What is Ethnography?

Ethnography is two things: (1) the fundamental research method of cultural anthropology,
and (2) the written text produced to report ethnographic research results. Ethnography as
method seeks to answer central anthropological questions concerning the ways of life of
living human beings. Ethnographic questions generally concern the link between culture and
behavior and/or how cultural processes develop over time. The data base for ethnographies is
usually extensive description of the details of social life or cultural phenomena in a small
number of cases.
In order to answer their research questions and gather research material, ethnographers
(sometimes called fieldworkers) often live among the people they are studying, or at least
spend a considerable amount of time with them. While there, ethnographers engage in
"participant observation", which means that they participate as much as possible in local
daily life (everything from important ceremonies and rituals to ordinary things like meal
preparation and consumption) while also carefully observing everything they can about it.
Through this, ethnographers seek to gain what is called an "emic" perspective, or the
"native's point(s) of view" without imposing their own conceptual frameworks. The emic
world view, which may be quite different from the "etic", or outsider's perspective on local
life, is a unique and critical part of anthropology. Through the participant observation
method, ethnographers record detailed fieldnotes, conduct interviews based on open-ended
questions, and gather whatever site documents might be available in the setting as data.

Guiding Questions in Ethnography

Since everyone is cultural, the ways of life of all groups - familiar, unfamiliar, rich, poor,
popular, unpopular - are potential ethnographic topics. One of the first things we need early
on in order to conduct a successful ethnographic project is an appropriate guiding question.
Having a guiding question before beginning fieldwork is a good idea because it gives you
some way to focus your attention productively in early visits to your fieldsite. Of course, this
question might change in the course of the research as more is learned; this happens often
and can be a step towards especially insightful research!
Guiding questions are aimed at the basic point of ethnography: gaining the world view of a
group of people. Common formats for guiding questions might be:
Modern ethnographies focus on a central guiding question that connects the local fieldsite to
larger anthropological questions about how culture works. Guiding questions should encode
larger questions regarding culture or social practice within them.
In choosing a guiding question, be sure first that it is answerable through ethnographic
research. Quantitative research, public policy research, and journalism may seem similar but
are importantly distinct from ethnography. To help you make that distinction, see below:
Quantitative research usually arrives at percentages (of people who believe certain

premise
or do a certain thing) or otherwise counts instances of a phenomenon, and as such deals less
descriptively with a larger number of cases than pure ethnography does. One of its main
methods is widely distributed surveys or questionnaires.
Example: Which birth control methods are most widely used in Puerto Rico, and how are
birth rates affected over a five year period?
Public policy research, which might be performed either qualitatively or quantitatively or
both, is generally geared towards providing information that helps policy makers decide how
a certain phenomenon might be understood in terms of better or worse social outcomes.
Example: What kinds of access do Cuban women have to what kinds of birth control, and is
this appropriate from public health, religious, and cultural standpoints? Should government
do something to affect this situation, and if so what and how?
Journalism attempts to provide objective (not interpretive) outsider news information
in a
quick, timely manner, often against a deadline. Journalists write for the kinds of audience
that the newspaper, magazine, or other publication which hires them attempts to reach.
General questions regarding culture are not usually considered crucial to the endeavor as
they are in ethnography.
Example: What is newsworthy about current Cuban family planning for the particular
group(s) who are likely to read my story?

Objectivity, Ethnographic Insight and Ethnographic Authority

Students learning about ethnography for the first time are often tempted to promise fervently
to be "objective" in their research and to learn what is "really" happening in the field.
However, anthropologists have long since acknowledged that ethnographic research is not
objective research
at all. The following are some of the reasons for this conclusion:
Ethnography is an interpretive endeavor undertaken by human beings with multiple and
varied commitments which can and do affect how the research is done and reported. We
all have backgrounds, biographies, and identities which affect what questions we ask and
what we learn in the field, how our informants let us in to their lives, and how our own
interpretive lenses work.
Not all fieldsites are "foreign" for ethnographers in the same way. Some ethnographers are
native to the communities in which they study, whereas some enter as complete strangers
with no
obvious common ground. Even though they may learn somewhat different things, both kinds

of
researchers are legitimately able to undertake ethnographic research.
Ethnography is not replicable research (like many kinds of science).
Ethnography is not based on large numbers of cases (like quantitative research).
How can any research done under such circumstances, which is not even pretending to be
objective, have any worth at all? In other words, how can we claim ethnographic insight into
cultural practices? What is the basis of ethnographic authority under these conditions?
Anthropologists have seriously considered these charges, and concluded that there are
several ways in which insight and authority in ethnographic research can be persuasively
claimed:
Anthropologists generally subscribe to some form of cultural relativism, meaning that
we believe that there is no one standpoint from which to judge all cultures and ways of being
in the world. Because of this, we are conditioned to see various perspectives as "positioned"
(Abu-Lughod 1991), and the things that we learn in the field as "partial truths" (Clifford
1986). Therefore, there is not one single truth to be uncovered in a research situation; there
are many.
Ethnographers are expected to be "reflexive" in their work, which means that we should
provide our readers with a brief, clear picture of how the research we have done has been or
could have been affected by what we bring to it. This can take the form of revealing details
of our own experience or background to readers up front.
Ethnographers should have more than one way to show how we arrived at the
conclusions of our research; we expect to have a collection of fieldnotes, interviews, and
site documents (where possible) which work together to support our claims. This is called
triangulation.
Ethnographic research takes place in depth and over a great deal of time, often months
or
years for professional ethnographers. Ethnographic conclusions are, therefore, arrived at only
after lengthy consideration.
Sanjek (1990) recommends that readers and writers of ethnography focus on what he
calls the "validity" of ethnography. In this way, we can judge the clarity with which
decisions regarding the application of theory to data are explained as well as follow ways in
which events in the text are persuasively linked in making the conclusions presented there.

