Social Research
[Draft]
www.answers.com/topic/social-research
Social research refers to research conducted by social scientists. Social research methods may
be divided into two broad categories:
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Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable evidence, and often
rely on statistical analysis of many cases (or across intentionally designed treatments in
an experiment) to create valid and reliable general claims
Qualitative designs emphasize understanding of social phenomena through direct
observation, communication with participants, or analysis of texts, and may stress
contextual and subjective accuracy over generality
Social scientists employ a range of methods in order to analyse a vast breadth of social
phenomena; from census survey data derived from millions of individuals, to the in-depth
analysis of a single agents' social experiences; from monitoring what is happening on
contemporary streets, to the investigation of ancient historical documents. The methods rooted in
classical sociology and statistics have formed the basis for research in further social sciences,
such as political science, education, and market research.
Contents [hide]
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1 Methodology
o 1.1 Sampling
o 1.2 Ethics
o 1.3 Types of method
2 Foundations of social research
o 2.1 Rules for social research
o 2.2 Types of explanations
3 Quantitative / qualitative debate
4 See also
o 4.1 Social research organisations
5 Further reading
6 Notes
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7 References
Methodology
Social scientists are divided into camps of support for particular research techniques. These
disputes relate to the historical core of social theory (positivism and antipositivism; structure and
agency). While very different in many aspects, both qualitative and quantitative approaches
involve a systematic interaction between theory and data.[1] The choice of method often depends
largely on what the researcher intends to investigate. For example, a researcher concerned with
drawing a statistical generalization across an entire population may administer a survey
questionnaire to a representitive sample population. By contrast, a researcher who seeks full
contextual understanding of an individuals' social actions may choose ethnographic participant
observation or open-ended interviews. Studies will commonly combine, or 'triangulate',
quantitative and qualitative methods as part of a 'multi-strategy' design. For instance, a
quantitative study may be performed to gain statistical patterns or a target sample, and then
combined with a qualitative interview to determine the play of agency.[1]
Sampling
Typically a population is very large, making a census or a complete enumeration of all the values
in that population infeasible. A 'sample' thus forms a manageable subset of a population. In
positivist research, statistics derived from a sample are analysed in order to draw inferences
regarding the population as a whole. The process of collecting information from a sample is
referred to as 'sampling'. Sampling methods may be either 'random' (random sampling,
systematic sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling) or non-random/nonprobability
(convenience sampling, purposive sampling, snowball sampling).[1] The most common reason
for sampling is to obtain information about a population. Sampling is quicker and cheaper than a
complete census of a population.
Ethics
The primary assumptions of the ethics in social research are:
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Voluntary participation
No physical or psychological harm to subjects
Integrity
PAC: Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality
Types of method
The following list of research methods is neither exclusive nor exhaustive:
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Quantitative methods
o Chi-square test
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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Cluster analysis
Regression analysis
Spearman's rank correlation coefficient
Structured interview
Statistical surveys and questionnaires
Student's t-test
Quantitative marketing research
Qualitative methods
o Analytic induction
o Archival research
o Content analysis
o Ethnography
o Focus group
o Historical method
o Life history
o Longitudinal study
o Morphological analysis
o Participant observation
o Semi-structured interview
o Survey research
o Textual analysis
o Unstructured interview
Foundations of social research
Social research (and social science in general) is based on logic and empirical observations.
Charles C. Ragin writes in his Constructing Social Research book that "Social research involved
the interaction between ideas and evidence. Ideas help social researchers make sense of
evidence, and researchers use evidence to extend, revise and test ideas". Social research thus
attempts to create or validate theories through data collection and data analysis, and its goal is
exploration, description and explanation. It should never lead or be mistaken with philosophy or
belief. Social research aims to find social patterns of regularity in social life and usually deals
with social groups (aggregates of individuals), not individuals themselves (although science of
psychology is an exception here). Research can also be divided into pure research and applied
research. Pure research has no application on real life, whereas applied research attempts to
influence the real world.
There are no laws in social science that parallel the laws in the natural science. A law in social
science is a universal generalization about a class of facts. A fact is an observed phenomenon,
and observation means it has been seen, heard or otherwise experienced by researcher. A theory
is a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular aspect of social life.
Concepts are the basic building blocks of theory and are abstract elements representing classes of
phenomena. Axioms or postulates are basic assertions assumed to be true. Propositions are
conclusions drawn about the relationships among concepts, based on analysis of axioms.
Hypotheses are specified expectations about empirical reality which are derived from
propositions. Social research involves testing these hypotheses to see if they are true.
Social research involves creating a theory, operationalization (measurement of variables) and
observation (actual collection of data to test hypothesized relationship). Social theories are
written in the language of variables, in other words, theories describe logical relationships
between variables. Variables are logical sets of attributes, with people being the 'carriers' of those
variables (for example, gender can be a variable with two attributes: male and female). Variables
are also divided into independent variables (data) that influences the dependent variables (which
scientists are trying to explain). For example, in a study of how different dosages of a drug are
related to the severity of symptoms of a disease, a measure of the severity of the symptoms of the
disease is a dependent variable and the administration of the drug in specified doses is the
independent variable. Researchers will compare the different values of the dependent variable
(severity of the symptoms) and attempt to draw conclusions.
Rules for social research
Although there are no laws in social science that parallel laws in the natural sciences, there is
general consensus about fundamental rules or principles about how to do social research. When
social scientists speak of “good research” the focus is on how the research is done – whether the
research is methodologically sound – rather than on whether the results of the research are
consistent with personal biases or preconceptions. Glenn Firebaugh summarizes the principles
for good research in his book Seven Rules for Social Research. The first rule is that “There
should be the possibility of surprise in social research.” As Firebaugh (p. 1) elaborates: "Rule 1
is intended to warn that you don’t want to be blinded by preconceived ideas so that you fail to
look for contrary evidence, or you fail to recognize contrary evidence when you do encounter it,
or you recognize contrary evidence but suppress it and refuse to accept your findings for what
they appear to say."
In addition, good research will “look for differences that make a difference” (Rule 2) and “build
in reality checks” (Rule 3). Rule 4 advises researchers to replicate, that is, “to see if identical
analyses yield similar results for different samples of people” (p. 90). The next two rules urge
researchers to “compare like with like” (Rule 5) and to “study change” (Rule 6); these two rules
are especially important when researchers want to estimate the effect of one variable on another
(e.g. how much does college education actually matter for wages?). The final rule, “Let method
be the servant, not the master,” reminds researchers that methods are the means, not the end, of
social research; it is critical from the outset to fit the research design to the research issue, rather
than the other way around.
Types of explanations
Explanations in social theories can be idiographic or nomothetic. An idiographic approach to an
explanation is one where the scientists seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a particular
condition or event, i.e. by trying to provide all possible explanations of a particular case.
