Ethnographic methods include an approach where the researcher studies people or a culture in their actual setting with the purpose of producing an account which is known as ethnographic literature. This account has a theoretical backing to assign it a scientific and a valid status. Ethnographic research is viewed thus, as a fundamentally pragmatic first hand research method. The investigation of culture is done by observing society from the perspective of the people inhabiting it. Ethnography is both a method and a product. Ethnographic methods are a good example of qualitative method. Other than this, it is also a method which is inductive, exploratory and longitudinal. The main aim is to gain rich thick description of the community studied.
L.H. Morgan during the mid and late 19th century learnt the language of the Iroquois of North America and also studied their kinship system. This study may be seen as the beginning of ethnographic research. However it was Franz Boas in America and Bronislaw Malinowski in Great Britain, who were the first ones to recommend serious methodologies to pursue ethnographic fieldwork. Boas emphasised on the importance of intensive fieldwork to gather authentic knowledge which he himself conducted among the Kwakiutl’s of the Pacific Northwest Coast for over twenty years. On the other hand, Malinowski, though supporting intensive fieldwork, also emphasised on learning and using the local language of the community investigated and involving oneself in participant observation. The emphasis on the use of participant observation method as one of the most significant ethnographic methods got highlighted by Malinowski’s study of the Trobriand islanders of the Western Pacific Islands in Papua New Guinea during the First World War. This method allowed him to observe and participate in the daily activities of the Trobriand Islanders (1922). Participant observation became the prominent method of conducting ethnographic research. We can corroborate this with the following definition, that ethnography is “the recording and analysis of a culture or society, usually based on participant observation and resulting in a written account of a people, place or institution’’ (Simpson and Coleman, 2017).
The ethnographic method of participant observation can be accentuated with the triangulation method by including open ended interviews and ‘informal’ conversations. The triangulation method here becomes extremely necessary, as research cannot depend on one method alone. Other ethnographic methods which are used along with observation method are case-study, life-history, genealogy, pedigree analysis etc. There are secondary ethnographic methods too which can benefit one’s research. They are gazettes, surveys, poll reports, newspapers, research articles, books etc.
An important method in ethnography is the diary which gets little mention in books. A diary is a vital companion during the field visit. The researcher can jot down important points in the diary during the course of observation, interviews and conversations. Once back at the accommodation after a day’s fieldwork s/he can write all the things observed in the field and discussed with the respondents during the day. This will later help to go back to these points to see if more information is required to be gathered. It also helps to make the analysis of the findings with clarity. Other ethnographic methods are photography and making of videos to document events and everyday happenings.
NEW ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS
With time the ways ethnographic research is being done has changed. It no longer means being in a traditional field site where a culture resides, where the researcher goes and observes everyday imponderabilia. We have till now learnt that ethnographic studies are done by living with the people studied for a long period of time, learning and using the native language and involving oneself in participant observation of rituals and practices.
However now the ethnographic field has shifted to different arenas of investigation and has with the introduction of varied spaces and more so multiple spaces, ways of conducting ethnographic research has also transformed.
In today’s world, the ethnographic site may be the internet, the virtual world, urban spaces like a museum, hospital, mall and what not. A field investigation can also be multi-sited and at the same time be the researcher’s own native space. The researcher in today’s anthropological world may even want to research herself/ himself and evocatively talk about her/his lived experiences.
Hence these ways of doing ethnographic research has also brought in a change in how research is conducted. Though the basics of observing and interviewing clubbed with informal conversations, writing a diary, taking photographs remain, the spaces have changed. Along with the change in spaces, the position of the researcher has changed in the context of using methods to find answers. The new ethnographic style or methodology is cognitive in nature and hence it is also now labelled as cognitive anthropology. It is also known as ethno-science. Here the intention is to delve into the lives of the people or site investigated and bring out the actual reason or purpose of any behaviour as enacted or perceived by the people or culture being studied. It is an empirical investigation strengthened by theoretical backing. An auto-ethnographic research method for example, will reveal that the investigator will build a narrative which is emotional, reminiscent, and based on lived experiences. It will discuss the investigator’s own subjective and reflective interpretation of the life s/he has lived and how the culture s/he resides in has similar stories to tell, making an auto-ethnographic study a rational and scientific one.