Fieldnotes
Ethnographers engage in participant observation in order to gain insight into cultural
practices and phenomena. These insights develop over time and through repeated analysis of
many aspects of our fieldsites. To facilitate this process, ethnographers must learn how to
take useful and reliable notes regarding the details of life in their research contexts. These

fieldnotes will constitute a major part of the data on which later conclusions will be based.
Fieldnotes should be written as soon as possible after leaving the fieldsite, immediately if
possible. Even though we may not think so when we are participating and observing, we are
all very likely to forget important details unless we write them down very quickly. Since this
may be very time- consuming, students should plan to leave a block of time for writing after
leaving the research context.
Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein (1997) have developed a list of what should be included in all
fieldnotes:
Date, time, and place of observation
Specific facts, numbers, details of what happens at the site
Sensory impressions: sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes
Personal responses to the fact of recording fieldnotes (as described in section #4 below)
Specific words, phrases, summaries of conversations, and insider language
Questions about people or behaviors at the site for future investigation
Page numbers to help keep observations in order
There are four major parts of fieldnotes, which should be kept distinct from one another in
some way when we are writing them:
1. Jottings: the brief words or phrases written down while at the fieldsite or in a
situation about which more complete notes will be written later. Usually recorded in
a small notebook, jottings are intended to help us remember things we want to
include when we write the full-fledged notes. While not all research situations are
appropriate for writing jottings all the time, they do help a great deal when sitting
down to write afterwards.

2. Description: of everything we can remember about the occasion you are writing
about - a meal, a ritual, a meeting, a sequence of events, etc. While it is useful to
focus primarily on things you did or observed that relate to the guiding question,
some amount of general information is also helpful. This information might help in
writing a general description of the site later, but it may also help to link related
phenomena to one another or to point out useful research directions later.

3. Analysis: of what you learned in the setting regarding your guiding question and
other related points. This is how you will make links between the details described in
section 2 above and the larger things you are learning about how culture works in this
context. What themes can you begin to identify regarding your guiding question?
What questions do you have to help focus your observation on subsequent visits? Can

you begin to draw preliminary connections or potential conclusions based on what

you learned?
4. Reflection: on what you learned of a personal nature. What was it like for you to be
doing this research? What felt comfortable for you about being in this site and what
felt uncomfortable? In what ways did you connect with informants, and in what ways
didn't you? While this is extremely important information, be especially careful to
separate it from analysis.

Methods of writing fieldnotes can be very personal, and we are all likely to develop ways of
including and separating the above four parts which work for us but might not work for
others. However, to give an idea of how some others have done it, included here are
excerpted examples of actual fieldnotes written by students.
Example #1: an ethnography of waitresses in an all-night diner. Notice how the writer,
Reah
Johnson, keeps description separate from analysis by italicizing the analysis of this
specificincident. Further analysis of the entire sequence of events (only a portion of which
are included here) are kept separate from description and analysis by adding an extra
section at the end.
"Two men came into the restaurant with the intent of trying to sell things to the customers.
They each have plastic sacks filled with random objects that they are showing to the
customers in the bar area. Bernie sees them from where she is sitting with Jay. She stands up
and asks one of them, 'Are you buy'n somethin' baby?' The man gives Bernice a mean look
and she tells them they both can leave, adding, 'I done you a favor.' The man Bernie spoke
directly to turns to his friend and says something negative while making a gesture towards
Bernie. 'Don't take it personal,' she tells him. 'Well I did,' he yells back. As the two men walk
out of the diner, Bernie warns them not to get her upset. After they are gone she lights a
cigarette and says out loud, 'I ain't gonna be get'n hurt by this dumb shit.' Jay has been sitting
still and has said nothing throughout this entire encounter. I was amazed at how Bernie
handles the two men and she did so entirely by herself, without the help of any male
employee in the diner. Her language accomplished two things. Firstly, she avoided taking the
role of an uncompassionate member of her establishment by claiming, ' I done you a favor.'
In this respect it might also be argued she was protecting her reputation. Secondly, her
language managed to serve as self-protection when she said 'I ain't gonna be get'n hurt by
this dumb shit.' Bernie, like Debbie also revealed in her interview, doesn't let herself get hurt
by others."
Further analysis: "A lot took place in regards to protection. ... I have heard many of the
graveyard shift waitresses at St. George's comment on how the cooks are always there to
protect them, but in this case it seems they were there solely to take the credit for protecting

the waitresses. Bernie is, however, a very unique waitress in the way she powerfully
expresses herself. Perhaps the events of this evening unfolded the way they did because of
Bernie's strong and unyielding character."