Nomothetic explanations tend to be more general with scientists trying to identify a few causal
factors that impact a wide class of conditions or events. For example, when dealing with the
problem of how people choose a job, idiographic explanation would be to list all possible reasons
why a given person (or group) chooses a given job, while nomothetic explanation would try to
find factors that determine why job applicants in general choose a given job.
Quantitative / qualitative debate
There is usually a trade off between the number of cases and the number of their variables that
social research can study. Qualitative research usually involves few cases with many variables,
while quantitative involves many phenomena with few variables.
There is some debate over whether "quantitative research" and "qualitative research" methods
can be complementary: some researchers argue that combining the two approaches is beneficial
and helps build a more complete picture of the social world, while other researchers believe that
the epistemologies that underpin each of the approaches are so divergent that they cannot be
reconciled within a research project.
While quantitative methods are based on a natural science, positivist model of testing theory,
qualitative methods are based on interpretivism and are more focused around generating theories
and accounts. Positivists treat the social world as something that is 'out there', external to the
social scientist and waiting to be researched. Interpretivists, on the other hand believe that the
social world is constructed by social agency and therefore any intervention by a researcher will
affect social reality. Herein lies the supposed conflict between quantitative and qualitative
approaches - quantitative approaches traditionally seek to minimise intervention in order to
produce valid and reliable statistics, whereas qualitative approaches traditionally treat
intervention as something that is necessary (often arguing that participation can lead to a better
understanding of a social situation).
However, it is increasingly recognised that the significance of these differences should not be
exaggerated and that quantitative and qualitative approaches can be complementary. They can be
combined in a number of ways, for example:
1. Qualitative methods can be used in order to develop quantitative research tools. For
example, focus groups could be used to explore an issue with a small number of people
and the data gathered using this method could then be used to develop a quantitative
survey that could be administered to a far greater number of people allowing results to be
generalised.
2. Qualitative methods can be used to explore and facilitate the interpretation of
relationships between variables. For example researchers may inductively hypothesize
that there would be a positive relationship between positive attitudes of sales staff and the
amount of sales of a store. However, quantitative, deductive, structured observation of
576 convenience stores could reveal that this was not the case, and in order to understand
why the relationship between the variables was negative the researchers may undertake
qualitative case studies of four stores including participant observation. This might
abductively confirm that the relationship was negative, but that it was not the positive
attitude of sales staff that led to low sales, but rather that high sales led to busy staff who
were less likely to be express positive emotions at work![2]
Quantitative methods are useful for describing social phenomena, especially on a larger scale.
Qualitative methods allow social scientists to provide richer explanations (and descriptions) of
social phenomena, frequently on a smaller scale. By using two or more approaches researchers
may be able to 'triangulate' their findings and provide a more valid representation of the social
world.
Social research organisations
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CREA- UB Centre of Research in Theories and Practices that Overcome Inequalities
Center for the Advanced Study of Communities and Information, USA
Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom (Research Funding Council)
IBI Partners, Asia Pacific
Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, USA
Institute for Social Research, Germany
Mass-Observation, United Kingdom
Matrix Knowledge Group, United Kingdom
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Australia
National Centre for Social Research, United Kingdom
National Opinion Research Center, USA
New School for Social Research, New York City
Mada al-Carmel - The Arab Center for Applied Social Research, Haifa, Israel
The Social Research Unit, Dartington, United Kingdom
Further reading

Jerald Greenberg & Robert Folger (1988), Controversial Issues in Social Research
Methods, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 0-387-96571-8 Gives insightful overview of
debates surrounding perenial key issues in research.
Notes
1. ^ a b c Haralambos & Holborn. 'Sociology: Themes and perspectives' (2004) 6th ed,
Collins Educational. ISBN 978-0-00-715447-0. Chapter 14: Methods
2. ^ Sutton, Robert I. & Rafaeli, Anat (1988), Untangling the relationship between
displayed emotions and organizational sales: The case of convenience stores. Academy of
Management Journal, 31(3): 461-487
References
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C.Wright Mills, On intellectual Craftsmanship
Appendix:The Sociological Imagination,1959
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Earl Babbie, 'The Practice of Social Research', 10th edition, Wadsworth, Thomson
Learning Inc., ISBN 0-534-62029-9
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Glenn Firebaugh, 'Seven Rules for Social Research', Princeton University Press, 2008,
ISBN 978-0-691-13567-0
W. Lawrence Neuman, 'Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative
Approaches', 6th edition, Allyn & Bacon, 2006, ISBN 0-205-45793-2
Charles C. Ragin, 'Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method',
Pine Forge Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8039-9021-9
How is a problem known to be a research problem?
Easy: when you don't know the problem and you have to research it to find the answer,
its a research problem
What are some major social problems and why are they social problems?
A social problem becomes a social problem when it affects society as a whole in some
way. personal problems are not social problems. A social problem may be personal to
you though. some major social...
When is a problem researchable?
is a problem that can be investigated through the collection and analysis of data.
What social problem how can you solve the problem as a social worker?
give 10 current social problems of the Philippines and how will you address?
What are some Major social problems and why nare they social problems?
A major social problem would be, if you were always made fun of. You wouldn't have
a very good social life. You could also just be shy or have a criminal record.
What are some Major social problems and why nare they social problems?
A major social problem would be, if you were always made fun of. You wouldn't have
a very good social life. You could also just be shy or have a criminal record.
What social problem how can you solve the problem as a social worker?
give 10 current social problems of the Philippines and how will you address?
What are some social problems in Haiti?
The two major social problems in Haiti are - poverty. - drug trafficking. This is the
result of dictator rule in Haiti, and the goverment not putting enough effort to stop
drug trafficking.
What are the current social problems today?
Global Abortion Poverty Euthanasia Global Economy Healthcare Education Domestic
Violence Substance Abuse and Addiction Parenting Peer pressure global warming
broken families homelessness same-sex...
What is a social problem?
for me social problem is the problem that face by an individual.
What is the researchers role in conducting qualitative research and how is this
different from quantitative research?
In qualitative research, the researcher is an instrument. He interacts andcollaborates
with the participants, and he gathers data by himself. However, in quantitative
research, the researcher is...
Describe different types of research?
DEFINITION OF RESEARCH : Research can be defined as a process that is followed
by a person to answer either his/her own queries or somebody else queries about a
particular object, person, subject...
What is the difference between pure research and applied research?
what is the different between pure and applied science Pure science is something with
a lab component, examples are biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy and physiology.
An applied science is a...
Difference between research paper and research article?
what is difference between research paper and research article?
Different types of research in social research? Read answer...
There are basically three types of researches.
1. exploratory research:- a type of research in which we don't know the problem as well as
solution we have to get all the information about problem first in which we go for SAP
analysis and E-TOP analysis.
2. descriptive research:- A type of research in which we well known about problem but do
not have knowledge about solution this research we do for solution.
