Ethnography anthropology

Anthropology, Ethnography, and You!

5 May 2011

Prepared by: Jared Jeffers, M.A.

Email: Jared.Jeffers@optimalusability.com

What is anthropology?

What is anthropology?

� Anthropology = the study of human kind

What is anthropology?

Where do humans come from?

What differentiates groups of humans from each other?

What is the human condition?

What differentiates humans from animals?

What is anthropology?

Cultural AnthroBiological Anthro

ArchaeologyLinguistic Anthro

What is anthropology?

What is anthropology?

From: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2007/12/018358.htm

� Questions so far?

eth·nog·ra·phy

noun \eth-ˈnä-grə-fē\

Definition of ETHNOGRAPHY

: the study and systematic recording of human cultures; also : a descriptive

work produced from such research

— eth·nog·ra·pher\-fər\ noun

— eth·no·graph·ic\ˌeth-nə-ˈgra-fik\ or eth·no·graph·i·cal \-fi-kəl\ adjective

— eth·no·graph·i·cal·ly\-fi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Ethnography

Ethnography

Margaret Mead in Papua New

Guinea, 1928Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand

Islands

Ethnography

What can ethnography do?

� Reports through the eyes of the interviewee

What can ethnography do?

� Reports through the eyes of the interviewee

� Shows you what people do, not just what they say

What can ethnography do?

� Reports through the eyes of the interviewee

� Shows you what people do, not just what they say

� Reveals participants as the people they are

What can ethnography do?

� Reports through the eyes of the interviewee

� Shows you what people do, not just what they say

� Reveals participants as the people they are

� Uncovers how people understand the world

How do you do it?

� The Old School

� (Kitchen Stories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxXT1A4zqcU)

How do you do it?

� The Old School (Kitchen Stories)

� Build trust with your subject

� Collect data unobtrusively

� Observe without interference

� Never become friends

How do you do it?

� Current Principles

� Navel-gazing

How do you do it?

� Current Principles

� Navel-gazing (“excessive self-contemplation”)

How do you do it?

� Current Principles

� Navel-gazing

� Understand and state biases

How do you do it?

� Current Principles

� Navel-gazing

� Understand and state biases

� Recognize the fluidity of culture

How do you do it?

� Current Principles

� Navel-gazing

� Understand and state biases

� Recognize the fluidity of culture

� Know that people have agency

How do you do it?

� Current Principles

� Navel-gazing

� Understand and state biases

� Recognize the fluidity of culture

� Know that people have agency

� Be aware of power relations and societal divisions

Methods: Questionnaires and Surveys

Methods: Guerilla Research

Methods: Shadowing and Video Ethnography

Methods: Specific Exercises and Projects

Methods: Self-documentation (Journals, video diaries, etc)

Methods: The Ethnographic Interview

http://www.clevelandmemory.or

g/gcem/iep.html

Tips

� Record everything

Tips

� Record everything

� Go to where participants are comfortable

Tips

� Record everything

� Go to where participants are comfortable

� Stress that they are the experts

Tips

� Record everything

� Go to where participants are comfortable

� Stress that they are the experts

� Get them telling stories

Tips

� Record everything

� Go to where participants are comfortable

� Stress that they are the experts

� Get them telling stories

� Be mobile and point out objects to get participants talking

Tips

� Record everything

� Go to where participants are comfortable

� Stress that they are the experts

� Get them telling stories

� Be mobile and point out objects to get participants talking

� If possible, do the research over time

Rapport Building

� Be interested!

Rapport Building

� Be interested!

� Stress that you are there to learn from them

Rapport Building

� Be interested!

� Stress that you are there to learn from them

� Invest time and effort in recruiting

Rapport Building

� Be interested!

� Stress that you are there to learn from them

� Invest time and effort in recruiting

� Call before you go

Go ahead and give it a go!

� Pair up with someone you don’t know.

� Do some ethnography on their mobile phone experiences.

Go ahead and give it a go!

� Some potential conversation starters:

� Tell me about the last phone call you received that was awesome.

� What are your gut reactions to receiving a phone call?

� What do you do when someone calls you and you don’t want to talk

to them?

Future Reading

That’s all, folks!