Qualitative search type

1. Presented by:
HINA KAYNAT
Ph.D. Scholar

2. Overview
 Define ethnographic research
 When to conduct an ethnography
 Development of ethnographic research
 Types of Ethnographic Designs
 Key characteristics of ethnographic
research
 Steps in conducting an ethnography
 Evaluating an ethnography

3. Ethnography

4. Ethnography:
 Discovers and describes the cultural characteristics of group.
Culture is shared attitudes, values, norms, practices,
language, and material things of a group of people.
Can study micro cultures (classroom) and macro cultures
(Pakistanis)

5. Development of Ethnography
Research

6. Ethnographic Research is…
“An attempt to attain as holistic a picture as possible of a particular
society, group, institution, or situation. The emphasis in
ethnographic research is on documenting or portraying the
everyday experiences of individuals by observing and
interviewing them and relevant others.”(Frankel & Wallen,
2006)
“Ethnographic designs are qualitative research procedures for
describing, analyzing, and interpreting a culture-sharing
group’s shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, and language that
develop over time.”(Gay L, Mills G, Airasian P, 2009)

7. What are Ethnographers
Looking For?
 Shared Patterns – Individuals who interact on regular basis
and over a period of time.
 Behaviors
 Beliefs
 Language

8. Why do you conduct an
Ethnographic Design ?
Aim of Ethnographic research “builds theories of cultures – or
explanations of how people think, believe, and behave – that are situated in
local time and space”
Purpose: To understand a bigger issue by closely studying a culture-
sharing group.
Want a day-to-day picture
Long-term access to culture-sharing group
Interest in adding knowledge and studying cultural themes

9. Data sources
 People – their behaviors, communications, beliefs, styles
 Places – settings, their locations and design
 Things – objects or artifacts that have meaning or
significance

10. Ethnographic Research in
Education
 Ethnographic study in education helps in addressing the
problems of education of a particular group (e.g. students,
teachers, principals, professors, administrators, planners,
etc) with respect to their culture.
 In the educational research, problems like the following
have been dealt with:
 school and community
 schools;
 personnel;
 curriculums;
 and educational processes

11. Types Of Ethnographies:

12. THREE COMMEN TYPES OF
ETHNOGRAPHIC DESIGNS
1. The realist ethnography
2. The case study
3. The critical ethnography

13. Realist ethnography:
Definition
• A realist ethnography is an objective account of the situation, typically
written in the third-person point of view, reporting objectively on the
information learned from participants at a field site.
Characteris
tics and
Roles of
Researcher
In this ethnographic design:
• It is an objective, scientifically written ethnography
• Narrates the study in the third person voice reporting what is observed (facts)
• Research reports objective data free from personal bias, judgement, and/or goals
• Researcher produces the participants’ views through closely edited quotes and has
final word on interpretation
Example
Wolcott (1974, 1994) used a realist approach to ethnography to study the activities of
a committee appointed to select a principal. This study addressed the process a school
selection committee experienced as they interviewed candidates.

14. Case Study Ethnography
Definition
• A case study is an in-depth exploration of a bounded system (e.g., activity,
event, process, or individuals) based on extensive data collection (Creswell,
2007).
Characterist
ics and
Roles of
Researcher
In this ethnographic design:
• a single individual, several individuals separately or in a group, a program, events, or
activities
• be selected because it’s unusual
• represent a process consisting of a series of steps that form a sequence of activities
• Researcher develops understanding of the case by collecting multiple forms of data
• Researcher locates the “case” or “cases” within their larger context
Example
An example of a case study is the research by Kos (1991) of four middle school
students who have reading disabilities. The study examined what factors contributed to
the development of reading disabilities in adolescents.

15. The Critical Ethnography
Definition
• Critical ethnographies are a type of ethnographic research in which the author
is interested in advocating for the freedom of groups marginalized in our
society (Thomas, 1993).
Characterist
ics and
Roles of
Researcher
In this ethnographic design:
• studies involve social issues of power, empowerment, inequality, inequity, dominance,
repression, hegemony, and victimization.
• Used to advocate for the emancipation of marginalized groups
• Seeks to advocate for change to help transform society
• Critical ethnographers are self-conscious, reflexive, and self-aware
• Critical ethnographers actively collaborate, participate, negotiate with participants
Example
The critical ethnographic study of one principal in an “inclusive” elementary school
(Keyes, Hanley-Maxwell, & Capper, 1999) illustrated many of these features. The overall
purpose was to describe and define the role of administrative leadership in an inclusive
school for students with a high incidence of disability classifications (e.g., cognitive,
emotional, learning, speech, and language)

