Ethnographic Essay

For Miner, he was writing from his years of personal observation of American homes, but often the anthropologist is not already a member of the community to be studied and must develop a rapport within a community. This relationship must be created without being deceptive and creating a negative impression so that members of the community will act naturally and not suppress their habitual or instinctive reaction to life issues (Kawulich, 2005). This method collects data not only from personal observation but also includes interviews, natural conversations, checklists, and surveys. The effective use of this method includes having a nonjudgmental attitude, being aware of culture shock tendencies, wanting to learn more about others, and practicing good listening skills (Kawulich, 2005). When the anthropologist properly explores the organized routines and ritualistic behaviors of the group, they become becomes a part of the community and reports the information about how the group is operating from a holistic understanding of the viewed events.

Answer: Ethnographic research is different from other social science approaches to research because it goes more in depth. With an ethnographic research you are required to eat, sleep, and breath what is being studied. In order to get a better understanding you will need to incorporate such living (as that of the culture being studied) into your life. It’s more of a research to gain the knowledge of a current situation as oppose to something that has happened in the past. For example Sterk was researching prostitution. She followed the lives of many

Ethnographic research is the scientific description of specific human cultures, foreign to the ethnographer. Each ethnographer has his or her own way of conducting research and all of these different ideas can be transmitted and understood in a number of different ways. Because there is no one set idea of how an ethnographer should go about his or her research, conflicts arise. In Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco, Paul Rabinow uses a story like process to discuss his experiences during his research in Morocco. This makes it easier for the reader to understand his ideas then just having a technical book about the many different aspects of Moroccan life that he may have discovered. In Writing Culture: the Poetics and Politics of

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.

James P. Spradley (1979) described the insider approach to understanding culture as "a quiet revolution" among the social sciences (p. iii). Cultural anthropologists, however, have long emphasized the importance of the ethnographic method, an approach to understanding a different culture through participation, observation, the use of key informants, and interviews. Cultural anthropologists have employed the ethnographic method in an attempt to surmount several formidable cultural questions: How can one understand another's culture? How can culture be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed? What aspects of a culture make it unique and which connect it to other cultures? If

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

This is a qualitative study with an ethnographic focus. An ethnographic comprehension is produced through investigation of a few bases of information. Ethnography permits the scholar

Summary The article The Science of Desire presents ethnography and its proponents play an important role in modern business world. Author Ante began with an example, the satellite-radio war, to show how ethnography worked in business. In satellite-radio war, Sirius Satellite Ratio made a team of social scientists, designers, and ethnographers. Through studying customers’ habit of listening to music, watching TV and reading magazines, the team concluded several facts that can defeat competitors. Then, depending on the research, Sirius launched its new product, the Sirius S50. Later, as the company’s wish, the S50 became one of the hottest sellers in that season. First, as author Ante (2006) said, “ethnographers’ findings often do not lead to a product or service, only a generalized sense of what people want” (p. 100). Even if ethnographers find something, it also needs designers and engineers to make products or services to fit it. This process is not easy, even the findings cannot transmit into products and service. Second, ethnographers’ research usually takes a long time, and the result from using the findings needs long time to come out. Therefore, how to use ethnography right is very important. The author gave five advises to do ethnography right. First, “Think Big Thoughts”. Companies should used ethnography in big and broad questions, not in small and detailed ones. Second, “Due Diligence”. Companies should use the right consultants for their projects. Third, “Start

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)

Ethnographic research implies that researcher is obtaining the data by observing researched people in their common environment and with common circumstances (Silverman, 2010). It has been discovered that this style of research requires trustful relationships between researcher and the researched, especially when the ethnography is made in the closed settings and access to researcher is granted from the head. In analyzed study permission was acquired exactly in this way, and Russell described a large number of problems related to establishment of trust and balancing between two sides: teachers and students. Cassell and Symon (2004) argue that gathering information in case of no trust in ethnographic research might be difficult. To prove that they provide an example of Westley (1970) study. In this research the author experienced a large number of obstacles, such as unwillingness to give an interview during his fieldwork in police organization in USA.

Participant Observation is a method for collecting data in qualitative research,such as ethnography ,seeking to obtain an in-depth understanding and data of the research subjects locating in particular selected field.The hypocrisy of sustaining the objectivity during the process of ethnographic research has been under much more suspicion nowadays. It implies a fundamental transformation from the preceding emphasis on the objectivity,carrying out the observation as an outsider point of view.

Next, while researching my question, I would decide which methodological approach I am going to take. According to the statement in the textbook that reads, “If the project seeks to conduct an ethnographic study which focuses on the meanings and interpretations participants give within a particular cultural.” (Gray, Pg. 58); I would say that I would be using a qualitative approach.

Ethnographic research is when the researcher wants to analyse and get to know a society and so he will observe a community or group of people for a long period of time (Hennink, Hutter, Bailey, 2011:47). The researcher will go to a place for example Wits