Table of Contents
Definition of Ethnography
(noun) A qualitative research method in which a researcher observes a social setting to provide descriptions of a group, society, or organization.
Examples of Ethnography
- Codrington, Robert Henry – The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-lore (1891)
- Clifford Geertz – The Interpretation of Cultures (1973)
- Helene Lawson – Ladies on the Lot: Women, Car Sales, and the Pursuit of the American Dream (2000)
- Margaret Mead – Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935)
- Judith Stacey – Brave New Families: Stories of Domestic Upheaval in Late Twentieth-century America (1990)
- Neil Websdale – Rural Woman Battering and the Justice System: An Ethnography (1998)
Ethnography Pronunciation
Syllabification: eth·nog·ra·phy
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /eth-nAH-gruh-fee/
- British English – /eth-nO-gruh-fee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ɛθˈnɑɡrəfi/
- British English – /ɛθˈnɒɡrəfi/
Usage Notes
- Plural: ethnographies
- A type of qualitative research.
- Also called descriptive anthropology.
- An (noun) ethnographer uses the research methodology of ethnography to produce (adjective) ethnographic or (adjective) ethnographical work (adverb) ethnographically.
Related Quotation
- “Ethnographers seek out the insider’s viewpoint. Because culture is the knowledge people use to generate behavior and interpret experience, the ethnographer seeks to understand group members’ behavior from the inside, or cultural, perspective. Instead of looking for a subject to observe, ethnographers look for an informant to teach them the culture” (Spradley and McCurdy 2008:4).
Related Video
Additional Information
- Qualitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “ethnography” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Atkinson, Paul. 1990. The Ethnographic Imagination: Textual Constructions of Reality. London: Routledge.
- Atkinson, Paul, Amanda Coffey, Sara Delamont, John Lofland, and Lyn Lofland, eds. 2001. Handbook of Ethnography. London: SAGE.
- Behar, Ruth. 1996. The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart. Boston: Beacon Press.
- Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw. 2011. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Ferrell, Jeff, and Mark S. Hamm, eds. 1998. Ethnography at the Edge: Crime, Deviance, and Field Research. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
- Hine, Christine. 2000. Virtual Ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Madden, Raymond. 2010. Being Ethnographic: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Murdock, George. 1950. World Ethnographic Sample. Bobbs-Merrill reprint series in the social sciences. A-166.
- Neyland, Daniel. 2008. Organizational Ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Rossman, Gretchen B., and Sharon F. Rallis. 2012. Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Sunstein, Bonnie S., and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater. 2012. Fieldworking: Reading and Writing Research. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins Press.
- Taylor, Stephanie, ed. 2002. Ethnographic Research: A Reader. London: SAGE.
- Troman, Geoff, Bob Jeffrey, and Geoffrey Walford, eds. 2005. Methodological Issues and Practices in Ethnography. Boston: Elsevier JAI.
- Van Maanen, John. 2011. Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Wolcott, Harry F. 2009. Writing Up Qualitative Research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Conducting Field Research: writing.colostate.edu
- Institute for Field Research: ifrglobal.org
- Journals:
Related Terms
- anthropology
- data
- field experiment
- field notes
- field research
- observation
- participant observation
- qualitative research
Reference
Spradley, James P., and David W. McCurdy, eds. 2008. Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. 13th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.
Works Consulted
Bilton, Tony, Kevin Bonnett, Pip Jones, David Skinner, Michelle Stanworth, and Andrew Webster. 1996. Introductory Sociology. 3rd ed. London: Macmillan.
Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Carrabine, Eamonn, Pam Cox, Maggy Lee, Ken Plummer, and Nigel South. 2009. Criminology: A Sociological Introduction. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged. 6th ed. 2003. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins.
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Kimmel, Michael S., and Amy Aronson. 2012. Sociology Now. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
O’Leary, Zina. 2007. The Social Science Jargon Buster: The Key Terms You Need to Know. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
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Stolley, Kathy S. 2005. The Basics of Sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
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Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Ethnography
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “ethnography.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved November 8, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/ethnography/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
ethnography. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/ethnography/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “ethnography.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed November 8, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/ethnography/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“ethnography.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/ethnography/>.