scholarly journals In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research/Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct (Book).

1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-205
Author(s):  
William Shaffir

This chapter considers some of the essential features of ethnography as a qualitative method. The main theoretical foundations of ethnographic approach are explained; however, the emphasis is mainly on how ethnography is done. Thus, the techniques for collecting data used by ethnographers take the central part of this chapter with some special attention to the methodology of observation. Through many examples, the authors describe the various forms of observation as a social research method. It is useful to illustrate the approach of the ethnographer through the metaphor of the “stranger” because “reflexivity” is an important part of the qualitative approach of ethnography. The practicalities of recording the field research and writing memos are fully considered in conjunction with practical suggestions and conceptual discussion, including the writing up of the final text which should be the conclusion of a consequential process, rather than a separate entity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-291
Author(s):  
Martha Montero-Sieburth

PurposeArgued is the need for: (1) a clearer interpretation of procedural ethics guidelines; (2) the identification and development of ethical field case study models which can be incorporated into university ethics teaching; (3) an understanding of the vulnerabilities of researchers and participants as reflected in the researchers' positionality and reflexivity and (4) ethnographic monitoring as a participant-friendly and participatory ethics methodology.Design/methodology/approachThis article, drawn from the author's four-decade trajectory of collective ethnographic research, addresses the ethical challenges and dilemmas encountered by researchers when conducting ethnographic research, particularly with vulnerable migrant women and youth.FindingsThe author addresses dilemmas in field research resulting from different interpretations of ethics and emphasizes the need for researchers to be critically aware of their own vulnerabilities and those of migrants to avoid unethical practices in validating the context(s), language(s), culture and political landscape of their study.Research limitations/implicationsThe author presents case studies from the US and the Netherlands, underlining her positionality and reflexivity and revisits Dell Hymes' ethnographic monitoring approach as a participant-friendly, bottom-up methodology which enables researchers to co-construct knowledge with participants and leads to participatory ethics.Practical implicationsShe presents case studies from the US and the Netherlands underlining her positionality and reflexivity and revisits Dell Hymes’ ethnographic monitoring approach as a participant-friendly, bottom up methodology which enables researchers to co-construct knowledge with participants and engage in participatory ethics.Social implicationsFinally, she proposes guidelines for the ethical conduct of research with migrant populations that contribute to the broader methodological debates currently taking place in qualitative migration research.Originality/valueExpected from this reading is the legacy that as a qualitative migration researcher one can after 4 decades of research leave behind as caveats and considerations in working with vulnerable migrants and the ethical dilemmas and challenges that need to be overcome.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R. Kavanaugh ◽  
R. J. Maratea

In this article we engage the nature and role of the Internet in ethnographic research and reflect on how ethnographic methodologies may be adapted when researching digital forms of communication. We further consider how recent shifts in both the production and dissemination of textual discourse in networked media environments complicates conventional approaches to digital ethnography. Drawing on examples from our field research, our principal objective is to apply a Foucauldian structural perspective to David Altheide’s ethnographic content analysis to better contextualize the study of digital communiqué in a cultural moment where discourses are increasingly surveilled, modified, censored and weaponized.


ILUMINURAS ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (38) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexsânder Nakaóka Elias

O presente trabalho tem o intuito de relatar minha experiência etnográfica junto à comunidade Honmon Butsuryu-shu (HBS), uma importante corrente do Budismo japonês e a primeira a alcançar as terras tupiniquins, através do sacerdote Ibaragui. O artigo é uma síntese da minha pesquisa de campo, realizada em maio de 2014, na qual, juntamente com uma caravana brasileira e japonesa, composta por sacerdotes e fiéis, pude acompanhar o chamado Caminho Primordial do Budismo, passando por diversos templos no Japão e pelas cidades sagradas da religião, na Índia e no Nepal (local do surgimento do Budismo). No contexto desta pesquisa etnográfica, fiz uso do método de observação, do registro de narrativas e, principalmente, de imagens fotográficas. O intuito principal é o de mostrar que a pesquisa de campo consistiu em uma construção conjunta com a comunidade, tendo como mediador e informante principal  o arcebispo Correia, personagem que possui importância religiosa e política fundamentais dentro da HBS do Brasil.Palavras-chave: Etnografia. Fotografia. Budismo. Pesquisa de campo. Mitologia.Buddhism primordial: stories reassembledAbstractThis study aims to report my ethnographic experience with the community Honmon Butsuryu-shu (HBS), one important Japanese Buddhist segment and the first to reach the brazilian lands, through the priest Ibaragui Nissui, in 1908.The article is a summary of my field research, conducted in may 2014, in which, along with a Brazilian and Japanese caravan, composed of priests and faithful, I could follow the path of Buddhism called Primordial, through various temples in Japan and the holy cities of religion in India and Nepal (site of the emergence of Buddhism).In the context of ethnographic research, I use the method of observation, the narratives record and mainly photographic images. The main aim is to show that the fieldwork consisted of a joint construction with the community, with the mediator and the main informant Correia Archbishop character that has religious importance and fundamental policy within the HBS of Brazil.Key words: Ethnography. Photography. Buddhism. Fieldwork. Mythology.


