Editing Ethnography (section)

==Data collection methods==
[[File:Izmir Ethnography Museum.jpg|thumb|220px|[[İzmir Ethnography Museum]] in [[İzmir]], Turkey, from the courtyard]]
[[File:Ethnography Museum Budapest architecture.jpg|thumb|220px|[[Ethnographic Museum (Budapest)|Ethnography museum]], [[Budapest]], Hungary]]
According to [[John David Brewer|John Brewer]], a leading social scientist, data collection methods are meant to capture the "social meanings and ordinary activities"<ref name="brewer">[Brewer, John D. (2000). ''Ethnography.'' Philadelphia: Open University Press. p.10.]</ref> of people (informants) in "naturally occurring settings"<ref name="brewer" /> that are commonly referred to as "the field". The goal is to collect data in such a way that the researcher imposes a minimal amount of personal bias in the data.<ref name="brewer" /> Multiple methods of data collection may be employed to facilitate a relationship that allows for a more personal and in-depth portrait of the informants and their community. These can include participant observation, field notes, interviews and surveys, as well as various visual methods.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pink |first=Sarah |title=Doing visual ethnography |date=2021 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-5297-1766-2 |edition=Fourth |location=Los Angeles}}</ref>

Interviews are often taped and later transcribed, allowing the interview to proceed unimpaired of note-taking, but with all information available later for full analysis. Secondary research and document analysis are also used to provide insight into the research topic. In the past, kinship charts were commonly used to "discover logical patterns and social structure in non-Western societies".<ref>[http://www.anthrobase.com/Dic/eng/def/kinship.html]{{dead link|date=December 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> In the 21st century, anthropology focuses more on the study of people in urban settings and the use of kinship charts is seldom employed.

In order to make the data collection and interpretation transparent, researchers creating ethnographies often attempt to be "reflexive". Reflexivity refers to the researcher's aim "to explore the ways in which [the] researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research".<ref>[Nightingale, David & Cromby, John. ''Social Constructionist Psychology: A Critical Analysis of Theory and Practice''. Philadelphia: Open University Press. p. 228.]</ref>[Marvasti, Amir & Gubrium, Jaber. 2023. Crafting Ethnographic Fieldwork: Sites, Selves & Social Worlds. Routledge. Despite these attempts of reflexivity, no researcher can be totally unbiased. This factor has provided a basis to criticize ethnography.

Traditionally, the ethnographer focuses attention on a community, selecting knowledgeable informants who know the activities of the community well.<ref name="G1">{{cite book |last=Garson |first=G. David |url=http://www.statisticalassociates.com/ethnography.htm |title=Ethnographic Research |year=2015 }}{{page needed|date=February 2020}}</ref> These informants are typically asked to identify other informants who represent the community, often using snowball or chain sampling.<ref name="G1"/> This process is often effective in revealing common cultural denominators connected to the topic being studied.<ref name="G1"/> Ethnography relies greatly on up-close, personal experience. Participation, rather than just observation, is one of the keys to this process.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Genzuk |first1=Michael |year=1999 |chapter-url=http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~genzuk/Ethnographic_Research.html |chapter=Tapping Into Community Funds of Knowledge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023021956/http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~genzuk/Ethnographic_Research.html |archive-date=October 23, 2018 |title=Effective Strategies for English Language Acquisition: A Curriculum Guide for the Development of Teachers, Grades Kindergarten through Eight}}</ref> Ethnography is very useful in social research.

An inevitability during ethnographic participation is that the researcher experiences at least some resocialization. In other words, the ethnographer to some extent "becomes" what they are studying.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Emerson |first=Robert M. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226206868.001.0001 |title=Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Second Edition |last2=Fretz |first2=Rachel I. |last3=Shaw |first3=Linda L. |date=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-20683-7 |pages=3}}</ref> For instance, an ethnographer may become skilled at a work activity that they are studying; they may become members of a particular religious group they are interested in studying; or they may even inhabit a familial role in a community they are staying with. Robert M. Emerson, Rachel Fretz, and Linda Shaw summarize this idea in their book Writing Ethnographic Field Notes using a common metaphor: "the fieldworker cannot and should not attempt to be a fly on the wall."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Emerson |first=Robert M. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226206868.001.0001 |title=Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Second Edition |last2=Fretz |first2=Rachel I. |last3=Shaw |first3=Linda L. |date=2011 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-20683-7 |pages=4}}</ref> 

Ybema ''et al.'' (2010) examine the ontological and epistemological presuppositions underlying ethnography. Ethnographic research can range from a realist perspective, in which behavior is observed, to a constructivist perspective where understanding is socially constructed by the researcher and subjects. Research can range from an objectivist account of fixed, observable behaviors to an interpretive narrative describing "the interplay of individual agency and social structure."<ref>S. Ybema, D. Yanow, H. Wels, & F. Kamsteeg (2010). "Ethnography." In A. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.), ''Encyclopedia of Case Study Research.'' (pp. 348–352). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.</ref> Critical theory researchers address "issues of power within the researcher-researched relationships and the links between knowledge and power."

Another form of data collection is that of the "image". The image is the projection that an individual puts on an object or abstract idea. An image can be contained within the physical world through a particular individual's perspective, primarily based on that individual's past experiences. One example of an image is how an individual views a novel after completing it. The physical entity that is the novel contains a specific image in the perspective of the interpreting individual and can only be expressed by the individual in the terms of "I can tell you what an image is by telling you what it feels like."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Barry|first1=Lynda|title=Lynda Barry: The answer is in the picture|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmT4wLWksOw| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/hmT4wLWksOw| archive-date=2021-10-30|website=YouTube|publisher=INKtalks|access-date=5 May 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The idea of an image relies on the imagination and has been seen to be utilized by children in a very spontaneous and natural manner. Effectively, the idea of the image is a primary tool for ethnographers to collect data. The image presents the perspective, experiences, and influences of an individual as a single entity and in consequence, the individual will always contain this image in the group under study.