Ethnographic Research
Types of Observation
Direct observation
Direct observation has some advantages and disadvantages for its development.
Advantage:
It is possible to record the behavior simultaneously with its concurrency. Do not
there are neither anticipated nor retrospective elements (memory failures).
It does not depend on the ability of the interviewer to give the information
It does not depend on the interviewer's desire to give or not to give information.
Cuando el observador no es conocido no existirá reacción. Es decir, el sujeto no
influye en el instrumento ni es influido por él.
Disadvantages
Difficulty of being present at any instant or interval when the
phenomenon.
Difficulty registering or recording information.
Only externalized behavior can be studied. Difficulty of knowing
attitudes
Problem of selectivity, either observation or perception. But also
It is present in social surveys, here it can be better controlled.
Kind of questions
Open questions
Advantage
Spontaneity of the answers. No structure is imposed
default Source of relevant information is not known.
In the elaboration of a questionnaire it helps to formulate closed questions.
Aumenta la participación de personas entrevistadas.
Coding is better controlled because it is not done on the ground itself, but under
the control of the supervisor.
Disadvantages
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It increases the possibilities of bias due to the interviewer, less control.
It is difficult to achieve uniform criteria among interviewers to register to answer
Risk that the interviewer is explaining too much (irrelevant information)
or that does not refer to the question.
The participation of the interviewer is reduced.
The risk of the answers takes more time and mistakes can be made.
Closed questions
Yes or no.
Identification (age, occupation, place of birth, etc.)
Closed questions with multiple-choice answers.
Dichotomous questions, particular case of closed questions
Methodological Observations
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The two possible alternatives must be formulated clearly. Checks
performed show that very different answers are obtained, if the formulation
of the question contains one or both alternatives. This also indicates thatl
analyze results of some style should know the way how the question was asked
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Construction of Categories
Rudimentary Empiricals
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In some moments when the mass of data incorporated into the field notes,
transcripts, documents, have to be ordered with a certain systematicity,
En general mediante la clasificación y la categorización. En un nivel elemental, esto
it simply applies to the own data.
Parallel Readings
Another aspect of the ethnographic analysis that can be derived from the type of analysis
elementary, operate independently of it, is that of the formulation of concepts.