Ethnography: Guidelines, Concepts, Methods and Project Notes

Guidelines, Expectations and Grading

• Handwritten cheat sheet allowed for testing; accommodations available if needed.

• Assessment involves evaluating yourself and your study habits.

• Using the original test, correct what you got wrong.

• Make a plan for the next test.

• Turn in the test with corrections and your assessment within a week of receiving your test back for half credit.

This Is A Test

• (Slide title; encapsulates the assessment context.)

Culture

• Culture described as: “Like goldfish swimming in a bowl, culture is like the element we breathe and move in and it is typically invisible to us.”

Observation vs. Participant Observation

• Distinct approaches in ethnography:

  • Observation: watching and recording behavior without active engagement.

  • Participant Observation: engaging with people, participating in language, food, dance, daily life while observing.

Jane Goodall

• Chosen by Louis Leakey to study chimpanzees in the 1960s.

• Biological relativism: the idea that we all have a common origin and that differences in race, color, and creed are superficial.

• Goodall observed behaviors never seen before: complex social structures, maternal care, reciprocal relationships, coalitions, and tool use.

• Implication: redefine tool, redefine human, or accept chimpanzees as humans; Leakey framed as inductive, subjective, qualitative.

Louis Leakey (context within Eve/Goodall discussion)

• Inductive, subjective, qualitative framing of early ethnographic observations.

Jay Kaplan

• Affiliated with WFU School of Medicine, Pathology and Comparative Medicine and Duke Lemur Center; began career in 1979.

• Studied behaviorally induced impaired premenopausal ovarian function and the increased trajectory of risk for chronic and degenerative diseases in postmenopausal health.

• Core ethos: “You have to have an angle; a purpose.”

• Approach described as Objective, Empirical, Quantitative.

Social vs. Natural Sciences

• Key contrasts:

  • Deductive vs. Inductive

  • Objective vs. Subjective

  • Empirical vs. Observational

  • Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Pros and Cons of Observations Only

• Pros:

  • More objective

  • More easily replicated

  • You control only yourself and biases

  • Easier for introverts

• Cons:

  • Can form theories but may never confirm them

  • May not access the emic (insider) perspective

  • Limited to preconceived notions about culture

  • Less likely to change your mind

Observation IN THEATRES

• Involves in-the-moment or public-facing observational media (example links provided):

  • https://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v rnXljlRzy4

What is Participant Observation?

• Participation: active engagement with the community under study.

• First-hand experience: access to insider perspectives through immersion.

• Examples: language, food, dance, daily practices.

• Source: The Telegraph (illustrating media/interpretive context).

Learning with Your Physical Self

• Concept: “Third world squat” as a cultural/physiological observation.

• Reference: SpotMeBro.com (example of self-observation in learning about physical culture).

BP Walkers

• Slide title suggests a case/brand reference; concept likely used as an observational example.

Participant Observation Today

• In a highly tech/social media setting, consider:

  • Where is your site?

  • What is the medium of observation?

  • Who are your subjects?

Fieldwork to Ethnography

• Ethnography: both the process and the product of cultural anthropological research.

• Process involves participant-observation fieldwork: you participate in people’s lives while observing them and taking field notes.

• Field notes, interviews, and surveys constitute core data.

Why do We Do Ethnography?

• Quotation: Geertz, 1973 – ethnography is not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning.

• Purpose: share another culture with our own by translating.

Ethnography Commitments (Chris Shore)

1) Narrative organized around a topic or problem, ideally relevant to local concerns.
2) Unobtrusive presence of the researcher and clear account of how/with whom knowledge was produced.
3) People appear as named individuals rather than categories/roles.
4) Reflect the emic (insider) perspective.
5) Thick description: detailed accounts of events and situations.
6) Focus on everyday life to illustrate broader processes.
7) Provide sufficient context (literature, history, theory) for generalizations.

The Gap

• Gaps include:

  • Between what we think to ask and what people think to tell us.

