...Community Voices: The Nauck Community Heritage project Summary: The Nauck Community Heritage project video clip discusses the history of the Nauck community. This ethnographic research (the study of a single culture) was gathered through participant observation (research/ field work done on site), using informal interviews (unstructured open ended conversations in everyday life), qualitative data (non statistical information such as personal stories and customary beliefs and practices), and information gathered from key consultants (members of the society being studied who provide information to help researchers get the meaning of what they are observing). The key consultants are people who were either born in the Nauck community area or lived in the community for an extended period. The majority of the people interviewed were born in the 1930s and 40s; right around the time when the community was established. The video discusses the history of how the Nauck community was created. During WWII the people living in the Arlington area where displaced in order to provide an area for the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery to be built. They were relocated to the Dunbar area, originally in trailers, and later had the Dunbar apartments built in the Nauck Green Valley neighborhood. The Dunbar apartments have recently been demolished to provide room for the area’s expanding urbanization projects. Some of the people interviewed lamented about their loss of culture as a result of this urbanization...
Words: 1190 - Pages: 5
...new product concepts. This paper proposes that ethnographic representation methods , including innovative visual representations, offer untapped potential for design research reporting, not just field of historical design. Te in term s of facilitating com munications during the mpts by designers to make sense of the broader the potential of ethnographic design process, but also as a record of ongoing atte representation methods for design. Keywords: Ethnography in design, Ethnographic writing, Ethnographic representation st projects by design students show 1. Introduction Ethnography is often viewed as a specialized area within reveal and preserve cultural knowledge, using methods such the larger activity of cultural anthropology, seeking to as interviewing or cultural submersion to discover important values. Since design is also a profession that a ddresses cultural m eaning in the creation of sym bolically significant new products and services, it has been natural fo r the field of design research to turn to ethnography for inspiration. However, designers and design educators, like m yself, have tended to embrace ethnographic fieldwork methods rather than the interpretive m ethods of ethnogr aphic w riting. D esigners seldom...
Words: 4965 - Pages: 20
...Qualitative Approaches A qualitative "approach" is a general way of thinking about conducting qualitative research. It describes, either explicitly or implicitly, the purpose of the qualitative research, the role of the researcher(s), the stages of research, and the method of data analysis. here, four of the major qualitative approaches are introduced. Ethnography The ethnographic approach to qualitative research comes largely from the field of anthropology. The emphasis in ethnography is on studying an entire culture. Originally, the idea of a culture was tied to the notion of ethnicity and geographic location (e.g., the culture of the Trobriand Islands), but it has been broadened to include virtually any group or organization. That is, we can study the "culture" of a business or defined group (e.g., a Rotary club). Ethnography is an extremely broad area with a great variety of practitioners and methods. However, the most common ethnographic approach is participant observation as a part of field research. The ethnographer becomes immersed in the culture as an active participant and records extensive field notes. As in grounded theory, there is no preset limiting of what will be observed and no real ending point in an ethnographic study. Phenomenology Phenomenology is sometimes considered a philosophical perspective as well as an approach to qualitative methodology. It has a long history in several social research disciplines including psychology, sociology and social work...
Words: 809 - Pages: 4
...demonstrate, in the presentation of the research, their knowledge and understanding of the methods and aims of social and cultural anthropology. Choice of topic Social and cultural anthropology is not a “residual” category for essays that do not fit into any other extended essay subject. Students must choose topics that lend themselves to anthropological investigation, and must carefully consider their choice of topic in terms of the assessment criteria. An extended essay in social and cultural anthropology should analyse a topic from a theoretical or comparative perspective, based on the student’s own original analysis and on a solid understanding of the theoretical issues concerned. Students who intend to tackle comparative projects must be aware that research strategies involving two or more societies may call for greater narrowing of the research focus than a study in a single society. For example, a comparative analysis of Mexican and US views of death cannot be conducted successfully in the context of an extended essay because the topic is too broad. The research would have to be narrowed down by focusing, for example, on specific sub-groups of each society, as well as on a few well-chosen contrasting points, from which the student would identify underlying patterns and causes. Extended essays that address issues in...