Example # 2: an ethnography of an adult English as a Second Language class by Hallie

Mittleman.
Hallie, too, chooses to italicize analysis.
"In order to encourage the other students to speak, Karen (the teacher) asks them about their
favorite American movies, or alternatively their favorite American tv shows. ... Borach (new
class tonight, Turkish) says that he feels that American movies are very important in
portraying American relationships and politics for the world. But Alison, motioning to
Joanna when she speaks, points out that the difference between TV and real life is
significant. She speaks of the glamour and wealth portrayed on Dynasty and describes how
this is definitely not real life and Joanna nods her head in agreement. Borach attempts to
illustrate this point by describing a movie he watched about Vietnam. He says that watching
this movie was key in his understanding of American history. He then speaks to Memet, who
is Turkish, in Turkish and says (to the group that) only one or two Turkish movies are
produced and released internationally every year. Joanna is asked about Polish movies and
their international release, and together Joanna and Alison say, 'of course, Roman Polansky'."
"Discussion of material culture is often, as in this case, labeled 'American.' These goods
enforce a 'here vs. there' dichotomy, because if something is labeled as 'American' there must
be a contrast to what is not American. Although there could be multiple constructions of
what is 'not American' through constantly asking students to define the American product in
terms of 'what x is like in your country', categories of what culture can be are defined in
terms of American cultural categories. Additionally, a notion of difference is always implied
if something is labeled 'American'; because there is something (product z) American, there
must therefore be a corresponding, but necessarily different product z in 'your' country. 'Your
country' is becoming a category possessing something analogous but different."

Organizing the Journal

Obviously there are lots of ways to do anything, but one way to organize the notebook is
called a "dual entry notebook." To show how journals organized in this way work, we have
reproduced the notes by Reah Johnson above in a double entry notebeeok format:

The Diner. June 20, 2000. 2 a.m.

I was amazed at how Bernie handles the two

Two men came into the restaurant with

the intent of trying to sell things to the
customers. They each have plastic sacks
filled with random objects that they are
showing to the customers in the bar area.
Bernie sees them from where she is
sitting with Jay. She stands up and asks
one of them, 'Are you buy'n somethin'
baby?' The man gives Bernice a mean
look and she tells them they both can
leave, adding, 'I done you a favor.' The
man Bernie spoke directly to turns to his
friend and says something negative
while making a gesture towards Bernie.
'Don't take it personal,' she tells him.
'Well I did,' he yells back. As the two
men walk out of the diner, Bernie warns
them not to get her upset. After they are
gone she lights a cigarette and says out
loud, 'I ain't gonna be get'n hurt by this
dumb shit.' Jay has been sitting still and
has said nothing throughout this entire
encounter.

men and she did so entirely by herself, without

the help of any male employee in the diner.
Her language accomplished two things.
Firstly, she avoided taking the role of an
uncompassionate member of her establishment
by claiming, ' I done you a favor.' In this
respect it might also be argued she was
protecting her reputation. Secondly, her
language managed to serve as self-protection
when she said 'I ain't gonna be get'n hurt by
this dumb shit.' Bernie, like Debbie also
revealed in her interview, doesn't let herself
get hurt by others

A lot took place in regards to protection. ... I have heard many of the graveyard shift
waitresses at St. George's comment on how the cooks are always there to protect them, but
in this case it seems they were there solely to take the credit for protecting the waitresses.
Bernie is, however, a very unique waitress in the way she powerfully expresses herself.
Perhaps the events of this evening unfolded the way they did because of Bernie's strong
and unyielding character.

Data Analysis
In ethnography, data analysis most usually takes place throughout the project. That is to say,
we learn from the data we gather during one visit to the field helps us learn what to watch
for, notice, or ask during the next visit. As fieldwork progresses, constantly refining our ideas
of what might be happening at the site. At this level, data analysis is ongoing and helps
fieldwork gain momentum toward useful information.
Presumably, however, there eventually comes a point when we turn our attention more fully
to working with the data we have gathered already, often after leaving or limiting visits to the
fieldsite. What does our data mean? What have we learned? What can we say regarding our
guiding question, or others that we may know how to ask now based on the research? In
short, how might we best analyze the data we have gathered?
While there is no single canonical way to approach ethnographic data, the following points
may be useful in helping us arrive at some conclusions:
Read through the fieldnotes, notes on interviews, interview transcripts, site documents,

or
whatever data has been gathered several times. Becoming very familiar with the
information
at the start helps to to proceed.
Mark the data and take notes on any patterns, connections, similarities, or contrastive
points in the data. Does anything stand out as a usual way of doing things at the site? What
seems unusual, and why? What becomes clear analytically that was not clear before?
Follow up on what you noticed above by looking for "local categories of meaning" in
the data. What terms do the informants have for things? What can you as a researcher
identify as themes, even if the informants don't? Remember that the main purpose of
ethnography is eliciting "native points of view"; these "local categories" are its components.
Try to come up with a list of "local categories" from the data.
Test the categories and explanations you have started to draw out of the data against
the
variety of cases you have recorded. Are there alternative explanations for what you think
you
have seen so far? What can you learn from looking at the data from a variety of
perspectives?
Try triangulating among the various forms of data you have gathered. If a point or an
explanation holds across several sources you have gathered - if, for example, it can be
supported by fieldnotes, interviews, and/or site documents - then you can be more sure that
you have found something integral to understanding your site.
Consider trying "respondent validation," or explaining your developing conclusions to
your
informants. The informants might be in a position to share additional things which help to
confirm
or complicate what you have learned. Remember, of course, that the informants are still
socially
positioned, and may or may not agree with the analysis in part based on their positions or
perspectives within the social network have investigated. Agreement from informants doesn't
necessarily mean we're right, and disagreement doesn't necessarily mean we're wrong.
Once we have arrived at some conclusions regarding the data gathered, we must consider the
question of how to focus on the guiding question which drove the research. Can that question
be answered from what we learned? Is another question more appropriate? What other
questions has the research provoked? Remembering that the thesis sentence must be an
answer to the guiding question, it is important to work back and forth between our emerging

conclusions and guiding question to produce a cohesive paper.