3. Experimental research:- Experimental research in which we have knowledge about
problem and solution also but we get alternative solution.
Help us answer these:
What are
the roles
of
statistics
in social
research?
What is
causality
in social
science
research?
How does
the
Applicatio
n of
Research
in the
Social
Sciences?
Wikipedia:
Quantitative research
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In the social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical
investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The
objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models,
theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is
central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection
between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative
relationships.
Quantitative research is used widely in social sciences such as sociology,
anthropology, and political science. Research in mathematical sciences such as
physics is also 'quantitative' by definition, though this use of the term differs in
context. In the social sciences, the term relates to empirical methods, originating in
both philosophical positivism and the history of statistics, which contrast qualitative
research methods.
Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and
any more general conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods can be used
to verify, which of such hypotheses are true.
A comprehensive analysis of 1274 articles published in the top two American
sociology journals between 1935 and 2005 found that roughly two thirds of these
articles used quantitative methods[1].
Contents [hide]
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1 Overview
2 Statistics in quantitative research
3 Measurement in quantitative research
4 Quantitative methods
5 Examples of quantitative research
6 See also
7 References
Overview
Quantitative research is generally made using scientific methods, which can include:
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The generation of models, theories and hypotheses
The development of instruments and methods for measurement
Experimental control and manipulation of variables
Collection of empirical data
Modeling and analysis of data
Evaluation of results
In the social sciences particularly, quantitative research is often contrasted with
qualitative research which is the examination, analysis and interpretation of
observations for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of
relationships, including classifications of types of phenomena and entities, in a
manner that does not involve mathematical models. Approaches to quantitative
psychology were first modelled on quantitative approaches in the physical sciences
by Gustav Fechner in his work on psychophysics, which built on the work of Ernst
Heinrich Weber. Although a distinction is commonly drawn between qualitative and
quantitative aspects of scientific investigation, it has been argued that the two go
hand in hand. For example, based on analysis of the history of science, Kuhn (1961,
p. 162) concludes that “large amounts of qualitative work have usually been
prerequisite to fruitful quantification in the physical sciences”[2]. Qualitative research
is often used to gain a general sense of phenomena and to form theories that can be
tested using further quantitative research. For instance, in the social sciences
qualitative research methods are often used to gain better understanding of such
things as intentionality (from the speech response of the researchee) and meaning
(why did this person/group say something and what did it mean to them?)(Kieron
Yeoman).
Although quantitative investigation of the world has existed since people first began
to record events or objects that had been counted, the modern idea of quantitative
processes have their roots in Auguste Comte's positivist framework.
Statistics in quantitative research
Statistics is the most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative research
outside of the physical sciences, and also finds applications within the physical
sciences, such as in statistical mechanics. Statistical methods are used extensively
within fields such as economics, social sciences and biology. Quantitative research
using statistical methods starts with the collection of data, based on the hypothesis or
theory. Usually a big sample of data is collected - this would require verification,
validation and recording before the analysis can take place. Software packages such
as SPSS and R are typically used for this purpose. Causal relationships are studied by
manipulating factors thought to influence the phenomena of interest while controlling
other variables relevant to the experimental outcomes. In the field of health, for
example, researchers might measure and study the relationship between dietary
intake and measurable physiological effects such as weight loss, controlling for other
key variables such as exercise. Quantitatively based opinion surveys are widely used
in the media, with statistics such as the proportion of respondents in favor of a
position commonly reported. In opinion surveys, respondents are asked a set of
structured questions and their responses are tabulated. In the field of climate science,
researchers compile and compare statistics such as temperature or atmospheric
concentrations of carbon dioxide.
Empirical relationships and associations are also frequently studied by using some
form of General linear model, non-linear model, or by using factor analysis. A
fundamental principle in quantitative research is that correlation does not imply
causation. This principle follows from the fact that it is always possible a spurious
relationship exists for variables between which covariance is found in some degree.
Associations may be examined between any combination of continuous and
categorical variables using methods of statistics.
Measurement in quantitative research
Views regarding the role of measurement in quantitative research are somewhat
divergent. Measurement is often regarded as being only a means by which
observations are expressed numerically in order to investigate causal relations or
associations. However, it has been argued that measurement often plays a more
important role in quantitative research. For example, Kuhn argued that within
quantitative research, the results that are shown can prove to be strange. This is
because accepting a theory based on results of quantitative data could prove to be a
natural phenomenon. He argued that such abnormalities are interesting when done
during the process of obtaining data, as seen below:
When measurement the parts from theory, it is likely to yield mere numbers,
and their very neutrality makes them particularly sterile as a source of
remedial suggestions. But numbers register the departure from theory with an
authority and finesse that no qualitative technique can duplicate, and that
departure is often enough to start a search (Kuhn, 1961, p. 180).
In classical physics, the theory and definitions which underpin measurement are
generally deterministic in nature. In contrast, probabilistic measurement models
known as the Rasch model and Item response theory models are generally employed
in the social sciences. Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory
and technique for measuring social and psychological attributes and phenomena. This
field is central to much quantitative research that is undertaken within the social
sciences.
Quantitative research may involve the use of proxies as stand-ins for other quantities
that cannot be directly measured. Tree-ring width, for example, is considered a
reliable proxy of ambient environmental conditions such as the warmth of growing
seasons or amount of rainfall. Although scientists cannot directly measure the
temperature of past years, tree-ring width and other climate proxies have been used
to provide a semi-quantitative record of average temperature in the Northern
Hemisphere back to 1000 A.D. When used in this way, the proxy record (tree ring
width, say) only reconstructs a certain amount of the variance of the original record.
The proxy may be calibrated (for example, during the period of the instrumental
record) to determine how much variation is captured, including whether both short
and long term variation is revealed. In the case of tree-ring width, different species in
different places may show more or less sensitivity to, say, rainfall or temperature:
when reconstructing a temperature record there is considerable skill in selecting
proxies that are well correlated with the desired variable.
Quantitative methods
Quantitative methods are research techniques that are used to gather quantitative data
- information dealing with numbers and anything that is measurable. Statistics, tables
and graphs, are often used to present the results of these methods. They are therefore
to be distinguished from qualitative methods.
In most physical and biological sciences, the use of either quantitative or qualitative
methods is uncontroversial, and each is used when appropriate. In the social sciences,
particularly in sociology, social anthropology and psychology, the use of one or other
type of method has become a matter of controversy and even ideology, with
particular schools of thought within each discipline favouring one type of method
and pouring scorn on to the other. Advocates of quantitative methods argue that only
by using such methods can the social sciences become truly scientific; advocates of
qualitative methods argue that quantitative methods tend to obscure the reality of the
social phenomena under study because they underestimate or neglect the nonmeasurable factors, which may be the most important. The modern tendency (and in
reality the majority tendency throughout the history of social science) is to use
eclectic approaches. Quantitative methods might be used with a global qualitative
frame. Qualitative methods might be used to understand the meaning of the numbers
produced by quantitative methods. Using quantitative methods, it is possible to give
precise and testable expression to qualitative ideas. This combination of quantitative
and qualitative data gathering is often referred to as mixed-methods research.
