Ethnographic_research by Dr.Waqar Ahmad Hamdam 03443682456 - Copy.ppt

nursing research by Dr.Waqar Ahmad
03443682456

1. Ethnographic Research

2. ??????

3. Outline
Ethnography
Ethno-nursing
Characteristics of Ethnography
Conducting an Ethnographic Research
Writing an Ethnography

4. What is Ethnography?
Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviours,
and perceptions that occur within groups, teams,
organisations, and communities.
Its roots can be traced back to anthropological studies of
small, rural (and often remote) societies that were
undertaken in the early 1900s, when researchers such as
Bronislaw Malinowski and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
participated in these societies over long periods and
documented their social arrangements and belief systems.

5. What is Ethnography?
The central aim of ethnography is to provide rich, holistic insights
into people’s views and actions, as well as the nature (that is,
sights, sounds) of the location they inhabit, through the collection
of detailed observations and interviews.
As Hammersley states, “The task [of ethnographers] is to
document the culture, the perspectives and practices, of the people
in these settings. The aim is to ‘get inside’ the way each group of
people sees the world

6. What is Ethnographic Research?
Word ethnography means “portrait of a people”.
An ethnography focuses on a cultural group.
Ethnography means a study of a groups life ways or
patterns.
Ethnography focuses on a group of people who have
something in common.

7. What is a Culture?
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies,
religion, notions of time, roles, relations, concepts of the
universe, and material objects acquired by a group of people.
A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors,
beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without
thinking about them, and that are passed along by
communication and imitation from one generation to the next .

8. Key Features of Ethnographic Research
A strong emphasis on exploring the nature of a particular
social phenomenon, rather than setting out to test hypotheses
about it
 A tendency to work primarily with “unstructured data”—that
is, data that have not been coded at the point of data collection
as a closed set of analytical categories


9. Contd..,
Investigation of a small number of cases (perhaps even
just one case) in detail
 Analysis of data that involves explicit interpretation of
the meanings and functions of human actions; the
product of this analysis primarily takes the form of
verbal descriptions and explanations

10. Ethno nursing Research
Ethno nursing “focuses mainly on observing and
documenting interactions with people of how their daily
life conditions and patterns are influencing human care,
health, and nursing care practices.”

11. Ethno nursing
Within nursing, one of the major contributions of
ethnography is to promote culturally specific care.
Where many cultures are undiscovered.
The ethnonursing qualitative research method provides
an important means to discover and accurately interpret
complex and diverse culture care factors.

12. Ethnographic research
questions
A study of homeless people in the Qissa Khwani Peshawar
The lifestyle of competitive bodybuilders
A study of the Kelash people and the health benefits of the their
lifestyle
A study of the Hindko-speaking community in Peshawar
A comparison of bi-lingual students and students who only speak
one language

13. Contd..,
Parenting practices in rural Thandiani Abbottabad
Children of wealthy parents in the education system of Peshawar
A look at the people in Prison centre of Haripur
How recovering smoking addicts resist or give into temptation

14. Six Fundamental Characteristics of
Ethnography
Researcher as an instrument;
(Interviewing, observing, recording of data, and examining cultural
artifacts. )
Fieldwork;
Cyclic nature of data collection and analysis;
Focus on culture;
Cultural immersion (interest); &
Reflexivity

15. Cultural immersion
The depth and length of participation within the culture under
study.
The researcher’s participation is called “cultural immersion”
which requires that researcher live among the people being
studied.
e.g.
A nurse studying culture of families coping with HIV in a
family member, the researcher will observe how each family
member, functions inside and outside of the home.

16. Reflexivity
The tension between researcher as researcher and researcher as
cultural member, also called reflexivity.
Although it is important for the researcher to remain objective and
stay focused on the research, on some level, the researcher becomes
a member of the culture.
Thus prolonged involvement as a researcher it is extremely difficult
to maintain a completely detached view.

17. Reflexivity (cont…)
How does one discover the emic perspective-the insider’s
view-without becoming a part of the culture?
The struggle for objectivity in collecting and analyzing
data while being so intimately involved with the group is a
characteristic unique to ethnography.

18. Understanding Researcher’s Role
1.Do participant observation.
2.Make an ethnographic
record.
3.Make descriptive
observations.
4.Make a field analysis.
Make a focused/selected
observation.
Discover cultural themes.

Take a cultural inventory.
Finally write an ethnography.

19. Nine observational dimensions and their
descriptions
Space—Physical layout of the place(s)
Actor—Range of people involved
Activity—A set of related activities that occur
Object—The physical things that are present

20. Contd..,
Act—Single actions people undertake
Event—Activities that people carry out
Time—The sequencing of events that occur
Goal—Things that people are trying to accomplish
Feeling—Emotions felt and expressed

21. Making Descriptive
observations
Think of an example
Space
Actors
Activities
Objects
Act
Event
Time
Goal
Feelings

22. Discovering Cultural Themes
Some universal examples.
Social conflict;
Cultural contradictions;
Management of interpersonal relationships;
Problem solving etc.

23. Ethical Considerations
Researchers live among the people and therefore have the
ability to be invisible at times in researchers capacity.
The invisible nature of researchers has significant value in
data collection but can present potential dilemmas from an
ethical standpoint.
Important elements is to explain purpose to the participants,
ensure benefits of the study.

24. How does the Ethnography
study End?
The study ends not because a researcher has
answered all of the questions or completely
described the culture, but because time and
resources are exhausted.

25. Writing an Ethnography
Keeping in mind the readers. e.g. article in newspaper,
journal, book etc.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-463216/My-
year-living-miserably-bigoted-village-hell.html

26. Conclusion
Ethnography is a highly useful methodology for addressing a range of
research questions within the health professions. In particular, it can
generate rich and detailed accounts of clinicians’ professional and
interprofessional relationships, their interactions with patients, and
their approaches to delivering care, as well as in-depth accounts of
patients’ care experiences. Understanding the foundations of
ethnography and its key elements will help readers when they come
across reports that use this methodology

27. References
Burns, N. & Grove, S. K. (2007). Understanding
nursing research. (4th ed.).Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.
Holloway, I., & Wheeler, S. (2002). Qualitative
research in nursing. (2nd ed.). Berlin: Blackwell.

28. Contd..,
Polit, D. F., Beck, C. T., & Hungler, B. P. (2001). Essential of
nursing research: Methods, appraisal, and utilization. (5th ed.).
Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Reeves, S., Kuper, A., & Hodges, B. D. (2008). Qualitative
research methodologies: ethnography. Bmj, 337(aug07_3), a1020-
a1020.
Speziale, H. J. & Carpenter, D. R. (2007). Qualitative research in
nursing: Advancing the humanistic imperative. Philadelphia:
Lippincott William & Wilkin.