ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces ethnography as a methodology to the reader. Ethnography is regarded as a methodological tool that “gets close” to a particular group and/or sub-group to uncover cultural phenomena. Historically, it has its roots in British social anthropology, whereby researchers went out to study foreign cultures, and in American Sociology, whereby observation was used to explore urban industrial society. The editors will now comment on the virtues ethnography offers when it comes to researching within the healthcare environment. The methodological strategy arguably demonstrates an emancipation of research methods and philosophy within the diagnostic radiography setting. Inductive and hypothetical-deductive approaches are becoming well-established in health disciplines in order to study the effectiveness of clinical and person-centredness. In Chris Hayre’s work, the rationale for using ethnography was due to an immediate disconnect in diagnostic radiography practice.