Examples of quantitative research
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Research that consists of the percentage amounts of all the elements that
make up Earth's atmosphere.
Survey that concludes that the average patient has to wait two hours in the
waiting room of a certain doctor before being selected.
An experiment in which group x was given two tablets of Aspirin a day and
Group y was given two tablets of a placebo a day where each participant is
randomly assigned to one or other of the groups.
The numerical factors such as two tablets, percent of elements and the time of
waiting make the situations and results quantitative.
See also
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Statistics
Positivism
Sociological positivism
Market research
Quantitative marketing research
Statistical survey
Qualitative research
Antipositivism
References
1. ^ Hunter, Laura and Erin Leahey. 2008. "Collaborative Research in
Sociology: Trends and Contributing Factors". American Sociologist 39:290–
306
2. ^ Thomas S. Kuhn, The Function of Measurement in Modern Physical
Science
Qualitative research
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Sociology
Portal
Theory and History
Positivism · Antipositivism
Functionalism · Conflict theory
Middle-range · Formal theory
Critical theory · Socialization
Structure and agency
Research methods
Quantitative · Qualitative
Computational · Ethnographic
Topics and Subfields
childhood · cities · class · crime
culture · deviance · education
economy · environment · family
gender · health · industry · internet
knowledge · law · medicine
politics · mobility · race & ethnicity
rationalization · religion · science
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social psychology · stratification
Categories and lists
v•d•e
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (April 2010)
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry appropriated in many different academic
disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further
contexts.[1] Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human
behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method
investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence,
smaller but focused samples are more often needed, rather than large samples.
Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and
any more general conclusions are only hypotheses (informative guesses).
Quantitative methods can be used to verify which of such hypotheses are true.
Contents [hide]
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1 History
2 Distinctions from quantitative research
3 Data Collection
4 Data analysis
5 Paradigmatic differences
6 Validation
7 Academic research
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links
History
Until the 1970s, the phrase 'qualitative research' was used only to refer to a discipline
of anthropology or sociology. During the 1970s and 1980s qualitative research began
to be used in other disciplines, and became a significant type of research in the fields
of education studies, social work studies, women's studies, disability studies,
information studies, management studies, nursing service studies, political science,
psychology, communication studies, and many other fields. Qualitative research
occurred in the consumer products industry during this period, with researchers
investigating new consumer products and product positioning/advertising
opportunities. The earliest consumer research pioneers including Gene Reilly of The
Gene Reilly Group in Darien, CT, Jerry Schoenfeld of Gerald Schoenfeld & Partners
in Tarrytown, NY and Martin Calle of Calle & Company, Greenwich, CT, also Peter
Cooper in London, England, and Hugh Mackay in Mission, Australia.[citation needed]
There continued to be disagreement about the proper place of qualitative versus
quantitative research. In the late 1980s and 1990s after a spate of criticisms from the
quantitative side, new methods of qualitative research evolved, to address the
perceived problems with reliability and imprecise modes of data analysis.[2] During
this same decade, there was a slowdown in traditional media advertising spending, so
there was heightened interest in making research related to advertising more
effective.
In the last thirty years the acceptance of qualitative research by journal publishers
and editors has been growing. Prior to that time many mainstream journals were
prone to publish research articles based upon the natural sciences and which featured
quantitative analysis [3].
Distinctions from quantitative research
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may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)
(In simplified terms - Qualitative means a non-numerical data collection or
explanation based on the attributes of the graph or source of data. For example, if you
are asked to explain in qualitative terms a thermal image displayed in multiple
colours, then you would explain the colour differences rather than the heat's
numerical value.)
First, cases can be selected purposefully, according to whether or not they typify
certain characteristics or contextual locations. Secondly, the role or position of the
researcher is given greater critical attention. This is because in qualitative research
the possibility of the researcher taking a 'neutral' or transcendental position is seen as
more problematic in practical and/or philosophical terms. Hence qualitative
researchers are often exhorted to reflect on their role in the research process and
make this clear in the analysis. Thirdly, while qualitative data analysis can take a
wide variety of forms it tends to differ from quantitative research in the focus on
language, signs and meaning as well as approaches to analysis that are holistic and
contextual, rather than reductionist and isolationist. Nevertheless, systematic and
transparent approaches to analysis are almost always regarded as essential for rigor.
For example, many qualitative methods require researchers to carefully code data and
discern and document themes in a consistent and reliable way.
Perhaps the most traditional division in the way qualitative and quantitative research
have been used in the social sciences is for qualitative methods to be used for
exploratory (i.e., hypothesis-generating) purposes or explaining puzzling quantitative
results, while quantitative methods are used to test hypotheses. This is because
establishing content validity - do measures measure what a researcher thinks they
measure? - is seen as one of the strengths of qualitative research. While quantitative
methods are seen as providing more representative, reliable and precise measures
through focused hypotheses, measurement tools and applied mathematics. By
contrast, qualitative data is usually difficult to graph or display in mathematical
terms.
Qualitative research is often used for policy and program evaluation research since it
can answer certain important questions more efficiently and effectively than
quantitative approaches. This is particularly the case for understanding how and why
certain outcomes were achieved (not just what was achieved) but also answering
important questions about relevance, unintended effects and impact of programs such
as: Were expectations reasonable? Did processes operate as expected? Were key
players able to carry out their duties? Were there any unintended effects of the
program? Qualitative approaches have the advantage of allowing for more diversity
in responses as well as the capacity to adapt to new developments or issues during
the research process itself. While qualitative research can be expensive and timeconsuming to conduct, many fields of research employ qualitative techniques that
have been specifically developed to provide more succinct, cost-efficient and timely
results. Rapid Rural Appraisal is one formalised example of these adaptations but
there are many others.
Data Collection
Qualitative researchers may use different approaches in collecting data, such as the
grounded theory practice, narratology, storytelling, classical ethnography, or
shadowing. Qualitative methods are also loosely present in other methodological
approaches, such as action research or actor-network theory. Forms of the data
collected can include interviews and group discussions, observation and reflection
field notes, various texts, pictures, and other materials.
Qualitative research often categorizes data into patterns as the primary basis for
organizing and reporting results.[citation needed] Qualitative researchers typically rely on
the following methods for gathering information: Participant Observation, Nonparticipant Observation, Field Notes, Reflexive Journals, Structured Interview,
Unstructured Interview, Analysis of documents and materials [4].
The ways of participating and observing can vary widely from setting to setting.