Drafting the Paper

Writing is a process. By carefully attending to each stage of this process in our work, we all
increase our chances of writing lively, interesting papers that easily communicate what we
would like to say. There are three general stages of writing to consider.
Pre-writing: the time spent organizing and planning what we want to say. Some people find
it useful to make formal outlines of the paper before actually writing, while others work
better
with a looser plan. This stage may also include free-writing exercises in order to help
uncover what we are actually trying to say in the paper. Tacking back and forth between what
was learned during data analysis can help organize the points we want to make in the final
paper.
Draft writing: the first attempt to actually write the full paper. At this stage, it is more useful
to focus on getting our ideas across clearly and effectively than on producing a well-polished
product. Following the plan created during pre-writing but changing it as it seems necessary
to do so can make this stage easier. Sometimes, it is useful to write a section, take a break to
do something else for a few minutes, and then return to write the next section.
Revising: cleaning up the draft for the purpose of handing it in. It is advisable to finish the
draft at
least several days in advance of the due date in order to ask for feedback from colleagues,
fellow
students, professors, writing advisors, etc. At this stage, it is possible to step back from the
paper for
the purpose of re-evaluating choices made in earlier stages regarding organization,
presentation of
evidence, strategy of argument, conclusions and overall effectiveness. Be sure to spell-check
the paper and edit carefully for grammatical and lexical awkwardness as well!
When preparing papers, ethnographers should be aware of the following conventions that
apply specifically to ethnographic writing:
Ethnographic papers are generally centered around presenting a problem or issue in
the guiding question. They then proceed to explore this question or problem and analyze it
in light of fieldwork. It is, therefore, very useful to clarify early in the paper why the selected
problem is important (both generally and anthropologically) and why it is worthy of
investigation.
Evidence for the thesis sentence and its supporting points is drawn from the author's

fieldwork. Be sure that the points presented as evidence are based upon description and
analysis from fieldnotes and interviews and from what you learned through site documents
(if available). Be clear about how you learned the information described in the paper, what it
means, and how it contributes to your central point. Remember that this information and
your use of it in the paper is the heart of the argument being presented!
Since ethnographic evidence is both found and presented by the author of the paper, it
will sometimes be necessary to use the first person in ethnographic papers. Usually, "I"
statements are useful when discussing both our own positioning in our research and in
presenting some data. This is in contrast to other kinds of academic papers in which the
author's voice is not personalized, and reflects the fact that who we are as individuals affects
our ethnography.
Ethnographic writing is evocative, descriptive, and lively. It is academic writing that
requires creativity in rendering scenes, sights, smells, feelings, and individuals as lifelike as
possible on the page. Help the reader to be where you were and to understand as realistically
as possible what it was really like.
Names of places and individuals are often, but not always, changed to pseudonyms in
ethnographic papers. It is important to follow the wishes of our informants regarding their
wishes to be named directly or not. Ask them and follow their wishes. If using pseudonyms,
take care to genuinely hide someone's identity while also retaining some sense of realism in
the choice of the pseudonym.
It is necessary to attribute ideas that are not one's own to their authors. References
should be cited in a consistent bibliographic style. (In the case of the Cuba/Puerto Rico DIS,
that style will be MLA--click here for a simplified version of MLA citation.) Note that even
unpublished materials (as many site documents may be) should be accounted for in the
bibliography. Since much of the data supporting ethnographic papers is oral and not written,
writers should be clear about how the information learned orally was gained and attribute it
to that person in the text of the paper (using a pseudonym as appropriate.)
The following is a slightly revised version of a checklist developed by Dr. Julia Paley for
things which should be included in good ethnographic writing (not as subheadings, but
somewhere in the paper):

guiding question
thesis statement

evocative description of the setting(s)

methodology - what did you do and how?

evidence - excerpts from fieldnotes, quotes, information from documents, pictures,

diagrams, etc. And from the fiction you read, the films you saw, and the information

provided in class and lectures

data - how many people you talked to/interviewed, how many times you visited, how
much material you have

portrayal of specific people, using pseudonyms if appropriate

your own positioning in your research - how your beliefs influence what you
see/conclude

reflexivity - how you're representing all of the above

fairness of presentation, including counter-evidence where it exists and enough data

for readers to draw their own conclusions without simply relying on your
interpretations

theoretical component

closure - implications of the research for practice or future study

bibliography

References
Abu-Lughod, Lila 1991 "Writing Against Culture" In Recapturing Anthropology: Working in
the Present, Richard G.Fox, ed. Pp. 137-162. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research
Press.
Chiseri-Strater, Elizabeth and Bonnie Stone Sunstein 1997 FieldWorking: Reading and
Writing Research. Pp. 73. Blair Press: Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Clifford, James 1986a. "Introduction: Partial Truths" In Writing Culture: the Poetics and
Politics of Ethnography,James Clifford and George E. Marcus, eds. Pp. 1-26. Berkeley: U.
California Press.
Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw 1995 Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hammersley, Martyn and Paul Atkinson 1995 "Documents" In Ethnography: Principles in
Practice. Pp. 157-174. Second edition. New York: Routledge.
Sanjek, Roger, ed. 1990 Fieldnotes: The Makings of Anthropology. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press.

