ABSTRACT
In recent decades, a large number of manuals presenting guidelines for conducting applied, relatively short-term ethnographic field research have appeared under interesting labels such as Rapid Appraisal Procedures (RAP), Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Rapid Rural Assessment (RRA), Focused Ethnographic Studies (FES) and others. These products generally provide useful inventories of the main data-gathering tools for ethnographic research on specific topical areas. Most of them have been written for use in applied social science research contexts, and they are often intended to be used in training non-academic field researchers. This chapter presents an overview of inventory or systematic evaluation key features. Most of these ethnographic guidelines have been designed for formative research, to be followed by specific intervention activities. These qualitative research guidelines have been especially notable in the area of community health and nutrition, but there is also a considerable number of them intended for applied research in agricultural projects, water and sanitation, and many other areas.
