SOAN 2120 Chapter 9: SOAN 2120 - Chapter 9 Notes

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology and Anthropology
• Course: SOAN 2120
• Professor: D Walters

Document Summary

Introduction: participant observation * it is a qualitative method in which a researcher directly observes and participants in a small group of social settings. There is no math, there is direct interaction and they observe people. They are appropriate when the questions involves learning about, understanding and describing a group of people are. They study people in a location or a setting that is used by the entire community, it is suggested to start with a small group. We call the people being studied members. The researcher calls them as outsiders as they are different and they want to learn about them. Etho means folk while graph means describing something, thus, ethnography is describing a culture and understanding another way of life from the regular way of view. Cultural knowledge includes: symbols, songs, sayings, facts and ways of behaving and objects. We learn the culture by watching tv, listening to parents etc.