Download Ethnography - Doral Academy Preparatory

Cultural Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
Viewing Culture as Successive
Levels
An iceberg as an analogy of culture
An Iceberg as an Analogy of Culture
Culture
Culture consists of:
1. Learned concepts and behavior
2. Underlying perspectives (worldview)
3. Resulting products
nonmaterial (customs and rituals)
material (artifacts)
How Do We Study Cultures?
Our Way: Writing Ethnographies
Ethnography
 The study and recording of human cultures and the
descriptive work produced from such research
 Roots traced back to late 19th century when anthropologists
engaged in participant observation in the field.
 Derived from the words “ethno” which means folk and “graph”
derived from writing.
Why do we conduct ethnographic research?
 People learn more from direct experience than second-hand
experience (books, lectures)
 Narrative helps us reflect on the experience
 Collect evidence without hypothesis or conclusion
 Analysis explains what you have learned
Qualitative and Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Quantitative Data
 Study where data is
 Study where data is
gathered in the form of
words, narratives and
impressions.
 Ex. Interview
translated into numbers
 Ex. Survey
Emic and Etic Perspective
Emic Approach
Etic Approach
 Investigates how people in
 Shifts focus to the
the group we are studying
perceive and categorize the
world
 What has meaning for
them
interpretations of the
anthropologist.
 Members of a culture often
are too involved in what
they are doing to interpret
their cultures impartially.
What can we study?
What can we Study?
What Kind of Data?
 Formal and Informal
 Field Notes
Groups
 Subcultures
 Organizations
 Texts
 Participant-Observation
 Surveys
 Interviews
Ethnographers
 Adopt a stance both distanced (observing) and interactive
(participatory)
 Study cultures through the relationship of individuals, the
rituals, values, and habits they share.
 Spend lots of times with cultures and participate in their
activities
Writing of an Ethnography
 Pre-Writing:
 Reflections on group you are studying
 Questions you are interested to answer
 Introductions/Consent Forms
 Consent Letters
 Provide Privacy if members ask for it.
 Journal
 Your thinking throughout the project. Write ideas,
observations, etc.
 Drafts and Revisions
Basic Stages of Field Research
5.
Selecting a research topic
Formulating a research design
Collecting the data
Analyzing the data
Interpreting the data
6.
Research Example
1.
2.
3.
4.
Select a Research Topic
 Don’t rush on this step!
 Brainstorm research questions you would
like to answer
 Choose a topic you are interested in.
Check the Existing Literature
 See if someone has already done some of the
work for you or answered the questions you
are researching about
 Can you add to their study? Is your study
still necessary?
 How much information can you find about
the topic you are willing to study?
Collecting Data
 Look for Key Informants
 Respondents who have special knowledge
about a group or an event
 Look for a Representative Sample of the
Population you study
Field Notes
 Accounts describing experiences and
observations the researcher has made while
participating in an intense and involved
manner
 Subject to memory of observer
 Subject to bias of the observer
Observation
Interviews
 Structured Interviews: Questions tend to be closed questions
requiring:
 yes/no answers,
 use of scales or other forms of ranking.
 Semi – structured interviews are those that incorporate both
closed and open ended questions
 Surveys can be semi-structured
 Unstructured Interviews ask open-ended questions
 Allows interviewees to respond at their own pace in their own
words.
 Resembles a normal conversation
Guidelines for Ethnographic
Interviewing
Obtain informed consent before interviewing.
2.
Do not look for the “desired” answer.
3.
Pre-test questions to make sure they are understandable and
culturally relevant.
4.
Keep the recording unobtrusive
5.
Use simple, clean language.
6.
Phrase questions positively.
8.
Keep the questions and the interview short.
9.
Save controversial questions for the end.
10. Interviews can go wrong! Manage the situation!
1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAKCQammecg
Focus Groups
 Group Interview
 Interactive Group Setting
 Participants feel free to talk with other
group members
Participant-Observation
 Spending time with the research participants interacting with
them and participating in the activities that are of interest.
 Involves taking field notes or other recordings, and
unstructured interviews.
Participant Observation Phases
 1. Establishing Rapport
 Get to know the members of the community. Be accepted by
the community in order to obtain quality data.
 2. In the Field
 “Do as they do”. Show a connection with the population in
order to be accepted. Moderate your language and participate
in daily activities.
 3. Recording Observations and Data
 You can record personal feelings about experiences. Includes
field notes, interviews, and journals.
 4. Analyzing Data
 Look for recurrent themes found in interviews, observations,
etc. Construct a cohesive story worth being told.
Ethnography
Requires:
- the language of that culture
- first-hand participation & interpretation
- intensive work with a few informants from that
setting
 Sort of description that can only emerge from spending a
lengthy amount of time intimately studying and living in a
particular social setting
Ethnography
The heart of ethnography is thick description, that was originally
coined by Clifford Geertz (1973).
Thick description: explains not just the behavior, but its context as
well, such that the behavior becomes meaningful to an
outsider
- analyzes the multiple levels of meaning in any situation
Ethnography
 History & Definition/Thick description:
Geertz discusses the role of the ethnographer. Broadly, the ethnographer's aim is to
observe, record, and analyze a culture. More specifically, he or she must
interpret signs to gain their meaning within the culture itself. This
interpretation must be based on the "thick description" of a sign in order to see
all the possible meanings. His example of a "wink of any eye" clarifies this
point. When a man winks, is he merely "rapidly contracting his right eyelid" or
is he "practicing a burlesque of a friend faking a wink to deceive a an innocent
into thinking conspiracy is in motion"? Ultimately, Geertz hopes that the
ethnographer's deeper understanding of the signs will open and/or increase the
dialogue among different cultures.
Ethnography
 Doing Ethnography
Aims of Observational Research:
1. Seeing through the eyes of the people being observed
2. Description: paying attention to the mundane details
3. Contextualism: conveying messages in a complete manner so
that understand the wider social and historical context
Ethnography
 Doing Ethnography
4 Separate Sets of Notes Needed:
1. Short notes made at the time
2. Expanded notes made as soon as possible after the field session
3. A fieldwork journal to record problems and ideas that arise during
each stage of field work
4. A provisional running record of analysis and interpretation