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.
