Ethnography is a field of anthropological research based on direct observation of and reporting on a peoples way of life. Afer completng your observatons, you will write an ethnographic report that includes an ethnology crosscultural comparison. Ethnography is inward looking, aiming to uncover the tacit knowledge of culture participants. The changes wrought among societies after the great. Although, there are many qualitative methodologies like grounded theory, case study, ethnography and participatory action but i will be discussing about two specific methodologies, grounded theory and ethnography. In 1923 in what was seen at the time as a pathbreaking essay, radcliffebrown one of the key founders of british social anthropology set out the distinctions between ethnology and social anthropology as more or less the difference between history and science. Research methods qualitative and ethnographic researchers. This article will provide an overview of one of the many qualitative approaches, ethnography, and its relevance to healthcare. May 26, 2014 although, there are many qualitative methodologies like grounded theory, case study, ethnography and participatory action but i will be discussing about two specific methodologies, grounded theory and ethnography. This total, however, excludes his trip to bafin land, which was undertaken primarily as a geographer, and the year in mexico, where his ethnographic researches appear to have been very limited p.
Case study is outward looking, aiming to delineate the nature of phenomena through detailed investigation of individual cases and their contexts. Ethnography is a type of anthropology that involves studying people in a particular society or culture by observing them in their natural setting. An ethnographic research problem consists of foreshadowed questions, which are initially general and are subject to change as the study is conducted. The reason behind choosing only these two is the difficulty of students in determining the similarities and differences between. What is the difference between ethnography and anthropology. Ethnography is an approach to research that has been a significant presence within the field of education since at least the midtwentieth century. It means entering someones 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.
Sep 22, 2003 the central difference between ethnography and case study lies in the studys intention. Combines ethnography and ethnology to understand cultural similarities and differences in living groups of people. Phenomenology is based on the idea that there may be multiple ways of interpreting the same experience while ethnographers are more. While they both focus on the study of humanity and of human history, ethnography and anthropology differ on few key aspects. Ethnology is the systematic collection, comparison, and contrast of ethnographies. The ethnographic approach can be used to identify and attempt to explain cross cultural variation in cultural elements such as marriage, religion, subsistence practices, political organization, and parenting, just to name a few. Critical ethnography theory and method critical ethnography is conventional ethnography with a political purpose. Pdf comparing case study and ethnography as qualitative. As a method, ethnographic observation involves embedding oneself deeply and over the longterm in a field site of study in order to systemically document the everyday lives, behaviors, and interactions of a community of people. To gain a better understanding of what cultural anthropology is, one must understand ethnography and ethnology. Qualitative and ethnographic research developed in education in the late 1970s. The central difference between ethnography and case study lies in the studys intention. The main difference between ethnography and ethnology is that the ethnography is a qualitative research design aimed at exploring cultural phenomena and ethnology is a social science that deals with ethnies peoples. For example, goodenough in his 1964a discussion uses this linguistic model to explicate the distinction between ethnography and comparative studies.
The stages of the research process are described including preparation, data gathering and recording, and analysis. In short, it can be said that ethnography deals in detail with descriptions of the procedures. What is the difference between ethnology and ethnography free download as word doc. The difference as you describe it is also implicit in the names of these disciplines. Ethnography and culture debate between those who wanted to treat culture as something sui generis and those who wanted to treat it as a collection of individuals. How to conduct ethnographic research abstract the purpose of this paper is to describe the process of conducting ethnographic research. The terms ethnography and ethnology refer to two natural sciences disciplines that focus on the study of the history of man. Jim thomas, doing critical ethnography1993 we should not choose between critical theory and ethnography.
Initially, it was largely distinctive to anthropology, but subsequently came to be used by a much wider range of researchers. Ethnographic fieldwork, carried out according to the method of longterm participantobservation, is what defines social anthropology. Ethnography is a scientific and methodological field, essential to anthropology. These pages are a discussion of what individuals connected with the pitt rivers museum, university of oxford, believed these disciplines to involve and what links there were between them. Ethnology is highly theory driven, using a comparative approach with the writings of ethnographers to search for commonalities that may underlie all cultures or human behaviors.