Material revised from that found on

the website Created By Barbara L. Hall
Department of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthro/CPIA/METHODS/Ethnography.htm
Last updated: April 9, 1999
According to Spradley (1979), ethnography is "the work of describing a culture" (p. 3). The
goal of ethnographic research is "to understand another way of life from the native point of
view" (p. 3).
Although this approach is commonly used by anthropologists to study exotic cultures and
primitive societies, Spradley suggests that it is a useful tool for "understanding how other
people see their experience" (p. iv). He emphasizes, however, that "rather than studying
people, enthnography means learning from people" (p. 3).

Ethnographic Research
Overview
Ethnography is a form of research focusing on the sociology of meaning through
close field observation of sociocultural phenomena. Typically, the ethnographer
focuses on a community (not necessarily geographic, considering also work, leisure,
and other communities), selecting informants who are known to have an overview of
the activities of the community. Such informants are asked to identify other
informants representative of the community, using chain sampling to obtain a
saturation of informants in all empirical areas of investigation. Informants are
interviewed multiple times, using information from previous informants to elicit
clarification and deeper responses upon re-interview. This process is intended to
reveal common cultural understandings related to the phenomena under study. These
subjective but collective understandings on a subject (ex., stratification) are often
interpreted to be more significant than objective data (ex., income differentials).
It should be noted that ethnography may be approached from the point of view of art
and cultural preservation, and as a descriptive rather than analytic endeavor. The
comments here, however, focus on social science analytic aspects. In this focus,

ethnography is a branch of cultural anthropology.

Related information is contained in the sections on content analysis and on case study
research.

Key Concepts and Terms

The ethnographic method starts with selection of a culture, review of the literature
pertaining to the culture, and identification of variables of interest -- typically
variables perceived as significant by members of the culture. The ethnographer then
goes about gaining entrance, which in turn sets the stage for cultural immersion of
the ethnographer in the culture. It is not unusual for ethnographers to live in the
culture for months or even years. The middle stages of the ethnographic method
involve gaining informants, using them to gain yet more informants in a chaining
process, and gathering of data in the form of observational transcripts and interview
recordings. Data analysis and theory development come at the end, though theories
may emerge from cultural immersion and theory-articulation by members of the
culture. However, the ethnographic researcher strives to avoid theoretical
preconceptions and instead to induce theory from the perspectives of the members of
the culture and from observation. The researcher may seek validation of induced
theories by going back to members of the culture for their reaction.
Definition. A popular definition of ethnography is found in Hammersley and
Atkinson (1995: 1), who write of ethnography, "We see the term as referring
primarily to a particular method or sets of methods. In its most characteristic form it
involves the ethnographer participating, overtly or covertly, in people's lives for an
extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking
questionsin fact, collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues
that are the focus of the research. More recently, Johnson (2000: 111) defines
ethnography as "a descriptive account of social life and culture in a particular social
system based on detailed observations of what people actually do."
Ethnographic methodologies vary and some ethnographers advocate use of structured
observation schedules by which one may code observed behaviors or cultural
artifacts for purposes of later statistical analysis. Coding and subsequent statistical
analysis is treated in Hodson (1999). See also Denzin and Lincoln (1994).

Macro-ethnography is the study of broadly-defined cultural groupings, such as "the

English" or "New Yorkers."
Micro-ethnography is the study of narrowly-defined cultural groupings, such as
"local government GIS specialists" or "members of Congress."
Emic perspective is the ethnographic research approach to the way the members of

the given culture perceive their world. The emic perspective is usually the main focus
of ethnography.

Etic perspective, is the ethnographic research approach to the way non-members

(outsiders) perceive and interpret behaviors and phenomena associated with a given
culture.

Situational reduction refers to the view of ethnographers that social structures and
social dynamics emerge from and may be reduced analytically to the accumulated
effects of microsituational interactions (Collins 1981, 1988). Put another way, the
cosmos is best understood in microcosm. Situational reduction, Collins (1981b: 93)
wrote, ". . . produces an empirically stronger theory, on any level of analysis, by
displaying the real-life situations and behaviors that make up its phenomena. In
particular, it introduces empirically real causal forces in the shape of human beings
expending energy. It enables us to discover which macro-concepts and explanations
are empirically groundable, and which are not..."

Symbols, always a focus of ethnographic research, are any material artifact of a

culture, such as art, clothing, or even technology. The ethnographer strives to
understand the cultural connotations associated with symbols. Technology, for
instance, may be interpreted in terms of how it relates to an implied plan to bring
about a different desired state for the culture.

Cultural patterning is the observation of cultural patterns forming relationships

involving two or more symbols. Ethnographic research is holistic, believing that
symbols cannot be understood in isolation but instead are elements of a whole. One
method of patterning is conceptual mapping, using the terms of members of the
culture themselves to relate symbols across varied forms of behavior and in varied
contexts. Another method is to focus on learning processes, in order to understand
how a culture transmits what it perceives to be important across generations. A third
method is to focus on sanctioning processes, in order to understand which cultural
elements are formally (ex., legally) prescribed or proscribed and which are informally
prescribed or proscribed, and of these which are enforced through sanction and which
are unenforced.

Tacit knowledge is deeply-embedded cultural beliefs which are assumed in a

culture's way of perceiving the world, so much so that such knowledge is rarely or
never discussed explicitly by members of the culture, but rather must be inferred by
the ethnographer.

Assumptions

Ethnography assumes the principal research interest is primarily affected by

community cultural understandings. The methodology virtually assures that common
cultural understandings will be identified for the research interest at hand.