Words: 2008 - Pages: 9
...Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers JOHN W. SCHOUTEN JAMES H. MCALEXANDER* This article introduces the subculture of consumption as an analytic category through which to better understand consumers and the manner in which they organize their iives and identities. Recognizing that consumption activities, product categories, or even brands may serve as the basis for interaction and social cohesion, the concept of the subcuiture of consumption soives many problems inherent in the use of ascribed social categories as devices for understanding consumer behavior. This article is based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with Hartey-Davidson motorcycle owners. A key feature of the fieldwork was a process of progressive contextualization of the researchers from outsiders to insiders situated within the subculture. Analysis of the social structure, dominant values, and revealing symbolic behaviors of this distinct, consumption-oriented sutKulture have led to the advancement of a theoretical framework that situates subcultures of consumption in the context of modern consumer culture and discusses, among other implications, a symbiosis tietween such subcultures and marketing institutions. Transferability of the principal findings of this research to other subcultures of consumption is established through comparisons with ethnographies of other self-selecting, consumptiorv oriented subcultures. T he most powerful organizing forces in modern life are the...
Words: 1552 - Pages: 7
...2014/2015 ------------------------------------------------- MA in Human Resources & Consulting Assessed Work Declaration Form This form should be attached to the front of all work submitted for assessment. Name: | Chao Sun | Library card number: | 31434921 | Coursework Title: | Paper 1 Paper 2 Research Essay Consulting Project Dissertation Proposal Dissertation | Tutor: | Dr Valerie Stead | * All submissions for coursework assessment should be your own work. * Any copying from the work of others will be heavily penalized. * Allowing other students to copy your work will also be penalized. I hereby confirm that I have read and understood the University’s regulations relating to plagiarism (as summarized in the MA in Human Resources and Consulting Participant Handbook) and that the work to which this declaration is attached is my own. Signature of Student: | | Qualitative Research Methods Review Taking “The Supportive expatriate spouse” as a case Introduction This Review is aimed at analyzing the qualitative research methods used in “The supportive expatriate spouse” by Jakob Lauring and Jan Selmer (2010).The specific research elements will be discussed in perspectives of suitability, benefits, limitations and ethical issues in context of the authors’ research. Research Methods The research question of the above article is to investigate the...
Words: 1462 - Pages: 6
...field, the more you realize that the researcher argues for his/her point of view even as he/she reports the facts. When we ask how to provide medical care, how to enforce the law, how to work in the legal profession, how to do science, how to educate children – when we ask how any profession should be done – there is always more than one possible answer. We have to decide which answers work best, and the research almost always provides some evidence for both (or many) sides. Facts mean nothing without interpretation – we have to decide what the facts mean, what their consequences are. So we need to get used to using facts, not just reporting them. We need to write expository essays that include our own opinions and points of view. Ethnography is a science that allows for this kind of writing. Ethnographers study social communities (“cultures”) from the inside out – the researcher lives in and among the people she studies for months or years, speaking the language, participating in daily life. He or she takes copious notes on the details of everyday life. He transcribes thousands of...
Words: 2312 - Pages: 10
...Reinforcing Factors of Seeking Preventative Screening Services Introduction Ethnographic field work is an excellent strategy in understanding and describing a cultural group. Field work is also an asset in performing a needs assessment in the planning phase of developing health promotion interventions. As described by Bailey (2002), “ethnographic techniques are integral tools for galvanizing and mobilizing communities for social action relative to generating a promotion and disease prevention agenda.” (Bailey, 2002) This paper serves as a proposal to conduct a medical anthropology field work project to assess reinforcing and enabling factors that promote the use of early detection and preventative breast cancer screening services among African American women. The study design consists of a qualitative ethnographic approach utilizing observation and focus group methodology. This project consists of conducting a focus group with a group of African American women age 40-65 years of age at a Nash County church, who regularly receive early detection and preventative breast cancer screenings. Qualitative data collected will be analyzed utilizing qualitative research coding and content analysis to identify common themes. Data will allow us to identify factors that...