Participant observation is a strategy of reflexive learning, not a single method of
observing[5]. In participant observation [1] researchers typically become members of
a culture, group, or setting, and adopt roles to conform to that setting. In doing so, the
aim is for the researcher to gain a closer insight into the culture's practices,
motivations and emotions. It is argued that the researchers' ability to understand the
experiences of the culture may be inhibited if they observe without participating.
Some distinctive qualitative methods are the use of focus groups and key informant
interviews. The focus group technique involves a moderator facilitating a small
group discussion between selected individuals on a particular topic. This is a
particularly popular method in market research and testing new initiatives with
users/workers.
One traditional and specialized form of qualitative research is called cognitive testing
or pilot testing which is used in the development of quantitative survey items. Survey
items are piloted on study participants to test the reliability and validity of the items.
In the academic social sciences the most frequently used qualitative research
approaches include the following:
1. Ethnographic Research, used for investigating cultures by collecting and
describing data that is intended to help in the development of a theory. This
method is also called “ethnomethodology” or "methodology of the people".
An example of applied ethnographic research, is the study of a particular
culture and their understanding of the role of a particular disease in their
cultural framework.
2. Critical Social Research, used by a researcher to understand how people
communicate and develop symbolic meanings.
3. Ethical Inquiry, an intellectual analysis of ethical problems. It includes the
study of ethics as related to obligation, rights, duty, right and wrong, choice
etc.
4. Foundational Research, examines the foundations for a science, analyses the
beliefs and develops ways to specify how a knowledge base should change in
light of new information.
5. Historical Research, allows one to discuss past and present events in the
context of the present condition, and allows one to reflect and provide
possible answers to current issues and problems. Historical research helps us
in answering questions such as: Where have we come from, where are we,
who are we now and where are we going?
6. Grounded Theory, is an inductive type of research, based or “grounded” in
the observations or data from which it was developed; it uses a variety of data
sources, including quantitative data, review of records, interviews,
observation and surveys.
7. Phenomenological Research, describes the “subjective reality” of an event, as
perceived by the study population; it is the study of a phenomenon.
8. Philosophical Research, is conducted by field experts within the boundaries
of a specific field of study or profession, the best qualified individual in any
field of study to use an intellectual analyses, in order to clarify definitions,
identify ethics, or make a value judgment concerning an issue in their field of
study.
Data analysis
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Interpretive techniques
The most common analysis of qualitative data is observer impression. That is, expert
or bystander observers examine the data, interpret it via forming an impression and
report their impression in a structured and sometimes quantitative form.
Coding
Coding is an interpretive technique that both organizes the data and provides a means
to introduce the interpretations of it into certain quantitative methods. Most coding
requires the analyst to read the data and demarcate segments within it. Each segment
is labeled with a “code” – usually a word or short phrase that suggests how the
associated data segments inform the research objectives. When coding is complete,
the analyst prepares reports via a mix of: summarizing the prevalence of codes,
discussing similarities and differences in related codes across distinct original
sources/contexts, or comparing the relationship between one or more codes.
Some qualitative data that is highly structured (e.g., open-end responses from surveys
or tightly defined interview questions) is typically coded without additional
segmenting of the content. In these cases, codes are often applied as a layer on top of
the data. Quantitative analysis of these codes is typically the capstone analytical step
for this type of qualitative data.
Contemporary qualitative data analyses are sometimes supported by computer
programs. These programs do not supplant the interpretive nature of coding but
rather are aimed at enhancing the analyst’s efficiency at data storage/retrieval and at
applying the codes to the data. Many programs offer efficiencies in editing and
revising coding, which allow for work sharing, peer review, and recursive
examination of data.
A frequent criticism of coding method is that it seeks to transform qualitative data
into quantitative data, thereby draining the data of its variety, richness, and individual
character. Analysts respond to this criticism by thoroughly expositing their
definitions of codes and linking those codes soundly to the underlying data, therein
bringing back some of the richness that might be absent from a mere list of codes.
Recursive abstraction
Some qualitative datasets are analyzed without coding. A common method here is
recursive abstraction, where datasets are summarized, those summaries are then
further summarized, and so on. The end result is a more compact summary that
would have been difficult to accurately discern without the preceding steps of
distillation.
A frequent criticism of recursive abstraction is that the final conclusions are several
times removed from the underlying data. While it is true that poor initial summaries
will certainly yield an inaccurate final report, qualitative analysts can respond to this
criticism. They do so, like those using coding method, by documenting the reasoning
behind each summary step, citing examples from the data where statements were
included and where statements were excluded from the intermediate summary.
Mechanical techniques
Some techniques rely on leveraging computers to scan and sort large sets of
qualitative data. At their most basic level, mechanical techniques rely on counting
words, phrases, or coincidences of tokens within the data. Often referred to as
content analysis, the output from these techniques is amenable to many advanced
statistical analyses.
Mechanical techniques are particularly well-suited for a few scenarios. One such
scenario is for datasets that are simply too large for a human to effectively analyze,
or where analysis of them would be cost prohibitive relative to the value of
information they contain. Another scenario is when the chief value of a dataset is the
extent to which it contains “red flags” (e.g., searching for reports of certain adverse
events within a lengthy journal dataset from patients in a clinical trial) or “green
flags” (e.g., searching for mentions of your brand in positive reviews of marketplace
products).
A frequent criticism of mechanical techniques is the absence of a human interpreter.
And while masters of these methods are able to write sophisticated software to mimic
some human decisions, the bulk of the “analysis” is nonhuman. Analysts respond by
proving the value of their methods relative to either a) hiring and training a human
team to analyze the data or b) letting the data go untouched, leaving any actionable
nuggets undiscovered.
Paradigmatic differences
Contemporary qualitative research has been conducted from a large number of
various paradigms that influence conceptual and metatheoretical concerns of
legitimacy, control, data analysis, ontology, and epistemology, among others.
Research conducted in the last 10 years has been characterized by a distinct turn
toward more interpretive, postmodern, and critical practices[6]. Guba and Lincoln
(2005) identify five main paradigms of contemporary qualitative research:
positivism, postpositivism, critical theories, constructivism, and
participatory/cooperative paradigms[7]. Each of the paradigms listed by Guba and
Lincoln are characterized by axiomatic differences in axiology, intended action of
research, control of research process/outcomes, relationship to foundations of truth
and knowledge, validity (see below), textual representation and voice of the
researcher/participants, and commensurability with other paradigms. In particular,
commensurability involves the extent to which paradigmatic concerns “can be
retrofitted to each other in ways that make the simultaneous practice of both
possible”[8]. Positivist and postpositivist paradigms share commensurable
assumptions but are largely incommensurable with critical, constructivist, and
participatory paradigms. Likewise, critical, constructivist, and participatory
paradigms are commensurable on certain issues (e.g., intended action and textual
representation).
