Essential ethnographic methods : a mixed methods approach

Book

Essential ethnographic methods : a mixed methods approach

Schensul, Jean J. (author.). LeCompte, Margaret Diane. (author.).

Summary: Takes a mixed methods approach to introducing the fundamental, face-to-face data collection tools that ethnographers and other qualitative researchers use. Book 3 provides ethnographers with tools to answer basic ethnographic questions about the setting, activities, behavior, communication patterns of participants, and more. It teaches readers how to do good ethnography by walking them through the required steps for each essential method and supplements this information with hands-on materials and illustrative case examples. Because these data collection strategies require ethnographers to become involved in the local cultural setting and to acquire hands-on experience, the essential tools also help them learn about new situations from the perspective of an insider. The chapters cover open-ended and focused listening, questioning strategies, participant and nonparticipant observation, recording techniques, visual recall, strategies for mapping the environments and contexts in which participant behavior occurs, and varied approaches to individual and group level in-depth interviewing. Book 3 also examines how and why to carry out ethnographically informed qualitative and quantitative survey research. Research methods are sequenced in accordance with early, middle, and later stages of a research project, making it easy for readers to select different data collection methods for specific purposes and timelines. The mixed methods approach is emphasized because it is the only way that ethnographers are able to obtain the holistic portrayal of dynamic social systems and cultural phenomena that characterize the best ethnographies.

Record details

ISBN: 9780759122031
ISBN: 0759122032
ISBN: 9780759122048
ISBN: 0759122040
Physical Description: print
xx, 366 pages ; 23 cm.
Edition: Second edition.
Publisher: Lanham ; New York ; Toronto ; Plymouth, UK : AltaMira Press, A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. [2012]
Copyright: ©2013

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index (pages 345-352).
Formatted Contents Note:: Essential data collection -- Defining and entering the field -- Recording and organizing ethnographic field data : field notes, interviews, drawings, visual documentation, and survey data -- Participant observation and informal interviewing in the field -- Additional methods for collecting exploratory data -- In-depth, open-ended exploratory interviewing -- Semistructured interviews and observations -- Focus group interviews -- Structured approaches to ethnographic data collection : surveys -- Sampling in ethnographic research -- Defining and evaluating quality in ethnographic research.