Interpretation is apt to place great weight on the causal importance of such cultural
understandings. There is a possibility that an ethnographic focus will overestimate the
role of cultural perceptions and underestimate the causal role of objective forces.
Ethnography assumes an ability to identify the relevant community of interest. In
some settings, this can be difficult. Community, formal organization, informal group,
and individual-level perceptions may all play a causal role in the subject under study,
and the importance of these may vary by time, place, and issue. There is a possibility
that an ethnographic focus may overestimate the role of community culture and
underestimate the causal role of individual psychological or of sub-community (or for
that matter, extra-community) forces.

Ethnography assumes the researcher is capable of understanding the cultural mores of

the population under study, has mastered the language or technical jargon of the
culture, and has based findings on comprehensive knowledge of the culture. There is
a danger that the researcher may introduce bias toward perspectives of his or her own
culture.

While not inherent to the method, cross-cultural ethnographic research runs the risk
of falsely assuming that given measures have the same meaning across cultures.

Frequently Asked Questions

Isn't ethnography a subjective rather than scientific social science research

method?
Selection of informants is not based on the researcher's personal judgments
but on identifications made by community members. Likewise, conclusions
about cultural understandings of the phenomena of interests are not personal
insights of the researcher, or even of particular community members, but are
views cross-validated through repeated, in-depth interviews with a broad
cross-section of representative informants. Ethnographers may also validate
findings through conventional archival research, consultation with experts,
use of surveys, and other techniques not unique to ethnography. At the same
time, ethnographic interviews are far more in-depth than survey research.
Ethnographers respond to charges of subjectivity by emphasizing that their
approach eschews preconceived frameworks and derives meaning from the
community informants themselves, whereas survey instruments often reflect
the conceptual categories preconceived by the researcher prior to actual
encounter with respondents.

What are the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)?

The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), based at Yale University, are a
large collection of pre-coded ethnographic field studies of some 350 cultures.

Originally available only on microfiche, collection subsets are now available

on CD-ROM. Examples of coded subjects include marriage, family, crime,
education, religion, and warfare. The researcher must code variables of
interest to go beyond the precoding done by HRAF. Hundreds of articles have
been based on the HRAF cultural database, and collections of coding schemes
are documented in Barry and Schlegel, eds. (1980). The HRAF database is
suitable for ethnographic coding methods as described in Hodson (1999).

Bibliography

Agar, Michael (1996). Professional stranger: An informal introduction to

ethnography, second edition. Academic Press, ISBN 0120444704 . Emphasizes
continuity in century-old tradition of ethnographic research. A second edition of a
widely used modern classic.
Barry, H. III and A. Schlegel, eds. (1980). Cross-cultural samples and codes.
Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Clifford, J. (1999). On ethnographic authority. Ch. 11 in Alan Bryman and Robert

Burgess, eds., Methods of qualitative research, Vol. III. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.

Clough, Patricia Ticineto (1998). The end(s) of ethnography: Now and then.
Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 4, No. 1 (March): 3-14. A concise recent summary by the
author of The end(s) of ethnography: From realism to social criticism (1992; 2nd ed.,
1998). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Her interests are in poststructural
cultural criticism (ex., feminist theory, postcolonial theory, Marxist cultural studies,
impacts of telecommunications technology on culture, and critical theory regarding
race, ethnicity, and class). Seealso C. Nelson and L. Grossberg, eds., Marxism and
the interpretation of culture. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois PRess, 1988.

Coffey, Amanda (1999). The ethnographic self: Fieldwork and the representation of
identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Treats "locating the self," the
interaction of the researcher and the field, and the sexualization of the field and the
self.

Collins, R. (1981a). On the microfoundations of macrosociology. American Journal

of Sociology 86(5), 984-1014.

Collins, R. (1981b). Micro-translation as a theory building strategy. Pp. 81-108 in

Knorr-Cetina, K. & Cicourel, A. V., eds. Advances in social theory and methodology:
Toward an integration of micro- and macro- sociologies. Boston: Routledge & Kegan
Paul.

Collins, R. (1988). The micro contribution to macro sociology. Sociological Theory

6(2), 242-253.

Denzin, N. K. and Y. S. Lincoln (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Fetterman, David M. (1998). Ethnography step-by-step, second edition. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Treats interviewing by "chatting," use of the Internet,
research ethics, report-writing, and more.

GAO (2003). Federal programs: Ethnographic studies can inform agencies' actions
GAO-03-455, March 2003. Available at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03455. Numerous case examples of federal agencies' use of ethnographic research.

Gold, Raymond L. (1997). The ethnographic method in sociology. Qualitative

Inquiry, Vol. 3, No. 4 (December): 388-402. Gold writes this summary near the end
of his 50-year career in ethnographic research. The article discusses the requirements
of ethnographic research, validity, reliability, sampling, and systematic data
collection.

Hammersley, Martyn, & Atkinson, Paul (1995). Ethnography: Principles in practice,

Second Ed. . London: Routledge.

Hodson, Randy (1999). Analyzing documentary accounts. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications. Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences Series No. 128.
Describes random sampling of ethnographic field studies as a basis for applying a
meta-analytic schedule. Hodson covers both coding issues and subsequent use of
statistical techniques.

Johnson, Allan G. (2000). The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology, Second ed. Oxford,
UK: Blackwell.

Kvale, Steinar (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research

interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Not specifically ethnographic,
but treats approaches to interviews and surveys from the concerns of phenomenology,
hermeneutics, and postmodernism.

