SOC221H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Ethnography, Participant Observation, Data Management
Document Summary
Refers to a research method, essential research method for anthropology, political science and sociology. Developed differently in sociology, to address sociological research questions. Explains things, things that are uninterpretable or hard to understand. Make things less boring, in terms of behavior, why people try to do things. Top down: start with abstract or principle knowledge and how they play out in concrete level. Down up: look at the evidence and abstract knowledge, start with concrete observation and generalize abstract. Broadest form, researcher goes out to the field where social action happen naturally. Ethnography: more narrow, once you are in the field, take detail information. Goal is to have descriptions that occur natural interaction, even if the researcher weren"t there. Participant observation: when you are doing ethnography you are participating in the activity, there is variation. Naturalism: idea that naturally occurring social life studied.
