Ethnography & Participant Observation

Subhendu Pattnaik FPMI2015-03

by Martyn Hammersley , Paul Atkinson

Definitions

• Ethnography – Refers to forms of Social Research having a substantial number of the following features –• Emphasis on exploring nature of a phenomenon rather than testing hypothesis around it.• Primarily works with Unstructured data• Investigates small number of cases, ideally 1.• Explicit Interpretation of meanings and functions of human action by verbal descriptions &

explanations ( Quantification/Stats play subordinate role)

• Participant Vs Non-Participant Observation• Based on if researcher is playing an established participant role in scene studied. 4 Types of

roles emerge –• Complete Observer• Observer as Participant• Participant as Observer• Complete Participant

Controversy

• Definition of Term – Ethnography has always been subjected to controversy.

• Diverse schools of thought - Both E & PO claimed to be uniquely humanistic & interpretive as opposed to scientific and positivist.

• Earlier debates concerned problems related to data collection, inference and topic. Recent ones are on textual characters of ethnography and associated problems of interpretation and authority.

• Ethnography today has never been so popular and yet, never has been its rationales been under such scrutiny.

History

• Contention on dates of origin –• Beginning of Ethnographic fieldwork dates to 19th & 20th Century by Social Anthropologists starting

with Malinowski’s work 1922. Others (Hammersely, 1989) believe, it is far older with origins in 18th

& 19th Century.

• Current style of ethnographic studies, however, are surely a 20th Century phenomenon but it surely makes sense to understand its historical connotations.

• Ethnography influenced by Hermeneutics & reflects the influence by Historicism. • People of Past were of a different culture than that of today and Historicism posed a methodological

problem of whether and how other cultures could be understood, a problem that still lies in the heart of modern ethnography.

• Perennial unresolved conflict - Positivist paradigm vs Interpretive or Hermeneutic paradigm in the other started in 19th century.

• Study of one’s own social surroundings gained relevance in this context in 20th century.

• Influence of Chicago school – These philosophers wanted to fuse scientific orientation to study of human behaviour with the heritage of German idealism.

Science or Not?

• No affirmative answer – Wide range of possible answers.

• 3 Major dimensions structuring the range of possibilities.• There can be differences in views about which of the natural sciences is to be taken as a

paradigmatic for scientific method.• There can be various interpretations even of any method held to be characteristic of particular

sciences at particular times.• There can be disagreements about what aspects of natural scientific method should and should

not be applied to social research.

• Quantitative Social research exemplifies positivist viewpoint & is thus criticized by ethnographers for failing to capture human emotions

• But Quantitative methods are not rejected in toto by ethnographers. What is rejected is the idea that Quanti is the only legitimate or even most important method for ethnographic research.

• What is required is a careful reassessment of the methodological and philosophical arguments surrounding the concept of science and of the relationship of ethnography to this.

Theory & Practice

• This is yet another area of contention – Relationship between Research and Social & Political Practice -(Enlightenment Model, Bulmer 1982, Janowitz 1971)

• In the past and probably even today, most ethnography has been directed toward contributing to disciplinary knowledge rather than toward solving practical problems.

• In recent years however, there has been a growing application of ethnographic methods by sociologists, anthropologists and others in applied fields such as education, health and social polity.(Qualitative is gaining ground over Quantitative research or at least the proportions are getting increasingly favourable for Qualitative)

• However, the goal of ethnographic research is inherently in the creation/production of knowledge. This should not be replaced with pursuit of practical goals.

Rhetoric & Representation

• In recent years, attention is now given to Aesthetics & Ethics of Ethnographical texts, including relationship between authority and authorship.

• Starting point for this “rediscovery of rhetoric” is the underlying acknowledgement – There is no perfectly transparent or netural way to represent the natural or social world

• Clifford & Marcus began to assert that – Anthropological writings can be regarded as “fiction”, in the sense that they are made: They are crafted by their authors and shaped by “literary” conventions and devices.

• Atkinson (1982) makes preliminary identification of Chicago school urban ethnographies with naturalistic and realistic novels of American literature. (Including investigative journalism of writers like Dickens)

• The point of such literary study is not merely to create interesting parallels or contrasts. Rather, it is, to remove false distinction between “science” and “rhetoric”.

• The epistemology (understanding) of participant behaviour rests on the principle of interaction and the reciprocity of perspectives with social actors.

• Criticism - Author Vs Other ( Voice of Ethnographer is privileged while Other is muted) – This resulted in a movement towards dialogic approach.

• Post modern authors seek to dissolve this disjuncture between the observer and the observed, creating a dialogue, showing the cooperative and collaborative nature of ethnographic situation.

Conclusion

• Ethnographic approaches have been adopted in diverse disciplines but none of these disciplines alone can claim the rationale for ethnography and participant observation.

• Newer models such as Ethnomethodologically informed ethnography stresses on investigation of everyday methods for the practical accomplishment of social life.

• The field is emerging and getting enriched but the diverse approaches to methodology and even the origins of approach still remain controversial and interpretive.