16. Key characteristics of an
ethnographic design
 Exploring the shared culture theme
 A culture-sharing group
 Examination of shared patterns of behavior, belief, and
language
 Data collection through fieldwork
 Description, themes, interpretation
 Group context or setting
 Researcher reflexivity

17. Key characteristics: Doing
fieldwork
 Fieldwork researcher gathers data in the setting
where the participants are located and where their
shared patterns can be studied
 Types of data
 Emic data (data supplied by the participants)
 Etic data (ethnographer’s interpretation of participant’s perspectives)
 Negotiation data (information participants and researcher agree to use in a
study)
 Forms of data: Observations, Interviews,
Documents review

18. STEPS IN CONDUCTING AN
ETHNOGRAPHY
STEP 1
Identify Intent and
the type of Design
and relate intent to
your research
problem
STEP 2
Discuss how you
plan to receive
approval and gain
access to study sites
and participants
STEP 3
Collect appropriate
data, emphasizing
time in the field,
multiple sources of
information, and
collaboration
STEP 5
Write and report
your research
consistent with your
design
STEP 4
Analyze and
interpret your data
within a design

19. Procedure of Ethnographic
research in Education:
1). Identification of the Phenomenon to be Studied
2). Identification of Subjects
3). Hypotheses Generation
4). Data Collection
5). Preparing Field Notes
6). Reviewing other Sources
7). Triangulation
8). Analysis and Interpretation
9). Description
10). Drawing Conclusions

20. Example :
What are the factors that affect adolescent
drugs use in high schools/ colleges of
Northern cities of Pakistan?

21. Examples of ethnographic
studies
 Research on the smokers community – Bumming
cigarettes
 Research on education – Studying abroad
 An Ethnographic Researcher carries out a study on- How
the students in a particular class respond to substitute
teacher.
 A Study on ‘Poverty affects on schooling of
children’

22. Collect Data Using Appropriate
Methods
 Realist Ethnography
 Interviews, Artifacts, Drawings, Relics
 Data should lead to an in-depth understanding of culture
 Case Studies
 Interviews, Observations, Video/Audio Recordings
 Data should be extensive and varied
 Critical Ethnography
 Collaborate with the participants to collect data that they provide
 Participants should participate in collection and analysis

23. Popular forms of data collected:

24. Write Final Report Consistent
with Your Design
 Realist Ethnography
 Report should be an objective study
 The researcher should remain in the background
 Case Study
 Report should focus on the case
 Researcher can choose to be objective or subjective
 Critical Ethnography
 Report should be a call to action on the critical issue
 A specific plan of action should be included

25. Strengths and Weaknesses

26. Strengths
 Comprehensive perspective
 Observe behavior in its natural
setting
 Works when results cannot be
quantified
 Good for observing behavior
over an extensive period of
time

27. Weaknesses
 Dependent on researcher’s
observations
 No or little numerical data,
therefore hard to check validity
 Impossible to eliminate
observer bias
 Participants might not act
naturally when they know they
are being observed.
 This method is time-consuming
and may require several
exposures to get the best
findings

28. HOW DO WE EVALUATE AN
ETHNOGRAPHY?
 Identify a cultural issue to study
 Select a group to observe or interview over time
 Noting shared patterns of behavior, language, and
beliefs that the group has developed over time
 Need to describe both the group and themes
 Provide evidence of being reflexive

29. Ethical Issues Conducting
Ethnography
Primarily come up when doing fieldwork because of issues collecting data
Negotiating how to get access to the people and sites being studied
How long to stay in the field
How to interact with the participants respectfully
Open and transparent about gathering data
Respect towards causing no harm, preserving dignity, and ensuring privacy
Negotiate limits related to these factors

30. References
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Ethnographic Designs. Educational research: planning,
conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed., pp. 461-500).
Boston: Pearson.
Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. (2011). Ethnographic Research. How to
design and evaluate research in education (8th ed., pp. 506-533). New York: McGraw-
Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. W. (2009). Educational research:
Competencies for analysis and applications, student value edition. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Merrill.
Best, J. W., & Kahn, J. V. (2016). Research in education. Pearson Education India.
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative,
qualitative, and mixed approaches. Sage.