The pivotal question of twentieth century ethnography is the product of the foregoing epistemic and metaphysical issues. Anthropology uses a holistic approach to man and societies, whereas ethnography focuses on restricted social groups, like tribes and clans. What is the difference between ethnology and ethnography. Cultural resource management deciding what needs saving when entire archaeological sites cannot be saved. While anthropology aims at achieving a holistic understand of mans history and evolution, ethnography focuses on smaller scale analysis. This term, which first came into use in the 19th century, has meant different things in different national traditions. Ethnographic research is descriptive, subjective, analytical and comparative. Ethnographic research is a type of research used primarily by anthropologists to investigate people and cultures. Difference between case study and ethnography definition. Ethnographic researchers drew on theory and methods in anthropology and sociology, creating a distinction between ethnography of education work undertaken by anthropologists and sociologists and ethnography in education work undertaken by educators to address educational issues. It means that an ethnologist seeks to specify cultural and mental laws to ex plain the processes of culture history. Instead, we see that researchers are cutting new paths to reinscribing critique in ethnography. Conversely, ethnography which is strictly linked to ethnology focuses on the analysis of rituals, traditions and ceremonies within the context of smaller social groups, like tribes and clans. Clarification of the blurred boundaries between grounded.
What is the difference between ethnography and ethnology. Difference between ethnography and ethnology compare the. As nouns the difference between ethnography and ethnology is that ethnography is anthropology the branch of anthropology that scientifically describes specific human cultures and societies while ethnology is anthropology the branch of anthropology that studies and compares the different human cultures. Difference between ethnology and anthropology compare the. Ethnographic research this chapter will provide information on. Aug 23, 2014 what i want to do here is attempt to clarify the difference and interdependence of these two terms. Many of the readings for this course and your own research project have been ethnographic in nature. The term does not have a single, standard, clearlydefined meaning. A science of methods 1 ethnology, ethnography, anthropology and other disciplines alison petch, researcher the other within project.
Jun 12, 2015 the key difference between anthropology and ethnology is that while anthropology can be viewed as an overarching field of study, ethnology is only a subfield of it. We will use an exemplar based on a study that used. The difference between ethnology and social anthropology essay. Thus, the distinction between ethnography and ethnology in terms of this discourse is frequently phrased as an eticemic distinction see pike 1954 for its original use. Qualitative research critical ethnography guidelines. This, of course, means being clear about the definition and purpose of the discipline of anthropology. He calculates that boas spent a total of 33q months during the thirteen field trips which he made.
Dec 12, 2017 conversely, ethnography which is strictly linked to ethnology focuses on the analysis of rituals, traditions and ceremonies within the context of smaller social groups, like tribes and clans. Apr 22, 2019 ethnography is defined as both a social science research method and its final written product. In addition, ethnology takes a broad view, comparing cultures or looking at the deep history of a culture in order to explain why and how it functions as it does. Ethnographic film is another form of documentation see documentary film. Ethnography and ethnology show differences between them when it comes to their subject matter. An ethnography is an account of a particular people. Introducton, methodology, data presentaton and analysis, ethnology, conclusion. This can be considered as a subfield of anthropology. There is a shift to a critical ethnography denzin and. Anthropologists are engaged in both ethnographic and ethnological study. Both, ethnography and ethnology, are natural sciences.
Ethnographic methods differs from many other approaches because it isnt simply a prescribed set of methods, it is a methodology that take in account of the complexity of human experience and involves indepth research and sustained observation of human behavior. Ethnography, descriptive study of a particular human society or the process of making such a study. Sage reference ethnography and ethnology sage knowledge. Culturein collectives of differing magnitude, whether educational institutions, student communities, classrooms, or activity groupsis treated as heterogeneous, conflictual, negotiated, and evolving, as distinct from unified. The main difference between ethnography and phenomenology is that ethnography focuses on the collective experiences of a community whereas phenomenology focuses on the individual experiences of individuals. Ethnography is a result of ethnology that is another sociological study in which we try to understand the various reasons for why and how people in the past and the present differ from each other. In ethnology, the individual pays attention to the specific characteristics of a group of people such as an ethnic group in terms of social, cultural elements. Cultural anthropology ethnography vs ethnology alexsablan. Examples of ethnographic research within the health services literature include strausss study of achieving and maintaining order between managers, clinicians, and patients within psychiatric hospital settings. Ethnology utilizes the data taken from ethnographic research and applies it to a single cross cultural topic.
Ethnography cambridge encyclopedia of anthropology. Ethnology and ethnography in anthropology human relations. Jul 19, 2017 anthropologists are engaged in both ethnographic and ethnological study. Contemporary ethnography is based almost entirely on fieldwork and requires the complete immersion of the anthropologist in the culture and everyday life of the people who are the subject of the study. Ethnology, the comparative study of peoples and cultures. Ethnography also deals with circumcision ceremonies. The researcher conducting this type of study is considered a participantobserver, meaning that she lives among the people she is studying and participates in their way of life as much as possible. One of the problems inherent in any comparison is finding like entities to compare. What is the difference archaeology and ethnography. Case studies and ethnographies are two popular detailed, qualitative studies used in the field of social science. They have challenged the traditional distinction between hard sciences such as. The other within team felt that between 1884 and 2009 museum staff a. Ethnographic subjects are usually cultural groups, such as communities, tribes, or dialect groups.
