Ethnography

Introduction

Key terms: qualitative research, ethnography in practice, ethnographic epistemology, ethical dilemmas in ethnography, introductory course, relevant for students in any PhD phase. 

ECTS: 2.5
Number of sessions: 4
Hours per session: 3

By observing and engaging with people in their everyday environments, ethnography can generate detailed and rich insights into how and why people do and feel things, and how they create and interpret meaning in social life. 

Ethnography is deeply reflective, encouraging researchers to question taken-for-granted assumptions and engage in critical inquiry, while also fostering empathy for significant and relatable experiences that otherwise might be overlooked or disdained.

In this course, we will discuss the theoretical, methodological and epistemological foundations of ethnography. We will also discuss ethical dilemmas and your own social responsibility while doing ethnography. 

But the focus of the course is on the practicalities of conducting ethnographic research methods. We will discuss, among other things, how to “hang around” and how to participate and observe in diverse public, semi-public and private settings, such as businesses, court rooms, online, parks, schools, and refugee camps. 

Next to discussing how to collect data in these settings, we will also talk about how you can analyse ethnographic material, and how you can produce ethnographies.

Who is this for?

Sessions and preparations

Session 1: What is ethnography?

• Foundations of ethnographic research
• Theoretical and epistemological considerations
• Various types of ethnography: face-to-face vs. digital

Preparations: 

Home assignment 1:
5-minutes presentation of your PhD-project: how do (could) you use ethnographic research methods? What is going well and what would you like to improve?

Recommended reading/watching: 

• G. Gobo, (2008). Doing ethnography. Sage. Part 1: The Methodology.
• R. Hallet and K. Barber (2014). Ethnographic research in a cyber era. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 43(3), 306-330.

• Ellen Isaacs on Ethnography/TedTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV0jY5VgymI

   

Session 2: Doing ethnography

• Doing participant observation and other ethnographic data collection techniques
• Writing fieldnotes
• Ethical dilemmas, impression management and the role of the researcher

Preparations:

Home assignment 2:
Doing a (participant) observation and writing fieldnotes

Recommended reading: 

• G. Gobo (2008). Doing ethnography. Sage. [Part 2: Working the Field]
• Emerson, Robert M. et al, ed. 2011.  Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• A. Gengler and M. Ezzell (2018). Methodological impression management in ethnographic research. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 47(6), 807-833. 

• J. Ferdinand et al. (2007). A different kind of ethics. Ethnography, 8(4), 519-543.

   

Session 3: Coding and analysis

• Analysing ethnographic material
• Coding your data 
• Theory construction: from grounded to abductive analysis

Preparations:

Home assignment 3
Taking an ethnographic interview transcript/fieldnotes with you to class and doing peer coding. 

Recommended reading/watching: 

• G. Gobo (2008). Doing ethnography. Sage. Part 3: Analysing Ethnographic Data and Theory Building
• S. Timmermans and I. Tavory (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research: from grounded theory to abductive analysis, Sociological Theory, 30(3), 167-186.

Session 4: Producing ethnography

• How to write ethnographic texts?
• How to apply ethnography to your own research?
• Individual feedback

Preparations:

Recommended reading: 

• G. Gobo (2008). Doing ethnography. Sage. Part 4: audiences. Communicating findings, writing ethnographies.
• L. Schindler and H. Schaefer (2021). Practices of writing in ethnographic work. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 50(1), 11-32.

Relations with other courses

This course does not significantly overlap with other EGSH courses, but it does complement other qualitative methodology courses offered by the EGSH, such as Qualitative interview techniques (focused on data collection) and Qualitative coding and analysis of textual data with ATLAS.ti (focused on data analysis).

The order in which you take these courses is flexible. You may choose to take the ethnography course first to build a broad foundation and then deepen your skills in specific data collection or analysis methods, or approach it the other way around.