Bring out the significance of Ethnography in social research. (UPSC CSE Mains 2019 - Sociology, Paper 1)
- Lois Benjamin’s research demonstrates that sociological investigation takes place not only in laboratories but also “in the field,” that is, where people carry on their everyday lives. The most widely used strategy for field study is participant observation, a research method in which investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their routine activities.
- This method allows researchers an inside look at social life in any natural setting, from a nightclub to a religious seminary. Sociologists call their account of social life in some setting a case study. Cultural anthropologists use participant observation to study other societies, calling this method fieldwork and calling their research results an ethnography.
- At the beginning of a field study, most investigators do not have a specific hypothesis in mind. In fact, they may not yet realize what the important questions will turn out to be. Thus most field research is exploratory and descriptive.
- As its name suggests, participant observation has two sides. On one hand, getting an insider’s look depends on becoming a participant in the setting—“hanging out” with the research subjects and trying to act, think, and even feel the way they do. Compared to experiments and survey research, participant observation has few hard-and-fast rules. But it is precisely this flexibility that allows investigators to explore the unfamiliar and adapt to the unexpected.
- Unlike other research methods, participant observation may require that the researcher enter the setting not for a week or two but for months or even years. At the same time, however, the researcher must maintain some distance while acting as an observer, mentally stepping back to record field notes and later to interpret them. Because the investigator must both “play the participant” to win acceptance and gain access to people’s lives and “play the observer” to maintain the distance needed for thoughtful analysis, there is an inherent tension in this method. Carrying out the twin roles of insider participant and outsider observer often comes down to a series of careful compromises.
- Most sociologists perform participant observation alone, so they— and readers, too—must remember that the results depend on the work of a single person. Participant observation usually falls within interpretive sociology, yielding mostly qualitative data—the researcher’s accounts of people’s lives and what they think of themselves and the world around them—although researchers sometimes collect some quantitative (numerical) data. From a scientific point of view, participant observation is a “soft” method that relies heavily on personal judgment and lacks scientific rigor. Yet its personal approach is also a strength: Where a high-profile team of sociologists administering formal surveys might disrupt many social settings, a sensitive participant observer can often gain important insight into people’s behavior.
- Several sociologists & anthropologists have used this method to collect data. Nets Anderson‟s study of hobos, Serif‟s study of the psychology of social norms, Land‟s two surveys of middle town .john dullard‟s studies in the southern states, Warner‟s & hunt‟s study of Yankee city are some famous examples.
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