Lareau, Annette & Schultz, Jeffrey, eds. (1996). Journeys Through ethnography:
Realistic accounts of field work. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Madison, D. Soyini (2005). Critical ethnography: Method, ethics, and performance.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Puente, Manuel de la (2000). Ethnographic research at the U.S. Census Bureau the
enumeration of border communities along the US/Mexico border during Census
2000. Chapel Hill, NC: UNC-CH, School of Public Health. Minority Health Project.
Discusses ethnographic research at the U.S. Census Bureau dating back to 1971 and
illustrates how ethnographic techniques are used at the Census Bureau, using the
example of ethnographic research on border communities during Census 2000. See

http://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/mdp9501.pdf.

Sanday, Peggy R. (1979). The ethnographic paradigm(s). Administrative Science

Quarterly, 24: 527-38.

@c 2006, 2008 G. David Garson

last update: 1/14/08.

What is Ethnography?
Ethnography is two things: (1) the fundamental research method of cultural anthropology,
and (2) the written text produced to report ethnographic research results. Ethnography as
method seeks to answer central anthropological questions concerning the ways of life of living
human beings. Ethnographic questions generally concern the link between culture and behavior
and/or how cultural processes develop over time. The data base for ethnographies is usually
extensive description of the details of social life or cultural phenomena in a small number of
cases.
In order to answer their research questions and gather research material, ethnographers
(sometimes called fieldworkers) often live among the people they are studying, or at least spend
a considerable amount of time with them. While there, ethnographers engage in "participant
observation", which means that they participate as much as possible in local daily life
(everything from important ceremonies and rituals to ordinary things like meal preparation and
consumption) while also carefully observing everything they can about it. Through this,
ethnographers seek to gain what is called an "emic" perspective, or the "native's point(s) of
view" without imposing their own conceptual frameworks. The emic world view, which may be
quite different from the "etic", or outsider's perspective on local life, is a unique and critical
part of anthropology. Through the participant observation method, ethnographers record detailed
fieldnotes, conduct interviews based on open-ended questions, and gather whatever site
documents might be available in the setting as data.
As a qualitative research method and product, ethnography can be distinguished from three
other ways of investigating and writing: quantitative research, public policy research, and
journalism. The kinds of guiding questions which are addressed through these kinds of research
are importantly different from those which can be addressed ethnographically. Because these
differences can be confusing to students, causing them to spend valuable time in the field
focused on something un-ethnographic, they are described briefly here.

Quantitative research usually arrives at percentages (of people who believe certain
premise or do a certain thing) or otherwise counts instances of a phenomenon, and as
such deals less descriptively with a larger number of cases than pure ethnography does.
One of its main methods is widely distributed surveys or questionnaires.
Example: Which birth control methods are most widely used in West Africa, and how are
birth rates affected over a five year period?
Public policy research, which might be performed either qualitatively or quantitatively
or both, is generally geared towards providing information that helps policy makers
decide how a certain phenomenon might be understood in terms of better or worse social
outcomes.
Example: What kinds of access do West African women have to what kinds of birth
control, and is this appropriate from public health, religious, and cultural standpoints?
Should government do something to affect this situation, and if so what and how?

Journalism attempts to provide objective (not interpretive) outsider news information in

a quick, timely manner, often against a deadline. Journalists write for the kinds of
audience that the newspaper, magazine, or other publication which hires them attempts to
reach. General questions regarding culture are not usually considered crucial to the
endeavor as they are in ethnography.
Example: What is newsworthy about current West African family planning for the
particular group(s) who are likely to read my story?

Reading ethnographic accounts can help us to become more accustomed to the kind of
research method and research product that ethnography is as well as teach us how we can
approach a certain question or issue ethnographically. It is useful to read with the general outline
of relevant concepts and techniques described in this site in mind because this can help us to
identify how other researchers have handled common aspects of ethnographic research and
writing. While countless volumes of ethnographies have been published, the following can be
recommended as easily accessible by readers with little background in anthropology:

Hamabata, Matthews Masayuki

1990 Crested Kimono: Power and Love in the Japanese Business Family. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
Basso, Keith H.
1979 Portraits of "The Whiteman": Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols among the
Western Apache. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Thorne, Barrie
1994 Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Stack, Carol B.
1974 All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. NY: Harper & Row.

The following are more examples of published ethnography:

"Out of the Garden of Eden: Morality Play in the Life of an Inuit Three-year-old" by Jean
L. Briggs provides an emic view of Inuit childrearing practices.

"From China to Canada - the Immigration Experience of a Chinese Refugee Group in

Toronto" by Guang Tian illuminates the cultural processes which drive immigration from
an insider's perspective.

The American Ethnologist is a journal which publishes a variety of anthropological

articles, many of which are ethnographically based. Although full-text articles are not
available here, you can still access a large number of abstracts which describe
ethnographic research. Especially relevant ones include the following abstracts in volume
25, number 4 (November, 1998):
* "Heart Like a Car": Hispano/Chicano Culture in Northern New Mexico" by Brenda
Bright
* "Global Desirings and Translocal Loves: Transgendering and Same Sex Sexualities in
the Southern Philippines" by Mark Johnson

Objectivity, Ethnographic Insight and Ethnographic Authority

Students learning about ethnography for the first time are often tempted to promise fervently to
be "objective" in their research and to learn what is "really" happening in the field. However,
anthropologists have long since acknowledged that ethnographic research is not objective
research at all. The following are some of the reasons for this conclusion:

Ethnography is an interpretive endeavor undertaken by human beings with multiple

and varied commitments which can and do affect how the research is done and reported.
We all have backgrounds, biographies, and identities which affect what questions we ask

and what we learn in the field, how our informants let us in to their lives, and how our
own interpretive lenses work.

