ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the concept of theoretical description, which is often treated as the intended product of ethnographic research. It seeks to show the parallels between ethnography and historical research, particularly in the sorts of explanation they employ. The book discusses the realist assumptions that seem to be built into ethnography, and the mounting challenge to them. It outlines the rationale for the approach and the criticisms that its advocates make of conventional ethnography. The book concerns the relevance of ethnographic research; that is, its relationship to other forms of practice. It deals with the problem of how an ethnographic study of a single, small-scale setting at a particular point in time can have relevance for a wide audience of the kind that ethnographers typically address in their publications. The book also deals with the relationship between quantitative and qualitative method.