  • Between what people do and why they do it.

  • Between why they do it and why they think they do it.

What People Say, Do, and Say They Do

• Margaret Mead quote: what people say, what they do, and what they say they do are entirely different things.

Observation and Perception

• Perception is perspectival: how something appears depends on perspective.

• Often, observation and perception intertwine; two truths can exist simultaneously.

Eating Christmas in the Kalahari

• Lee’s cross-cultural insight: there is no total generosity; acts have calculation.

• Example: one black ox does not offset a year of manipulative gift-giving for personal gain.

Cultural Anthropological Methods

• Methods include:

  • Interviews and Conversations

  • Life Histories

  • Kinship/Genealogy

  • Key Informants

  • Field Notes and Diaries

  • Polyvocality

  • Reflexivity

Interview Styles

• Types:

  • Interviews and Conversations

  • Life Histories: memories, thoughts, feelings, not just who/what/when

  • Kinship/Genealogy: family trees

  • Key Informants: identify informants; acknowledge them

Writing Styles

• Field Notes/Diaries: official and unofficial

• Polyvocality: more than one voice included; quotes preferred over paraphrase

• Indicating researcher vs informant voices

• Reflexivity: disclose ethnocentrism as basis of comparison

• Disclaimer usage in ethnography

Field Notes vs Diary (Example)

• Field Notes: Amy, 42, teacher; multiple campuses; workload; family responsibilities.

• Diary: personal reflections about Amy’s stress, finances, and family dynamics.

Polyvocality (Example)

• Amy’s perspective narrated along with other voices; exhibit of multiple voices including the researcher’s.

Reflexive Ethnography?

• Focus: reflection on the researcher’s biases and learning process.

• More subjective than objective; emphasizes change in the researcher and what was learned.

• Usually written in the first person with an emic perspective; more than a narrative, includes analysis.

Reflexive Ethnography Excerpt

• Example reflection: connecting Amy’s stress to the researcher’s own experiences with a parent’s travel and family responsibilities.

Topics of the Semester

• Language, Economics, Subsistence, Religion, Politics, Family and Marriage, Race and Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality, Globalization and Technology, Social Stratification and Power

Cultural Ethnography Project

• Go out and conduct your own anthropological study, ideally with participant observation.

• Not an experiment; documentation of observations.

• Final product: reflexive summary of your journey, including quantitative and qualitative analysis when possible.

• Autobiographical ethnography: include observations plus your perspective on your journey.

Open-ended Project

• Yes, totally open-ended; part of the project’s nature.

What the Instructor Wants (Guidance for Reflection)

• Thoughtful, personal reflection on something that challenged perceptions.

• Prompt questions:

  • The topic/unit that challenged me the most…

  • The topic/unit that interested me the most…

  • Data collected over the semester that broadened my view of my community/world.

  • “I set out to show and I found __.”

  • “I was interested in because I ___.”

  • A personal event from this semester viewed through a new anthropological lens.

• Prefer a paragraph in your own words over canned responses.

I do not want an AI response (in-class guidance)

• Examples of what not to include:

  • Dull or generic reflections that could be AI-generated.

  • Reflection that merely repeats readings without inquiry.

Rubric (Overview)

• Criteria include:

  • Written by the student and pertains to class sections.

  • Examines an observation, change, or shift in views.

  • Conducts an anthropological study; not just anecdotes.

  • Reflects on how anecdotes pertain to the topic.

  • Analyzes questions from multiple angles.

  • Presented from the emic perspective but reflexive about other viewpoints.

Length and Format

• Length guidance: long enough to cover the topic but short enough to remain engaging.

• Approximately $3-4$ pages typed.

• For talks/videos: $3-4$ minutes.

• For PowerPoint: $10-20$ slides.

Ethical Considerations

• Data anonymity: keep sources anonymous when needed.