Ethnography is often referred to as culture writing, and it refers to a type of. Collectively qualitative research is a group of methodologies, with each approach offering a different lens though which to explore, understand, interpret or explain phenomena in real word contexts and settings. Anthropology makes using a comparative and critical method of the information collected by ethnography. The key difference between anthropology and ethnology is that while anthropology can be viewed as an overarching field of study, ethnology is only a subfield of it. Ethnography is the in depth study of a particular cultural group, while ethnology is the comparative study of ethnographic data, society and culture. Cultural anthropology is the scientific study of cultures and how they are different or similar from each other all around the world. Ethnography generic, no an or the article is the academic art of collecting cultural data about particular cultures, generally through the process of fieldwork, which to an anthropologist usually means living with, or among, the members of. Instead, we see that researchers are cutting new paths to. They are the two minor branches of anthropology or the study of the history of man. Ethnography means trying to understand behavior and culture by going out and talking to and observing people wherever they are, while theyre doing whatever they do. The distinction between ethnography and ethnology and other.
Ethnology the ethnography and ethnology of franz boas. What is the difference between ethnology and ethnography scribd. Oct 22, 2012 ethnographic methods differs from many other approaches because it isnt simply a prescribed set of methods, it is a methodology that take in account of the complexity of human experience and involves indepth research and sustained observation of human behavior. The difference between ethnology and ethnography is that while the former stands for scientific study of a population whether it could be human ethnologist or plant ethnobotanist. Through this article let us examine the difference between anthropology and ethnology.
Differences and similarities in grounded theory and ethnography. What i want to do here is attempt to clarify the difference and interdependence of these two terms. Methodology definition and key characteristics are given. Dec 19, 2017 difference between ethnography and ethnology. Oct 09, 2016 the objective of this paper is to discuss the differences between the focus of observation in grounded theory and ethnography. As such, the method directs the anthropologist to study that which is of significance to the community studied rather than test a number of hypotheses formulated in advance of the fieldwork.
Cultural anthropology ethnography vs ethnology cultural anthropology is the scientific study of cultures and how they are different or similar from each other all around the world. A student of ethnography might live in moscow to gather information about russian marriage practices. Difference between anthropology and ethnography compare. Difference between ethnography and phenomenology definition. The form had to be completed under penalty of perjury, so i could not in conscience put white, which is not even a color let alone a race, and i sternly declined to put caucasian, which is an exploded term from a discredited ethnology. Ethnology is the study of the characteristics of different people.
The objective of this paper is to discuss the differences between the focus of observation in grounded theory and ethnography. Organize your ethnography using the following subheadings. Grounded theory allows the researcher to explore the process of the occurrence of a social process in a particular context and is used in order to study the social processes in human interactions, the structure, and the. Ethnography is a method of study and data collection involving a trained observer documenting the life of an extant people or group using a participantobserve strategy.
Comparison of material culture has the potential to circumvent this problem by. What is the distinction between ethnography and participant. Ethnography and critical ethnography in particular adopts a complex theoretical orientation toward culture. Costellos examination of death and dying in elderly care wards. Ethnography is defined as both a social science research method and its final written product. Linguistics provided evidence of the complex, interactive relationship of humans and their societies.
Ethnology, ethnography, archaeology, anthropology, and folklore. Anthropologists aim to describe and interpret aspects of the culture of various social groupse. His matter of fact, ethnology is a science of culture history. The role of the museum barbara kirshenblattgimblett during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, there was a close fit between ethnology as a knowledge formation, collections, and museums, whether museums of natural history, museums of ethnology or volkerkunde or volkskunde or les arts et traditions populaires. Ethnography aims to describe life as it is lived and experienced, by a people, somewhere. Anthropology contra ethnography the university of aberdeen. Difference between ethnology and anthropology compare. It will be of interest to academics and students across the social sciences but is particularly directed towards novice researchers. What is specific about ethnographic research how the ethnographic research process proceeds what are the methodological and ethical principles of ethnographic research how to do ethnographic fieldwork how to analyze and interpret ethnographic research materials. The similarity or close relationship between ethnology and social anthropology is simple. As such, ethnography is the core method of cultural anthropology.