Our Top Ten List:

Connections and Links that Made Us Think

10. Researcher reflexivity (see Creswell, 2011) is a key component to digging in deep and doing ethnography.
This made us thoughtful as we looked at potentially entering a group. We asked ourselves many questions about
trust and sharing, and carefully considered the lenses through which we are doing our own research.
9. Ethnographic research requires the careful development of an ethical framework (Neito & Bode, 2006).
Ethics, as with any research, are of the highest concern in ethnography and our ethical framework must be
applied in every interaction in the feild and in the writing process.
8. As ethnographic inquiry is participant-driven rather than researcher-driven, an ethnographer allows
participants to direct the course of events and conversation and thereby show them the nature of their lives
(Spradley, 1980; Creswell, 2011) to add to the body of knowledge and our understanding of humanity.
7. Interpretation plays a key role in ethnographic research. It is important to be mindful of and examine your
own positions and biases as they will affect your interpretation, in most designs. Thereby, researcher reflexivity
is also key, as are careful attention to a clear explination of our meanings during the writing process (Clifford &
Marcus, 1986; Denzin, 1997; Creswell, 2011).
6. There are three major forms of ethnographic studies, and a design will effect the sort of work you do.
Choosing the right lens can make or break a project. In a nutshell (Creswell, 2011):
Realist ethnography = dispassionate voicean only the facts maam perspectiveno personal
reflections
Case studies = do not focus on a group of people, but will target programs or events to study. It is an
event study vs. a group study and focuses on activities in lieu of shared patterns.
Critical ethnographies = focus on marginalized communities and you will find them to be leaning
towards politicized groups and equality.
5. Ellen Isaacs TEDx Talk on ethnography is very engaging. She relates ethnography to innovation in a way
that speaks to growth and change in a myraid of ways.
4. The best way to understand ethnographies is to read them. Read the classics that have been cited in our text
and presentation, and if theres a topic that interests you, chances are there have been countless ethnographies
written about it, even suprising topics. If youre stuck, check out The Ethnographers Reading List. It links you
to other reading lists that may be of value, and is a fantastic starting place.
3. If you are interested in ethnographic research, Tomer Sharon provides us with valuable information and ideas
on wrap your head around getting started using practical examples. It offers a continuum of examples and
samples that answers questions we didnt know we had. The site even includes a video parody about
ethnography. It may be helpful to very creative learners in a way that the written word may not be.
2. Ethnography changes the researcher and helps them to grow and see the world in new ways. No matter how
long a person spends in the field, the things they learn both about others and themselves shapes their scholarship
in countless ways (Spradley, 1980).
1. Ethnography taps deeply into our humanity, and allows us to change the world by changing how we see it.
There are no shortage of ways to get involved and do ethnography. Even something as simple as trip to the
grocery store has deep ethnographic meaning. Ethnography shows us that truly, humans are the greatest
resource in the world, and that scholarship is all around us.