ABSTRACT
The descriptive methodologies category includes ways of structuring research in order to describe a specific situation in depth. While research is often thought of as a way to try things out and assess the differences the changes make, simply describing the way things are without trying to change them can be extremely powerful. Research claims arising from ethnographies are fundamentally justified by the familiarity of the researcher with the culture they are describing. One thing to be careful about during an ethnographic process is leaping to conclusions, particularly when they fit with the researcher’s predispositions. Descriptive methodologies are used when the researcher wants to portray a situation in some depth. While they are often implemented in the process of opening up or exploring a new research context or question, these approaches can be interesting and insightful in a range of contexts.
