Why Ethnography Matters: Misconcsptions




10 Misconceptions about Ethnography

  1. Ethnography is Unscientific
    • Assumptions
      • science must test hypotheses
      • science must be based on experiments
      • science must be predictive
      • science must be quantitative
    • ALL science is culture bound 
    • Ethnography is multivariate  and focuses on complex processes rather than being "reductionist" -- artificially controlling for variables so that you can test one. 
    • ethnography is empirical and rigorous
    • Ethnography centers on discovery and interpretation rather than hypothesis testing-this creates a wide angle on research, where research questions can shift- work within the unknown rather than the known (on which hypothesis testing is based) This is more likely to give you broad, potentially unbiased information. Wide range to narrow focus.
    • study phenomena their natural environment
    • science should not be conflated with experiments-- field sciences meet organisms in their natural environments (scale, complexity, flexibility)
    • experiments can not reproduce normal experience.
    • GOAL: to generalize WITHIN cases rather than generalize ACROSS them
  2. Ethnography is Less Valid Than Quantitative Research
    • even quantitative studies require interpretation and are based on assumptions
    • validity: how scientific experimentation reflects the natural world.
    • quant. data gives us crisp, easy to grasp results. Quant. data requires more complex processes of understanding
  3. Ethnography is Simply Anecdotal
    • a rigorous appraisal of massive amounts of data spanning participant observation, interviews, artifact collection, historical research, and content analysis.
    • try to draw attention to cultural practices (local theories) by offering the reader concrete examples of the issues under discussion.
    • these observations are situated within the larger more holistic context of cultural patterns
    • attention to nuance and detail rather than generalizations
    • focus on validity from months of intensive research
  4. Ethnography is Undermined By Subjectivity
    • all science contains elements of subjectivity (bias)
    • the dynamic flow of social interactions and engagement between people is one of the foundations of the ethnographic encounter
  5. Ethnography is Merely Intuitive
    • analytical protocols are derived from intense participatory exercises- rigor is embodied in this approach
  6. Ethnography is Writing About Your Personal Experience
    • auto-ethnography, even when used is not the same as auto-biography (small percentage of research)
  7. Ethnographers contaminate Fieldsites By Their Presence
    • maintaining a lengthly presence works against this "observers bias" which is inevitable but lessons as the ethnographer becomes a fixture (if, successful)
  8. Ethnography is the Same as Grounded Theory
    • grounded theory, unlike ethnography is focused of discovering theory through data collection and ethnography is not (although that may happen)
  9. Ethnography is the Same As Ethnomethodology
    • using experimentation and ethnography does not consciously alter normal interactions
    • not what ethnographers do
  10. Ethnography Will Become Obsolete  
    • becoming more and more popular and extending to almost all disciplines outside of anthropology
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF ILLUSTRATIVE STORIES. THEY FUNCTION IN THE SAME WAY AS GOOD ART. THEY PRESENT AN EXAMPLE WHICH ALLOWS THOSE ENGAGING WITH IT TO HAVE A DEEP AND AUTHENTIC STRUGGLE WITH MEANING.

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