Ethnographic & Mixed methods research

Keywords; Social research, Social science, Educational research, Ethnographic Research Ethnography , Characteristics of Ethnographic Method,  Briefly History of Mixed methods research, Features of Qualitative Research

Social research refers to research conducted by social scientists, which follows by the systematic plan. Social research methods can generally vary along a quantitative/qualitative dimension.^[

Social science refers to the academic disciplines concerned with society and human nature. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to anthropology, archaeology, criminology, economics, education, linguistics, law, communication studies, history, political science, sociology, human geography and psychology.

Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those of the natural sciences as tools for understanding society. The history of the social sciences begins after 1650,

Educational research refers to a variety of methods, in which individuals evaluate different aspects of education including but not limited to: “student learning, teaching methods, teacher training, and classroom dynamics”.

Educational researchers have come to the consensus that, educational research must be conducted in a rigorous and systematic way, although what this implies is often debated. There are a variety of disciplines which are each present to some degree in educational research. These include psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. The overlap in disciplines creates a broad range from which methodology can be drawn. The findings of educational research also need to be interpreted within the context in which they were discovered as they may not be applicable in every time or place.

Ethnographic Research

Ethnography 

Ethnography means trying to understand behavior and culture by going out and talking to people wherever they are, while they're doing whatever it is they do. It means entering someone's world for a while, be it a couple of hours or a couple of days, or like our anthropological forefathers and foremothers, a couple of years.

A major difference between ethnography and other types of research is the depth and intimacy of our work. We get up close and personal to our research participants. We spend time with people in the natural context of their daily lives. We talk to individuals and families about broader issues. We watch the world with a wide-angle lens. We watch, we listen, and we learn, and we do all of this in the context of where the action normally occurs: in their home, at their work, at the local gym, wherever.

We don't go into the field with too many preconceived notions or with a script. We let the people we talk to lead the way. They tell us what is important with their words and their actions. Because of this, our results are much more vivid and real. Our findings are oils compared to the watercolors provided by focus groups, richer and deeper than those produced by more traditional methods. Our clients find our insights not only actionable, but hard-hitting and memorable.

Characteristics of Ethnographic Method

The research carried out by anthropologists, someone who scientifically studies humans, their customs, beliefs and relationships, is usually called ethnographic research or naturalistic inquiry. Ethnography means “literally, a picture of the ‘way of life’ of some identifiable group of people” and the product of ethnographic research is described as “a portrait of some group of people”. Ethnographers acquire their skills through long apprenticeships during which they work under the guidance of experienced researchers in field settings. One of the most fundamental and difficult ethnographic skills to acquire is theoretical sensitivity, which is “the attribute of having insight, the ability to give meaning to data, the capacity to understand and capability to separate the pertinent from that which isn’t”.

The purpose of ethnographic research is to determine how members of a culture function and interact within a natural setting. Ethnographic researchers do not enter a natural setting with the idea of manipulating variables to try to find out how various phenomena are causally related. On the contrary, ethnographers try to identify variables or constructs that occur naturally in the environment and to explain how these constructs are interrelated in ways that account for how the culture functions.

       Ethnography is a qualitative form of observational research that differs in several important ways from quantitative forms of observational research. In quantitative observational studies, researchers specify the variables they are going to investigate before beginning their study.

       The results of ethnographic studies are presented in the form of a written account that includes a description of what the researcher has observed and the researcher’s analysis and interpretation of the observations. Whereas the objective of quantitative studies is often to provide an empirical test of some theory, the objective of ethnographic studies is to generate theories based on empirical data. Ethnographers attempt to devise theories on the basis of data they collect to account for what they have observed.

•      Ethnographic Research

•      Ethnography means trying to understand behavior and culture by going out and talking to people wherever they are, while they're doing whatever it is they do.

•      A major difference between ethnography and other types of research is the depth and intimacy of work

•      We get close to our R -participants, spend time with them in their daily lives

•      scientific study of humans, their customs, beliefs and relationships, is usually called ethnographic research or naturalistic inquiry

•      Ethnography means “literally, a picture of the ‘way of life’ of some identifiable group of people” and the product of ethnographic research is described as” a portrait of some group of people”

•      Ethnography is a qualitative form of observational research that differs in several important ways from quantitative forms of observational research

•      The results of ethnographic studies are presented in the form of a written description of what the researcher has observed. the analysis and interpretation of observations,

•      the objective of ethnographic studies is to generate theories based on empirical data

 Briefly History of Mixed methods research

ž  1959: Concept of mixing different methods by Campbell & Fiske. (Psychologists)

ž  1973: Combined the Qualitative & Quantitative data by S.D. Sieber.

ž  1989-2003: Expanded procedures for mixed methods By Tashakkori & Teddli and then Creswell. 

•      According to our definition, mixed methods research involves both collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data

•      Quantitative data

•      Includes closed-ended information such as that found on attitude, behavior, or performance instruments. Sometimes quantitative information is found in documents e.g. census records or attendance records

•      qualitative data consists of open-ended information that the

Researcher gathers through interviews with participants. Also, qualitative data may be collected by observing participants, private documents, and audiovisual materials

•      Quantitative data can reveal generalizable information for a large group of people

–     These data often fail to provide specific answers, reasons, explanations or examples

•      Qualitative research provides data about meaning and context regarding the people and environments of study

–     Findings are often not generalizable because of the small numbers & narrow range of participants

•      Both methods have strengths and Weaknesses

–     When used together, these methods can be splendid

Features of Qualitative Research

1.      Qualitative research has the natural setting as the direct source of data and the researcher is the key instrument.

2.      Qualitative research is descriptive. The data collected are in the form of words or pictures rather than numbers.

3.      Qualitative researchers are concerned with process rather than simply with outcomes or products.

4.      Qualitative researchers tend to analyze their data inductively.

5.      “Meaning” is of essential concern to the qualitative approach: Researchers who use this approach are interested in the ways different people make sense out of their lives.