Validation
A central issue in qualitative research is validity (also known as credibility and/or
dependability). There are many different ways of establishing validity, including:
member check, interviewer corroboration, peer debriefing, prolonged engagement,
negative case analysis, auditability, confirmability, bracketing, and balance. Most of
these methods were coined, or at least extensively described by Lincoln and Guba
(1985)[9]
Academic research
By the end of the 1970s many leading journals began to publish qualitative research
articles [3] and several new journals emerged which published only qualitative
research studies and articles about qualitative research methods [10].
In the 1980s and 1990s, the new qualitative research journals became more
multidisciplinary in focus moving beyond qualitative research’s traditional
disciplinary roots of anthropology, sociology, and philosophy [10].
The new millennium saw a dramatic increase in the number of journals specializing
in qualitative research with at least one new qualitative research journal being
launched each year.
See also
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Analytic
induction
Case study
Content analysis
Critical
ethnography
Critical theory
Dialectical
research
Discourse
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Ethnomethodology
Ethnography
Flyvbjerg Debate
Focus group
Grounded theory
Hermeneutics
Online research
communities
Participatory action
research
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
Qualitative Doctoral
Dissertation
Proposal
Qualitative
economics
Quantitative research
Qualitative
communication
research
Qualitative

analysis
Educational
psychology

Phenomenography
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
marketing research
Qualitative
psychological
research
Sampling (case
studies)
Sensemaking
Theoretical sampling
Notes
1. ^ Denzin, Norman K. & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (Eds.). (2005). The Sage
Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
ISBN 0-7619-2757-3
2. ^ Taylor, 1998
3. ^ a b Loseke, Donileen R. & Cahil, Spencer E. (2007). “Publishing qualitative
manuscripts: Lessons learned”. In C. Seale, G. Gobo, J. F. Gubrium, & D.
Silverman (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice: Concise Paperback Edition,
pp. 491-506. London: Sage. ISBN 978-1-7619-4776-9
4. ^ Marshall, Catherine & Rossman, Gretchen B. (1998). Designing
Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-1340-8
5. ^ Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2002) Qualitative communication research
methods: Second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN
0-7619-2493-0
6. ^ Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). “Paradigmatic controversies,
contradictions, and emerging influences" In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln
(Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp. 191-215.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-2757-3
7. ^ Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). “Paradigmatic controversies,
contradictions, and emerging influences" In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln
(Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp. 191-215.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-2757-3
8. ^ Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). “Paradigmatic controversies,
contradictions, and emerging influences" (p. 200). In N. K. Denzin & Y. S.
Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp.
191-215. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-2757-3
9. ^ Lincoln Y and Guba EG (1985) Naturalist Inquiry, Sage Publications,
Newbury Park, CA.
10. ^ a b Denzin, Norman K. & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (2005). “Introduction: The
discipline and practice of qualitative research”. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S.
Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp. 133. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-2757-3
References
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Adler, P. A. & Adler, P. (1987). Membership roles in field research.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage. ISBN 978-0803927605
Becker, Howard S., The epistemology of qualitative research. University of
Chicago Press, 1996. 53-71. [from Ethnography and human development :
context and meaning in social inquiry / edited by Richard Jessor, Anne Colby,
and Richard A. Shweder] OCLC 46597302
Boas, Franz (1943). Recent anthropology. Science, 98, 311-314, 334-337.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research (
2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
DeWalt, K. M. & DeWalt, B. R. (2002). Participant observation. Walnut
Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Fischer, C.T. (Ed.) (2005). Qualitative research methods for psychologists:
Introduction through empirical studies. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-0884704.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). "Five Misunderstandings About Case Study Research."
Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 12, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 219-245.
Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
Holliday, A. R. (2007). Doing and Writing Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition.
London: Sage Publications
Kaminski, Marek M. (2004). Games Prisoners Play. Princeton University
Press. ISBN 0-691-11721-7.
Mahoney, J & Goertz, G. (2006) A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting
Quantitative and Qualitative Research, Political Analysis, 14, 227–249.
doi:10.1093/pan/mpj017
Malinowski, B. (1922/1961). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: E.
P. Dutton.
Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Pamela Maykut, Richard Morehouse. 1994 Beginning Qualitative Research.
Falmer Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods ( 3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pawluch D. & Shaffir W. & Miall C. (2005). Doing Ethnography: Studying
Everyday Life. Toronto, ON Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press.
Charles C. Ragin, Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of
Method, Pine Forge Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8039-9021-9
Stebbins, Robert A. (2001) Exploratory Research in the Social Sciences.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Taylor, Steven J., Bogdan, Robert, Introduction to Qualitative Research
Methods, Wiley, 1998, ISBN 0-471-16868-8
Van Maanen, J. (1988) Tales of the field: on writing ethnography, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Wolcott, H. F. (1995). The art of fieldwork. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira
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Press.
Wolcott, H. F. (1999). Ethnography: A way of seeing. Walnut Creek, CA:
AltaMira Press.
Ziman, John (2000). Real Science: what it is, and what it means. Cambridge,
Uk: Cambridge University Press.
External links
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C.Wright Mills, On intellectual Craftsmanship, The Sociological
Imagination,1959
Participant Observation, Qualitative research methods: a Data collector's
field guide
Forum: Qualitative Social Research
Quantum Market Research: Qualitative Research Expert
Ethnography (Greek ἔθνος ethnos = folk/people and γράφειν graphein = writing) is
a research strategy often used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and
in some branches of sociology.[1] It is often employed for gathering empirical data on
human societies/cultures. Data collection is often done through participant
observation, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Ethnography aims to describe the nature
of those who are studied (i.e. to describe a people, an ethnos) through writing.[2] In
the biological sciences, this type of study might be called a "field study" or a "case
report," both of which are used as common synonyms for "ethnography".[3]
Contents [hide]
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1 Introduction
o 1.1 Evaluating Ethnography
2 Data Collection methods
3 Differences across disciplines
o 3.1 Cultural and social anthropology
o 3.2 Sociology
o 3.3 Communication Studies
o 3.4 Other fields
4 Ethics
o 4.1 Classic Virtues
o 4.2 Technical Skills
o 4.3 The Ethnographic Self
5 Ethnographic nudity
6 See also
o 6.1 Notable ethnographers
7 References
8 Suggested Reading
9 External links
Introduction
Ethnographic studies are usually holistic, founded on the idea that humans are best
understood in the fullest possible context, including: the place where they live, the
improvements they've made to that place, how they are making a living and
providing food, housing, energy and water for themselves, what their marriage
customs are, what language(s) they speak and so on. Ethnography has connections to
genres as diverse as travel writing, colonial office reports, the play and the novel.[4]
Many cultural anthropologists consider ethnography the essence of the discipline.[5] It
would be a rare program in graduate cultural anthropology that didn't require an
ethnography as part of the doctoral process.[6]
Evaluating Ethnography
Ethnographic methodology is not usually evaluated in terms of philosophical
standpoint (such as positivism and emotionalism). Ethnographies nonetheless need to
be evaluated in some manner. While there is no consensus on evaluation standards,
Richardson (2000, p. 254) [7] provides 5 criteria that ethnographers might find
helpful.