Author(s):  
Tarzycjusz Buliński ◽  
Aleksander Posern-Zieliński

The article presents the idea of personal ethnography, i.e. the anthropologists’ individual experiences that include practical, existential, and emotional dimensions of ethnographic field research. Such experiences and their details are largely absent in scientific papers, due to their apparent irrelevance for research results. Nevertheless, they form an indispensable part of ethnographic research, influencing its scientific findings. This article not only emphasizes the need to include this aspect of ethnographic research in the methodological reflection, but also points out the differences and similarities between personal ethnography and autoethnography, following the main threads of personal experiences from fieldwork.


2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Biao Xiang

"Suspension" is the translation of the Chinese term xuanfu, which has been widely used in public discussions in China since the mid-2010s. Suspension indicates a state of being in which people move frequently, conduct intensive labour, and pause routine life—in order to benefit fast and then quickly escape. People keep moving, with no end in sight, instead of changing their current conditions, of which they disapprove. As a result, frantic entrepreneurial energy coexists with political resignation. Suspension is a life strategy, a multitude of experiences, a feeling—and now, a keyword: a crystallized consciousness with which the public problematize their experiences. This special issue develops this term into an analytical approach based on ethnographic research involving labour migrants in and from China. This approach turns migration into a basis for critical analyses on issues far beyond it; enables co-research between researchers, migrants, and the broader public; and seeks to cultivate agency for change among actors. This introductory essay, based on the author's long-term field research and public engagement, outlines why we need such an approach, and how we might develop it.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-661
Author(s):  
Jagad Aditya Dewantara ◽  
Efriani Efriani ◽  
Sulistyarini Sulistyarini

This study looks at the phenomenon of Nationalism Education in various tribes in the Entikong region of Indonesia which borders Malaysia. The purpose of this study looks at the contribution of teachers in the scope of nationalization directly and factually, this nationalization is closely related to the implementation of the Pancasila axillary values as forming national identity. This research is focused on students and the practice of teachers who live in border areas. Retrieval of field data using descriptive qualitative methods using research designs and semi-ethnographic research procedures. The results of the field research indicate that the teacher carries out nationalization practices and campaigns through learning integration in the classroom and outside the classroom. There are 6 contributions seen in this study: teachers as instructors, teachers as managers, teachers as mentors, teachers as evaluators, teachers as members of professional organizations, and teachers as public relations specialists. This implication is expected to be able to strengthen the basis of national identity, especially in instilling Panacasila axiological values aimed at students at the Entikong border


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 872-904
Author(s):  
Alicia de la Cour Venning

Although armed opposition actors are increasingly prevalent within contemporary conflicts, ethnographies seeking to understand and explain their relationship with international law are scarce. While scholars highlight the state-centric nature of international law, discussing at length how it privileges state over non-state actors, few examine the way rebels perceive and relate to the international legal system. Drawing on seven months of field research among Kachin civil society and the Kachin Independence Organisation / Army (kio/A), this article demonstrates how the kio/A’s nascent engagement with international law is being strategically pursued as part of a broader rebel governance project. Ethnographic research exposes the oft neglected rebel perspective. It reveals how rebels interact with international humanitarian norms as a means to facilitate and mediate relations with both local and international actors, in an attempt to promote nation building aspirations and thereby strengthen resistance to state violence.


Semiotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (229) ◽  
pp. 123-150
Author(s):  
Irene Theodosopoulou

AbstractThis text is a first attempt of approaching traditional music, musical/poetic structures and ethnographic research semiotically. The basic elements of traditional music (motives, rhythms, phonetics, performance speeds, modal systems, musical instruments, repertoire), the musical/poetic structures with morphological types and formulas (musical and poetic), musical and non-musical codes (verbal and nonverbal) during a musical performance (nods, movements, etc.) as well as the ethnographic research itself with its own “performances” (discussions with musicians, recordings, transcriptions, analyses) constitute groups of “signs” and codes that, combined together, create complex frames of meanings and re-definitions not only among musicians and revelers but also among ethnographers and their interlocutors and among ethnographic “texts” and their representations after multiple readings. This text presents elements that emerged after an enduring field research in Crete (1998–2008). The use of semiotics in the study of traditional music and musical analysis can constitute a useful analysis tool for ethnographic research from planning to composing ethnographic “texts” (texts, transcriptions, analyses). This text highlights the necessity of initiating a dialogue concerning the aspects and perspectives of a semiotic approach to musicology and music ethnography.


1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice E. Moorhead

Field study, using an ethnographic approach, offers a potentially powerful methodology for the technical communication researcher, a methodology that provides a useful balance to the strengths and weaknesses of experiments and surveys. Technical communication studies, however, exhibit not only the typical constraints of field research but several additional constraints inherent to research conducted on-the-job in business, industry, and government, which deserve consideration when designing research.


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