Read more
Doing Ethnography is invaluable reading for anyone collecting data through observation. Innovative and thought provoking, it is a refreshing take on ethnography stressing both academic rigor and practical necessity. It combines theoretical perspective with tangible action plans and walks you step-by-step through designing, conducting, and evaluating ethnographic research.
The book skilfully introduces the varied tasks and decisions you need to consider before entering the fieldhelping you to avoid common mistakes and to conduct safe, ethical research.
The redesigned Second Edition has cutting edge case studies and examples from across the social sciences and has an embedded awareness of the importance of digital research tools and social media. It also includes a detailed discussion of:
- Autoethnography
- Digital Ethnography
- Visual Ethnography
- Feminist Ethnography
- Managing and Analysing data
This is an ideal companion for every novice researcher.
List of contents
Part One: The Methodology
What is Ethnography?
Method or Methodology? Locating Ethnography in the Methodological Continuum
Ethnography: Approaches, Methods and Personalities
Key Ethnographic Approaches
Research Design
Ethnographic Sample Design
Part Two: Working the Field
Entering the Field
Ethical Dilemmas
How to Observe
What to Observe: Social Structures, Talk-in-Interactions and Contexts
Ethnographic Interview
Ethnography as a Craft
Part Three: Analyzing Ethnographic Data and Theory Building
Coding and Analyzing Ethnographic Data
Politics of Accountability
Part Four: Audiences
Communicating Findings, Writing Ethnographies
Leaving the Field
The 'Visual Society': A Chance for Applied Ethnography
About the author
Giampietro Gobo is Professor of Methodology of Social Research and Sociology of Science at the University of Milan (Italy). He was one of the founders of the ‘Qualitative Methods’ Research Network of the European Sociological Association.
His interests concern scientific controversies on health issues and workplace studies. He is currently undertaking projects on immunization and COVID-19 policies, and ethnographic experiments in the area of cooperation in small teamwork. His books include Doing Ethnography (Sage, 2008), Qualitative Research Practice (co-edited with C. Seale, J. F. Gubrium and D. Silverman, Sage, 2004) and Constructing Survey Data: An Interactional Approach (with S. Mauceri, Sage, 2014).Dr. Andrea Molle holds a PhD in Sociology from the Universita’ degli Studi di Milano. Between 2006 and 2008 he conducted extensive ethnographic research in Japan. Fellow of the “Japan Society for the Promotion of Science” and the “Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,” his current research agenda focuses on cross-cultural studies of new religions, implicit religion practices and behaviour, the paranormal, religious violence, and martial arts and warfare studies. His methodological interests include the intersection between ethnography and computational tools for the study of social complexity. He has published a book on new religions (in Italian) and several articles in journals in the fields of Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science.
Summary
With new coverage of digital research tools and social media, as well as that of areas such as autoethnography, visual and feminist ethnography, this important introduction continues to provide readers with the perfect mix of theory and practical advice to ensure their research is carefully thought through, replicable, and ethically sound
Report
In this elegant how-to book, the authors expand and deepen our understanding of ethnography and provide novices with a set of exercises and hands-on ways for getting the seat of their pants dirty in the social world. It explores emerging methodological approaches and challenges in ethnography, like studying people for whom life often happens more online than off it. Like a good cookbook, what it does best is simple: it makes you want to get into the kitchen.
Iddo Tavory 20160819