Words: 2146 - Pages: 9
...topic of assignment: ethnography. submitted by Umair Ijaz. (roll Number 1 BS English 4th semester) submitted to: Sir Waseem Akhtar. date of submission: 12-06-2012. OUTLINE In this chapter, I shall define ethnography and describe its central characteristics and principles. I shall also look at the key research concepts of reliability and validity as they relate to ethnography, and will discuss the importance of context to ethnographic inquiry. In the final part of the chapter, I shall highlight some of the 'central concerns of this topic by contrasting psychometry and ethnography, The chapter seeks to address the following questions: • - What do we mean by ethnography? • - What are the key principles guiding ethnographic research? • - How might one deal with threats to the reliability and validity of this type of research? • - Why is context important to ethnographic research? • - In what ways does ethnography contrast with psychometric research? • Definition: Ethnography involves the study of the culture/characteristics of a group to real-world rather than Laboratory settings. The researcher makes no act to isolate or manipulate the phenomena under investigation, and insight generalizations emerge from close contact with the data rather than from theory of language learning and use. it is a qualitative type of research. Ethnography is provided by LeCompte and Goetz (1982). They use ethnography shorthand term to encompass a range of qualitative methods...
Words: 4244 - Pages: 17
...Friendship holds distinct significances and values to different people and cannot always be effortlessly expressed. A subject which had not seen much recognition prior to the 1970’s was how friendship is perceived by children. This essay is to provide the likenesses and differences between two studies which investigated this subject. The first study which will be discussed was accomplished by Brian Bigelow and John La Gaipa in which they used the content analysis approach. The second study to be considered was completed by William Corsaro in which the ethnographic method was used. The research by Bigelow and La Gaipa was similar to that of Corsaro’s as not much research had been done prior to their investigations within the study of friendship in children. However these investigations differentiated in the method of how data was obtained and portrayed. In 1975 Bigelow and La Gaipa requested 480 children, with an equal range of girls and boys, aged between six and fourteen years to write essays on friendship. They requested 60 students each from eight difference schools, 30 boys and 30 girls, from eight different areas in America. The specific information targeted was what they sought in a best friend and how this differed to other relationships they had. (Brownlow, 2012, p.242). The approach they took to their findings was content analysis, they had exchanged the qualitative data they held into quantitative data. Bigelow and La Gaipa collated the data from these essays and converted...
Words: 1515 - Pages: 7
...to this unsettlement and fear of loss of identity, most exiles have refused to accept citizenship from other countries (McGranahan, 2016). Hence, their refusal come as a political stance because it is their way of asserting their right to sovereignty. Second, the articles followed the criteria of a proper ethnographic work. All of them bases their on their founding as well as borrowing from other ethnographers. For example, Marcel Mauss’ work, The Gift, was used as a starting point to theorize since he was one of the first to speak about how refusal is seen in different society They are part of a collective of anthropologists who came to together to theorize about refusal. In addition to taking data from each of their own different ethnography and fieldwork, they are able to join common themes, create a discussion and form theses. Unlike some essays where the goal is to comment off other people’s work and create a debate, these articles felt like they were adding on to the knowledge of the reader by presenting a cohesive journal. By reading the background information, one realize that not only do they complement each other but each anthropologists had a hand in correcting one another work. In the sense, they read each other's work before the work is published and give comment on each other’s draft. Why is the study of refusal so pertinent? By providing an ethnographic approach to the study on refusal, these articles were able to interpret and simplify our understanding...