1. Substantive Contribution: “Does the piece contribute to our understanding of
social-life?”
2. Aesthetic Merit: “Does this piece succeed aesthetically?”
3. Reflexivity: “How did the author come to write this text…Is there adequate
self-awareness and self-exposure for the reader to make judgments about the
point of view?”
4. Impact: “Does this affect me? Emotionally? Intellectually?” Does it move
me?
5. Expresses a Reality: “Does it seem ‘true’—a credible account of a cultural,
social, individual, or communal sense of the ‘real’?”
Data Collection methods
One of the most common methods for collecting data in an ethnographic study is
direct, first-hand observation of daily participation. This can include participant
observation. Another common method is interviewing, which may include
conversation with different levels of form and can involve small talk to long
interviews. A particular approach to transcribing interview data might be
genealogical method. This is a set of procedures by which ethnographers discover
and record connections of kinship, descent and marriage using diagrams and
symbols. Questionnaires can be used to aid the discovery of local beliefs and
perceptions and in the case of longitudinal research, where there is continuous longterm study of an area or site, they can act as valid instrument for measuring changes
in the individuals or groups studied.
Differences across disciplines
The ethnographical method is used across a range of different disciples, primarily by
anthropologists but also frequently by sociologists. Cultural studies, economics,
social work, education, ethnomusicology, folklore, geography, history, linguistics,
communication studies, performance studies, psychology, usability and criminology
are other fields which have made use of ethnography.
Cultural and social anthropology
Cultural anthropology and social anthropology were developed around ethnographic
research and their canonical texts which are mostly ethnographies: e.g. Argonauts of
the Western Pacific (1922) by Bronisław Malinowski, Coming of Age in Samoa
(1928) by Margaret Mead, The Nuer (1940) by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Naven (1936,
1958) by Gregory Bateson or "The Lele of the Kasai" (1963) by Mary Douglas.
Cultural and social anthropologists today place such a high value on actually doing
ethnographic research that ethnology—the comparative synthesis of ethnographic
information—is rarely the foundation for a career.[citation needed] The typical
ethnography is a document written about a particular people, almost always based at
least in part on emic views of where the culture begins and ends. Using language or
community boundaries to bound the ethnography is common.[8] Ethnographies are
also sometimes called "case studies."[9] Ethnographers study and interpret culture, its
universalities and its variations through ethnographic study based on fieldwork. An
ethnography is a specific kind of written observational science which provides an
account of a particular culture, society, or community. The fieldwork usually
involves spending a year or more in another society, living with the local people and
learning about their ways of life. Ethnographers are participant observers. They take
part in events they study because it helps with understanding local behavior and
thought. Classic examples are Carol Stack's All Our Kin, Jean Briggs' "Never in
Anger," Richard Lee's "Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers," Victor Turner's "Forest of
Symbols," David Maybry-Lewis' "Akew-Shavante Society," E.E. Evans-Pritchard's
"The Nuer" and Claude Lévi-Strauss' "Tristes Tropiques." Iterations of ethnographic
representations in the classic, modernist camp include Bartholomew Dean’s recent
(2009) contribution, Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian
Amazonia. [1]
A typical ethnography attempts to be holistic[10][11] and typically follows an outline to
include a brief history of the culture in question, an analysis of the physical
geography or terrain inhabited by the people under study, including climate, and
often including what biological anthropologists call habitat. Folk notions of botany
and zoology are presented as ethnobotany and ethnozoology alongside references
from the formal sciences. Material culture, technology and means of subsistence are
usually treated next, as they are typically bound up in physical geography and
include descriptions of infrastructure. Kinship and social structure (including age
grading, peer groups, gender, voluntary associations, clans, moieties, and so forth, if
they exist) are typically included. Languages spoken, dialects and the history of
language change are another group of standard topics.[12] Practices of childrearing,
acculturation and emic views on personality and values usually follow after sections
on social structure.[13]. Rites, rituals, and other evidence of religion have long been an
interest and are sometimes central to ethnographies, especially when conducted in
public where visiting anthropologists can see them.[14]
As ethnography developed, anthropologists grew more interested in less tangible
aspects of culture, such as values, worldview and what Clifford Geertz termed the
"ethos" of the culture. Clifford Geertz's own fieldwork used elements of a
phenomenological approach to fieldwork, tracing not just the doings of people, but
the cultural elements themselves. For example, if within a group of people, winking
was a communicative gesture, he sought to first determine what kinds of things a
wink might mean (it might mean several things). Then, he sought to determine in
what contexts winks were used, and whether, as one moved about a region, winks
remained meaningful in the same way. In this way, cultural boundaries of
communication could be explored, as opposed to using linguistic boundaries or
notions about residence. Geertz, while still following something of a traditional
ethnographic outline, moved outside that outline to talk about "webs" instead of
"outlines" [15] of culture.
Within cultural anthropology, there are several sub-genres of ethnography. Beginning
in the 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bio-confessional"
ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Famous
examples include Tristes Tropiques (1955) by Claude Lévi-Strauss, The High Valley
by Kenneth Read, and The Savage and the Innocent by David Maybury-Lewis, as
well as the mildly fictionalized Return to Laughter by Elenore Smith Bowen (Laura
Bohannan). Later "reflexive" ethnographies refined the technique to translate cultural
differences by representing their effects on the ethnographer. Famous examples
include "Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight" by Clifford Geertz, Reflections
on Fieldwork in Morocco by Paul Rabinow, The Headman and I by Jean-Paul
Dumont, and Tuhami by Vincent Crapanzano. In the 1980s, the rhetoric of
ethnography was subjected to intense scrutiny within the discipline, under the general
influence of literary theory and post-colonial/post-structuralist thought.
"Experimental" ethnographies that reveal the ferment of the discipline include
Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man by Michael Taussig, Debating Muslims
by Michael F. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, A Space on the Side of the Road by
Kathleen Stewart, and Advocacy after Bhopal by Kim Fortun.
Sociology
Sociology is another field which prominently features ethnographies. Urban
sociology and the Chicago School in particular are associated with ethnographic
research, with some well-known early examples being Street Corner Society by
William Foote Whyte and Black Metropolis by St. Clair Drake and Horace R.
Cayton, Jr.. Some of the influence for this can be traced to the anthropologist Lloyd
Warner who was on the Chicago sociology faculty, and to Robert Park's experience
as a journalist. Symbolic interactionism developed from the same tradition and
yielded several excellent sociological ethnographies, including Shared Fantasy by
Gary Alan Fine, which documents the early history of fantasy role-playing games.