• Personal journals are for noting identities; in final project, refer to individuals as subject A, etc., or with pseudonyms.

Reflexivity

• Engage the learner’s whole self: mental, intellectual, spiritual, physical, emotional.

• Questions to ask:

  • What do you know?

  • How do you know what you know?

  • How do you know what you don’t know?

Start with Observations (Inductive Reasoning Flow)

• Sequence:

  • Observation → Pattern → Theory → Hypothesis → Inductive Reasoning → Observation

• Emphasizes building theory from observed patterns rather than testing a preconceived hypothesis.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data

• Example prompts:

  • Do college students like coffee? (qualitative)

  • Rate the taste of coffee on a scale of $1-10$: 1 meaning not at all, 10 meaning the best.

  • Do students drink coffee daily, weekly, or monthly? (quantitative)

  • If daily, how many ounces: $10-12$, $13-20$, or $21+$ oz per day.

Logistical Planning

• Considerations:

  • Who are you asking? Demographics (males/females, class, religion, athletes, etc.)

  • What time of day? (e.g., 8am, 3pm, 2am)

  • Where are you asking? (Promenade, Sloane, dorms)

  • How are you asking? (Google form vs in-person survey)

Ethnocentric Questioning

• Avoid questions that assume bias or normative judgments about another group.

• Example questions to avoid: Do college students like coffee? Can college students afford coffee? Preferred beverage: coffee vs tea or soda?

Do Research! (Integrate Coursework)

• Tie questions to class topics:

  • Coffee drinking across categories: Language, Economics, Subsistence, Religion, Politics, Family and Marriage, Race and Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality, Globalization and Technology, Social Stratification and Power.

  • Consider how price, origins, caffeine restrictions, religious beliefs, import tariffs, and sustainability affect behavior.

Data Analysis (What to Do with Findings)

• Analyze qualitative patterns and quantitative results to draw conclusions about topics explored.

Year in School Demographics (Illustrative Figures)

• Charts show distribution by year: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Fall and Spring cohorts.

• Example labels: Fall 25 Year in School; Spring Year in School distributions.

What Questions Can I Ask? What Conclusions Can I Draw?

• Example prompts:

  • Spring vs Fall class composition differences: mostly freshmen vs sophomores.

  • Did freshmen recruit friends to join the class?

  • Gen ed requirements and registration implications.

  • Do sophomores wake up earlier in fall vs spring?

Participant Observation (Practical Steps)

• Methods:

  • Talk to students during class and registration.

  • Send surveys to freshmen and sophomores.

  • Consult other professors about class composition.

  • Compare across classes.

Making Conclusions (Guiding Questions)

• Reflective prompts:

  • Which topic/question did I set out to explore and why?

  • How did I observe or gather information?

  • What conclusions arise from observations or data?

  • Which subfield or lecture aligns with your question?

  • Is there prior research supporting or challenging your observations?

  • What did you learn from the process and what would you change next time?

Ethnographic Examples

• Reference to various ethnographic case studies and reflexive reports to illustrate methods and writing styles.

50 Fabulous Years of Kelly (Reflexive Ethnography)

• Example evaluation: Strengths include how the topic ties to anthropological themes (rituals, rites of passage, birthday celebrations across ages).

• Suggestions for improvement: more reflexivity, consider interviewing the subject (e.g., the uncle) for richer triangulation.

• Data collection: potential use of surveys about celebrations, age-related practices (birthdays, songs, cake, etc.).

Mundane Events, Big Issues: Reflexive Ethnographies (Example Studies)

• Elevator Etiquette by Robson Holmes as a reflexive ethnography.

• Strengths: reflexive, observant, risk-taking in the study.

• Weaknesses: lacks quantified data, lacks explicit methodology details, unclear sample size.

Final Administrative Note

• Some slides include non-content items (e.g., page decorations, graphics, or placeholders like “ESA WATER ORG 20”).

• Focus on core methodological and reflexive content for exam preparation.