Essential Ethnographic Data Collection Methods Through Observations, Interviews, and Ethnographic Surveys: A Mixed Methods Approach (Ethnographer's Toolkit, #3)

Essential Ethnographic Methods introduces the fundamental, face-to-face data collection tools for ethnographers and other qualitative researchers and provides detailed instruction to improve the quality and scope of data collection.. This is Book 3 of 7 in the Ethnographer's Toolkit, Second Edition. Essential Ethnographic Methods introduces the fundamental, face-to-face data collection tools that ethnographers and other qualitative researchers use on a regular basis. It provides ethnographers with tools to answer the principal ethnographic questions about setting, participants, activities, behavior, and more. The essential “mixed” methods for collecting data include open-ended and focused listening, questioning strategies, participant and non-participant observation, recording techniques, visual recall, mapping the environments and contexts in which participant behavior occurs, and engaging in ethnographically informed survey research. Because these data collection strategies require ethnographers to become involved in the local cultural setting and to acquire their experience through hands-on experience, the essential tools also allow them to learn about new situations from the perspective of an "insider.” With these detailed instructions, the quality and scope of the data ethnographers collect are sure to be improved. Other books in the set: Book 1: Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research: An Introduction, Second Edition by Margaret D. LeCompte and Jean J. Schensul 9780759118690 Book 2: Initiating Ethnographic Research: A Mixed Methods Approach by Stephen L. Schensul, Jean J. Schensul, and Margaret D. LeCompte 9780759122017 Book 4: Specialized Ethnographic Methods: A Mixed Methods Approach edited by Jean J. Schensul and Margaret D. LeCompte 9780759122055 Book 5: Analysis and Interpretation of Ethnographic Data: A Mixed Methods Approach, Second Edition by Margaret D. LeCompte and Jean J. Schensul 9780759122079 Book 6: Ethics in Ethnography: A Mixed Methods Approach by Margaret D. LeCompte and Jean J. Schensul 9780759122093 Book 7: Ethnography in Action: A Mixed Methods Approach by Jean J. Schensul and Margaret D. LeCompte 9780759122116 Takes a mixed methods approach to introducing the fundamental, face-to-face data collection tools that ethnographers and other qualitative researchers use. Book 3 provides ethnographers with tools to answer basic ethnographic questions about the setting, activities, behavior, communication patterns of participants, and more. It teaches readers how to do good ethnography by walking them through the required steps for each essential method and supplements this information with hands-on materials and illustrative case examples. Because these data collection strategies require ethnographers to become involved in the local cultural setting and to acquire hands-on experience, the essential tools also help them learn about new situations from the perspective of an insider. The chapters cover open-ended and focused listening, questioning strategies, participant and nonparticipant observation, recording techniques, visual recall, strategies for mapping the environments and contexts in which participant behavior occurs, and varied approaches to individual and group level in-depth interviewing. Book 3 also examines how and why to carry out ethnographically informed qualitative and quantitative survey research. Research methods are sequenced in accordance with early, middle, and later stages of a research project, making it easy for readers to select different data collection methods for specific purposes and timelines. The mixed methods approach is emphasized because it is the only way that ethnographers are able to obtain the holistic portrayal of dynamic social systems and cultural phenomena that characterize the best ethnographies "Essential Ethnographic Methods introduces the fundamental, face-to-face data collection tools that ethnographers and other qualitative researchers use on a regular basis. It provides ethnographers with tools to answer the principal ethnographic questions about setting, participants, activities, behavior, and more. The essential 'mixed' methods for collecting data include open-ended and focused listening, questioning strategies, participant and non-participant observation, recording techniques, visual recall, mapping the environments and contexts in which participant behavior occurs, and engaging in ethnographically informed survey research. Because these data collection strategies require ethnographers to become involved in the local cultural setting and to acquire their experience through hands-on experience, the essential tools also allow them to learn about new situations from the perspective of an 'insider.' With these detailed instructions, the quality and scope of the data ethnographers collect are sure to be improved"--Provided by publisher CONTENTS 6 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 10 LIST OF EXAMPLES 12 INTRODUCTION TO THE ETHNOGRAPHER’S TOOLKIT 17 CHAPTER 1. ESSENTIAL DATA COLLECTION 22 CHAPTER 2. DEFINING AND ENTERING THE FIELD 43 CHAPTER 3. RECORDING AND ORGANIZING ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELD DATA: FIELD NOTES, INTERVIEWS, DRAWINGS, VISUAL DOCUMENTATION, AND SURVEY DATA 68 CHAPTER 4. PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION AND INFORMAL INTERVIEWING IN THE FIELD 104 CHAPTER 5. ADDITIONAL METHODS FOR COLLECTING EXPLORATORY DATA 133 CHAPTER 6. IN-DEPTH, OPEN-ENDED EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWING 155 CHAPTER 7. SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS 192 CHAPTER 8. FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS 216 CHAPTER 9. STRUCTURED APPROACHES TO ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA COLLECTION: SURVEYS 262 CHAPTER 10. SAMPLING IN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 301 CHAPTER 11. DEFINING AND EVALUATING QUALITY IN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 340 REFERENCES 366 INDEX 374 ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND ARTISTS 383