Other important ethnographies in the discipline of sociology include Pierre
Bourdieu's work on Algeria and France, Paul Willis's Learning To Labour on
working class youth, and the work of Elijah Anderson, Mitchell Duneier, Loic
Wacquant on black America and Glimpses of Madrasa From Africa,2010 Lai
Olurode. But even though many sub-fields and theoretical perspectives within
sociology use ethnographic methods, ethnography is not the sine qua non of the
discipline, as it is in cultural anthropology.
Communication Studies
Beginning in the 1960s and 70s, ethnographic research methods began to be widely
employed by communication scholars. Studies such as Gerry Philipsen's analysis of
cultural communication strategies in a blue-collar, working class neighborhood on
the south side of Chicago, Speaking 'Like a Man' in Teamsterville, paved the way for
the expansion of ethnographic research in the study of communication.
Scholars of communication studies use ethnographic research methods to analyze
communication behaviors, seeking to answer the "why" and "how come" questions of
human communication.[16] Often this type of research results in a case study or field
study such as an analysis of speech patterns at a protest rally or the way firemen
communicate during "down time" at a fire station. Like anthropology scholars,
communication scholars often immerse themselves, participate in and/or directly
observe the particular wikt:social group being studied.[17]
Other fields
The American anthropologist George Spindler was a pioneer in applying
ethnographic methodology to the classroom.
Anthropologists like Daniel Miller and Mary Douglas have used ethnographic data to
answer academic questions about consumers and consumption. In this sense, Tony
Salvador, Genevieve Bell, and Ken Anderson describe design ethnography as being
"a way of understanding the particulars of daily life in such a way as to increase the
success probability of a new product or service or, more appropriately, to reduce the
probability of failure specifically due to a lack of understanding of the basic
behaviors and frameworks of consumers."[18]
Businesses, too, have found ethnographers helpful for understanding how people use
products and services, as indicated in the increasing use of ethnographic methods to
understand consumers and consumption, or for new product development (such as
video ethnography). The recent Ethnographic Praxis in Industry (EPIC) conference is
evidence of this.[citation needed] Ethnographers' systematic and holistic approach to reallife experience is valued by product developers, who use the method to understand
unstated desires or cultural practices that surround products. Where focus groups fail
to inform marketers about what people really do, ethnography links what people say
to what they actually do—avoiding the pitfalls that come from relying only on selfreported, focus-group data.
Ethics
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Please improve this section if you can. (October 2007)
Gary Alan Fine argues that the nature of ethnographic inquiry demands that
researchers deviate from formal and idealistic rules or ethics that have come to be
widely accepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches in research. Many of these
ethical assumptions are rooted in positivist and post-positivist epistemologies that
have adapted over time, but nonetheless are apparent and must be accounted for in all
research paradigms. These ethical dilemmas are evident throughout the entire process
of conducting ethnographies, including the design, implementation, and reporting of
an ethnographic study. Essentially, Fine maintains that researchers are typically not
as ethical as they claim or assume to be — and that “each job includes ways of doing
things that would be inappropriate for others to know”.[19]
Fine is not necessarily casting blame or pointing his finger at ethnographic
researchers, but rather is attempting to show that researchers often make idealized
ethical claims and standards which in actuality are inherently based on partial truths
and self-deceptions. Fine also acknowledges that many of these partial truths and
self-deceptions are unavoidable. He maintains that “illusions” are essential to
maintain an occupational reputation and avoid potentially more caustic
consequences. He claims, “Ethnographers cannot help but lie, but in lying, we reveal
truths that escape those who are not so bold”.[20] Based on these assertions, Fine
establishes three conceptual clusters in which ethnographic ethical dilemmas can be
situated: “Classic Virtues,” “Technical Skills,” and “Ethnographic Self.”
Much debate surrounding the issue of ethics arose after the ethnographer Napoleon
Chagnon conducted his ethnographic fieldwork with the Yanomamo people of South
America.
Classic Virtues


“The kindly ethnographer” – Most ethnographers present themselves as being
more sympathetic than they actually are, which aids in the research process,
but is also deceptive. The identity that we present to subjects is different from
who we are in other circumstances.
“The friendly ethnographer” – Ethnographers operate under the assumption
that they should not dislike anyone. In actuality, when hated individuals are
found within research, ethnographers often crop them out of the

findings.[citation needed]
“The honest ethnographer” – If research participants know the research goals,
their responses will likely be skewed. Therefore, ethnographers often conceal
what they know in order to increase the likelihood of acceptance.[21]
Technical Skills



“The Precise Ethnographer” – Ethnographers often create the illusion that
field notes are data and reflect what “really” happened. They engage in the
opposite of plagiarism, giving credit to those undeserving by not using
precise words but rather loose interpretations and paraphrasing. Researchers
take near-fictions and turn them into claims of fact. The closest ethnographers
can ever really get to reality is an approximate truth.
“The Observant Ethnographer” – Readers of ethnography are often led to
assume the report of a scene is complete – that little of importance was
missed. In reality, an ethnographer will always miss some aspect because they
are not omniscient. Everything is open to multiple interpretations and
misunderstandings. The ability of the ethnographer to take notes and observe
varies, and therefore, what is depicted in ethnography is not the whole
picture.
“The Unobtrusive Ethnographer” – As a “participant” in the scene, the
researcher will always have an effect on the communication that occurs
within the research site. The degree to which one is an “active member”
affects the extent to which sympathetic understanding is possible.[22]
The Ethnographic Self
The following appellations are commonly misconvieved conceptions of
Ethnographers:




“The Candid Ethnographer” – Where the researcher situates themselves
within the ethnography is ethically problematic. There is an illusion that
everything reported has actually happened because the researcher has been
directly exposed to it.
“The Chaste Ethnographer” – When ethnographers participate within the
field, they invariably develop relationships with research
subjects/participants. These relationships are sometimes not accounted for
within the reporting of the ethnography despite the fact that they seemingly
would influence the research findings.
“The Fair Ethnographer” – Fine claims that objectivity is an illusion and that
everything in ethnography is known from a perspective. Therefore, it is
unethical for a researcher to report fairness in their findings.
“The Literary Ethnographer” – Representation is a balancing act of
determining what to “show” through poetic/prosaic language and style versus
what to “tell” via straightforward, ‘factual’ reporting. The idiosyncratic skill
of the ethnographer influences the face-value of the research.[23]
Seven principles should be considered for observing, recording and sampling data
according to Denzin:
1. The groups should combine symbolic meanings with patterns of interaction.
2. Observe the world from the point of view of the subject, while maintaining
the distinction between everyday and scientific perceptions of reality.
3. Link the group’s symbols and their meanings with the social relationships.
4. Record all behaviour.
5. Methodology should highlight phases of process, change and stability.
6. The act should be a type of symbolic interactionism.
7. Use concepts that would avoid casual explanations.
Excellent cite on Qualitative Research Methods [Tutorial Format.]
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/Mensah/default.htm
Longitudinal Research (Trends)
www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/tutorial.htm