Ethnography

Prepared by :  Basim Shenawe  Belal Klaib  Salah Khaleliah  Osaid Maraie

Ethnography is a type of qualitative inquiry that involves the description and interpretation of cultural behavior.

 Field work is the process by which the ethnographer inevitably( محتم ) comes to understand a culture,  ethnographic text is how that culture is communicated, Because culture is, in itself,not visible or tangible, it must be constructed through ethnographic writing.

 Ethnographic research is in some cases concerned with broadly defined cultures in what is sometimes referred to as a macroethnography.  However, ethnographies sometimes focus on more narrowly defined cultures in a microethnography.

. Microethnographies are exhaustive, fine- grained studies of either small units in a group or culture (e.g., the culture of homeless shelters), or of specific activities in an organizational unit (e.g., how nurses communicate with children in an emergency department).. Microethnographies are exhaustive, fine-grained studies of either small units in a group or culture (e.g., the culture of homeless shelters), or of specific activities in an organizational unit (e.g., how nurses communicate with children in an emergency department).. Microethnographies are exhaustive, fine-grained studies of either small units in a group or culture (e.g., the culture of homeless shelters), or of specific activities in an organizational unit (e.g., how nurses communicate with children in an emergency department).. Microethnographies are exhaustive, fine-grained studies of either small units in a group or culture (e.g., the culture of homeless shelters), or of specific activities in an organizational unit (e.g., how nurses communicate with children in an emergency department).

An underlying assumption of the ethnographer is that every human group eventually evolves ( يطور ) a culture that guides the members’ view of the world and the way they structure their experiences. Ethnographers seek to learn from (rather than to study) members of a cultural group—to understand their world view.

 Ethnographic researchers sometimes refer to “emic” and “etic” perspectives (terms that originate in linguistics, i.e., phonemic versus phonetic). An emic perspective refers to the way the members of the culture envision ( يتصور )their world.

. The emic is the local language, concepts, or means of expression that are used by the members of the group under study to name and characterize their experiences. The etic perspective, by contrast, is the outsiders interpretation of the experiences of that culture; it is the language used by those doing the research to refer to the same phenomena.

 Moreover, they strive to reveal what has been referred to as tacit knowledge, information about the culture that is so deeply embedded in cultural experiences that members do not talk about it or may not even be consciously aware of it.

 The study of a culture requires a certain level of intimacy( موده ) with members of the cultural group, and such intimacy can be developed only over time and by working directly with those members as active participants.

 Three broad types of information are usually sought by ethnographers: cultural behavior (what members of the culture do), cultural artifacts (what members of the culture make and use), and cultural speech (what people say).

 This implies يدل that ethnographers rely on a wide variety of data sources, including observations, in-depth interviews, records,charts, and other types of physical evidence (e.g.,photographs, diaries, letters).

 The product of ethnographic research usually is a rich and holistic description of the culture under study. Ethnographers also make interpretations of the culture, describing normative behavioral and social patterns. Among health care researchers, ethnography provides access to the health beliefs and health practices of a culture or subculture.

. Ethnographic inquiry can thus help to facilitate understanding of behaviors affecting health and illness.

 Example of an ethnographic study: Lipson (2001) conducted an ethnographic study about the experiences of people with multiple chemical sensitivity. She gathered her data (which included in-depth interviews and observations) in two U.S. and two Canadian setting.

 Ethnonursing Research,Many nurse researchers have undertaken ethnographic Studies.

. Indeed, Leininger has coined( اخترع ) the phrase ethnonursing research, which she defines as “the study and analysis of the beliefs, and practices about nursing care behavior and processes of designated cultures” (1985, p. 38).

 In conducting an ethnonursing study, the investigator uses a broad theoretical framework to guide the research, such. as Leininger’s theory of culture care

 In cognitive anthropology anthropologists assume that a group’s cultural knowledge is reflected in its language.

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