ethnography
Summary
Ethnography is a qualitative research method in which a researcher immerses in a group or community, usually through participant observation over an extended time, to describe its culture from the members' view. It gives rich, in-depth data but generalizes poorly and is open to observer bias.
Detail
Meaning: Ethnography is a qualitative research method used in sociology and cultural anthropology. The researcher spends an extended time in a natural setting, such as a neighborhood, workplace, or subculture, observing and usually taking part in daily life (participant observation), and records field notes and often interviews. The aim is a detailed description of norms, meanings, and interaction as insiders experience them, rather than numbers that test a hypothesis.
On the MCAT: A passage describes a researcher living among a group, or following a gang, school, or hospital ward, and asks you to name the method or judge its strengths and limits. Strengths: rich data, validity within the setting, discovery of unexpected patterns, and the group's own viewpoint. Limits: small samples, results that generalize poorly, heavy time demands, subjective interpretation, and reactivity, where people may change behavior when they know they are watched (the Hawthorne effect). Compared with a survey, it trades breadth for depth.
Common confusion: Ethnography is not ethnocentrism, which means judging another culture by the standards of one's own; ethnographers aim for cultural relativism instead. Watching from outside is naturalistic observation, while ethnography stresses immersion, which risks over-identifying with the group.
Sources
- Sociology (Macionis)
- Introduction to Sociology (Giddens et al.)
- Essentials of Sociology (Henslin)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.