process of doing this assignment allowed me to explore another aspect of a cultural group. I was able to learn extensively about interactions between individuals and how see them as a culture. The group that comprises my ethnography is a cultural group very common to Utah. The culture I focused on was the LDS culture, to be more specific I studied a sub-culture of this group. My subculture was a group of 12 year old adolescents that are a Sunday school class in this culture.

Anthropology is something we should value because it allows us as human beings to learn about our origins and also to understand the cultures in the world outside of our own. Anthropology uses many techniques to learn and study such cultures that we do not understand. Ethnography is the gathering and interpretation of information based on intensive firsthand study of a participation culture -or- the written report of this study.

In society today, the discipline of anthropology has made a tremendous shift from the practices it employed years ago. Anthropologists of today have a very different focus from their predecessors, who would focus on relating problems of distant peoples to the Western world. In more modern times, their goal has become much more local, in focusing on human problems and issues within the societies they live.

Ethnography is a qualitative method of research in which the researcher takes part in the activities of a group such that they are able to complete their observations over a period of time in a natural, real-life environment.

As we begin to go on an excursion through literature, it is important to understand the concept of what an ethnography is. Ethnography is known to be a descriptive type of work that analyzes culture and customs of individual people. James Clifford has implemented this work into his studies and has influenced many others to do the same. I saw through the books I have read, ethnography makes these books become vivacious for a reader.

Ethnographic methodology provides rich and complex data (Brownlow, 2012). In the ethnographic approach a researcher joined the studied group in their natural environment, stayed as a part

The purpose of this reading was to introduce what ethnography is and what exactly do anthropologists do. Ethnography is based on the fact that in order to fully understand a culture, it is best to observe the culture itself and to interact with them over a long period of time. The authors, Monaghan and Just, do fieldwork. Fieldwork is commonly done in small communities with very simplistic lifestyles so to say. In the first chapter, Peter Just did his fieldwork in the Village of Dorro Ntika. In order to be successful with this research, Peter had to build trust and create a good relationship with the people of the native tribe. Meaning Peter was able to learn well beyond the superficial facts. To be an ethnographer one must commit to years

1. In which region and in what country is San Basilio located? What is the language of the linguistic minority in this region? What are the cultural advantages of being in this linguistic minority?

In my Anthropology 201 class, there is a presentation assignment. The assignment is a cross-cultural comparison which needs to be about fifteen minutes long. There aren’t many guidelines about how to present. These presentations remind me of the things I have been learning in Communications. With the presentation from Laura, the women speaking today, I noticed preparation.

There are multiple characteristics of ethnographic approach. This research is considered to be more of a descriptive type research approach, that is intended for “in-depth research and descriptions of ethnic groups, cultures, large organizations, and their features” (Percy, Kostere, & Kostere, 2015, p. 16). This type of research immerses its selves in the organization or culture they are reviewing, and becoming a part of the culture, so that we can learn about it from the inside out. Therefore, this methodology often involves longer time frame for information collection, and consists of researchers returning a number of times to the location where the research is to acquire more information. Some “doctoral learners tend to avoid ethnographic studies, because of the typical long time-commitments, however, it can be a fruitful approach, even in shorter periods, for understanding the customs, culture, belief systems, and implicit rules of organizations and large groups” (Percy, Kostere, & Kostere, 2015, p. 15)

While this study may have not taken the ethnographic approach, which is more appropriate in such a situation, it is prudent to note that the qualitative – quantitative – qualitative sequence in analysis may have given it the near accurate results that is desired in the end. As such, it is great to note that the interviewer used more analyses than one in achieving the output of a more synthesized result. The barriers to using ethnography in this case are more related with the nature of the variable under study than any other factor. For instance, while studying poverty, it would be more difficult to have a researcher position themselves in a society well enough to experience the poverty. In light of this, it should be noted that the approach taken was the best since it positioned the researchers at a point where they could have the best data (Fink, 2000).

The earliest fossil of the primate can go back before the extinction of the dinosaur over 65 million years ago. Bones and teeth were discovered in Montana and Wyoming (Park, 2008). Even though there was primate like evidence before the dinosaur extinction, (Shipman, 2012).

Ethnography: this addresses the methodology used in the study of culture. This class includes research methods and field work such as getting into the depth of the cultural content of music and field work would have to do with going out and actually doing the work that was given to you with the necessary skills and resources that are available to you.

Ethnographic Studies: An effective way for students to learn about the target languageand culture is to send them into their own communityto find information. Students can carry out ethnographic interviewswith native speakers in the community, which they canrecord in notebooks or on audiotapes or videotapes. Discussionactivities could include oral family histories, interviews withcommunity professionals, and studies of social groups.