ABSTRACT
By this stage, it should be clear to you that ethnography is a distinctive and challenging way of ‘doing’ research. Ethnography aims to understand something – a community, event or way of life – from the inside, with a particular focus on ‘everyday, lived experiences’ (Cook 2005: 167). It uses overtly qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, fieldwork diaries and behavioural observation, in order to get close to the people being studied and to understand them better on their own terms. Ethnography shuns the view (widespread in much social science research) that the researcher is a detached and impartial ‘scientist’ who seeks the ‘truth’: instead, ethnography openly acknowledges the subjectivity of the researcher (Crang and Cook 2007).
