Observation & Ethnography Research

There is a huge departure between what people say they do and what they actually do. The only way to know this is through observation.

Observation methods are a research approach where you look at people in their cultural setting, with the goal of producing a narrative account of that particular culture, against a theoretical backdrop. The strength of participant observation is its ability to describe depth (thick description) and to help understand human behavior. As part of this you will look at:

-Deeds done as well as words used.
-How they interact with one another, and with their social and cultural environment.
-What is not said as much as what is said.
-Language, and symbols, rituals, and shared meanings that populate their world.

Observations and ethnographic methods are qualitative, inductive, and exploratory. They achieve a thick, rich description over a relatively small area. The goal of this presentation is to enhance researchers' capacity to conceptualize, design, and conduct research using observation and ethnography methods. The presentation answered the following two questions:

-How to generate data and analyze the data and make field notes?

-What is the methodology of this particular approach?

-How to validate the findings and apply triangulation?