Words: 1259 - Pages: 6
...What Is Cultural Anthropology? When a person thinks about cultural anthropology, they should not limit themselves by thinking of one particular thing. Their mind should be racing with countless subjects. ‘Cultural anthropology’ is a pretty broad title for a discipline that covers such a wide range of topics. Anthropology studies all that is human and all that makes us human (Malloy, 2011). To narrow it down a bit, anthropology studies culture. One can define culture as “those relationships whereby, one and one’s community establish identity; knowledge of self and others, knowledge of the world and how we are to be in the world, and what various versions of those worlds mean to ‘us’ and ‘them’” (Malloy, 2011). Every individual person represents a culture of their own within the society they live in. Jack Weatherford estimates that “the globe stands divided into roughly two hundred independent countries or states, but these contain somewhere around five thousand different nations or ethnic groups” (1994, p.226). With so many different cultures out there, people of a particular society cling to their culture and hold to it with extreme importance. Even through times of modernity that pushed for a world culture, the number of different cultures did not homogenize and mesh together. On the contrary “ethnic and cultural identities grew stronger…and accentuated differences to become more varied than ever” (Weatherford, 1994, p.8). Cultural anthropology studies that behavior and the...
Words: 1413 - Pages: 6
...University of Phoenix Material Data Collection and Analysis Grid Use the two articles assigned by your facilitator to identify the following data collection, analysis, and measurement elements for the studies. Limit each box to no more than three sentences. | |Qualitative |Quantitative | | |Dance of the Call Bells |Effects of Nursing Rounds | |Data collection methods |The study used Ethnographic Methods to |The Quasi-Experimental Design was used over| | |examine problems related to answering |a 6-week period. A baseline data was taken | | |patients call lights on an inpatients unit.|during the first two weeks. An analysis was| | |The ethnographic methods of data collection|performed on data from 27 nursing units in | | |consist of five steps: mapping, |14 hospitals in which members of the | | |photography, observation, interviews, and |nursing staff performed rounds either at | | |analysis strategy phase. |one-hour or two-hour intervals. | |Data collection instruments...
Words: 697 - Pages: 3
...a view of Nayar marriage that sees each of three ritual'the tdlike!- fukalyanam (tsli-tying ceremony), tirandukalydnam (first menstruation rite), and the ceremony that begins a sexual (sambandham) relationship-as centering on different and systematic sets of indigenous symbols and meanings. I do not intend to solve every problem related to Nayar marriage here, or to address everything previous writers have said. I will, however, try to say some significant new things about the subject, in light of which the complex "Nayar marriage problem" and the rich literature it has inspired can be better understood. Methodologically, this project is far from simple. The Nayar marriage system in its old, prob- lematic form is no longer extant, and hence cannot be observed ethnographically. Although older people have memories of it, these often extend only to what was done and not to why it was done or what it meant. In addition, there is the danger that modern meanings may differ from older ones. Yet these difficulties do not make the task impossible. To begin with, what informants say about the rituals, though often fragmentary and inconclusive, reveals certain consistencies and patterns. Second, ritual action for which there is no exegesis by informants can be compared to similar or identical actions in better-remembered or still-performed rituals to which mean- ings are more readily assigned. Finally, there are historical documents, both indigenous and written by outsiders, against which...
Words: 304 - Pages: 2
...levels and types of context were attended to in interpretation? - What recurrent patterns are described? - What cultural interpretation is provided? - What are the stated implications for teaching? Question 1.What is ethnographic research? State the difference between an ethnographic research and a psychometric research and give example from applied linguistic studies. ------------------------------------------------------------- Ethnographic research is one form of qualitative research which concerns with studying human behavior within the context in which that behavior would occur naturally and in which the role of the researcher would not affect the normal behavior of the subjects. Ethnography research requires: - much training, skill and dedication - a great store on the collection and interpretation of data - question and hypothesis emerge during the course of investigation, rather than beforehand...
Words: 1354 - Pages: 6