Not all fieldsites are "foreign" for ethnographers in the same way. Some
ethnographers are native to the communities in which they study, whereas some enter as
complete strangers with no obvious common ground. Even though they may learn
somewhat different things, both kinds of researchers are legitimately able to undertake
ethnographic research.

Ethnography is not replicable research (like many kinds of science).

Ethnography is not based on large numbers of cases (like quantitative research).

How can any research done under such circumstances, which is not even pretending to be
objective, have any worth at all? In other words, how can we claim ethnographic insight into
cultural practices? What is the basis of ethnographic authority under these conditions?
Anthropologists have seriously considered these charges, and concluded that there are several
ways in which insight and authority in ethnographic research can be persuasively claimed:

Anthropologists generally subscribe to some form of cultural relativism, meaning that

we believe that there is no one standpoint from which to judge all cultures and ways of
being in the world. Because of this, we are conditioned to see various perspectives as
"positioned" (Abu-Lughod 1991), and the things that we learn in the field as "partial
truths" (Clifford 1986). Therefore, there is not one single truth in a research situation to
be uncovered; there are many.

Ethnographers are expected to be "reflexive" in their work, which means that we should
provide our readers with a brief, clear picture of how the research we have done has been
or could have been affected by what we bring to it. This can take the form of revealing
details of our own experience or background to readers up front.

Ethnographers should have more than one way to show how we arrived at the
conclusions of our research; we expect to have a collection of fieldnotes, interviews, and
site documents (where possible) which work together to support our claims. This is called
triangulation.

Ethnographic research takes place in depth and over a great deal of time, often months
or years for professional ethnographers. Ethnographic conclusions are, therefore, arrived
at only after lengthy consideration.

Sanjek (1990) recommends that readers and writers of ethnography focus on what he
calls the "validity" of ethnography. In this way, we can judge the clarity with which
decisions regarding the application of theory to data are explained as well as follow ways
in which events in the text are persuasively linked in making the conclusions presented
there.

References
Abu-Lughod, Lila
1991 "Writing Against Culture" In Recapturing Anthropology: Working in the Present, Richard
G. Fox, ed. Pp. 137-162. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.
Clifford, James
1986a. "Introduction: Partial Truths" In Writing Culture: the Poetics and Politics of Ethnography,
James Clifford and George E. Marcus, eds. Pp. 1-26. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sanjek, Roger
1990 "On Ethnographic Validity" In Fieldnotes: The Making of Anthropology. Pp. 385-418.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Guiding Questions in Ethnography

One of the first things we need early on in order to conduct a successful ethnographic project is
an appropriate guiding question. Having a guiding question before beginning fieldwork is a
good idea because it gives you some way to focus your attention productively in early visits to
your fieldsite. Of course, this question might change in the course of the research as more is
learned; this happens often and can be a step towards especially insightful research!
Guiding questions are aimed at the basic point of ethnography: gaining the world view
of a group of people. Common formats for guiding questions might be:

How do members of a particular group perceive of or understand a certain social or

cultural phenomenon? (This is often seen through behavior of some kind.)
Example: How do sexually active high school students in rural American conveive of and
negotiate the use of birth control?

How is a certain social or cultural practice socially constructed among members of a

certain group?
Example: How is arranged marriage socially constructed among matchmakers in
contemporary Japan?

Modern ethnographies focus on a central guiding question that connects the local fieldsite to
larger anthropological questions about how culture works. Guiding questions should encode
larger questions regarding culture or social practice within them. See Theoretical Context for
more details.
Since everyone is cultural, the ways of life of all groups - familiar, unfamiliar, rich, poor,
popular, unpopular - are potential ethnographic topics. While many ethnographies have

focused on the poorest or most disenfranchised populations in societies, students are encouraged
to "study up" as well. This refers to studying powerful groups and institutions. How and why do
these groups gain, maintain, and exercise power? Note that since groups of people are not
homogenous or static, it is often most effective to study a social process at work over time.
In choosing a guiding question, be sure first that it is answerable through ethnographic research.
It may be helpful to review the description of ethnography provided in this site to make sure that
your question is appropriate. Remember that quantitative research, public policy research, and
journalism may seem similar but are importantly distinct from ethnography; examples of the
kinds of questions these consider are included there. It is also a good idea to show the guiding
question to the professor for help in deciding whether or not it is appropriately anthropological
and able to be addressed by ethnographic means.

Working in the Field

Traditionally, anthropologists have undertaken ethnographic research in small, bounded villages
while living among the village's relatively few inhabitants. These ethnographers may have been
one of few non-natives in that part of the world and may have been one of the first non-natives
that the villagers had ever seen. It may have taken these researchers a year or more in the field to
gain the language skills necessary for communication before becoming able to fashion
appropriate guiding questions. These long stretches away from their homelands may have been
very stressful.
Today, however, fieldsites can be nearly anywhere. Research may still focus on village life,
but it is also increasingly likely to take place in urban locales or in the native language of the
ethnographer. Sometimes the "group" among whom one wants to study does not live in one
location, and our main fieldsite will be a workplace (like a bank) or a religious center (like a
mosque) or a generic meeting room where some group meets regularly (like a library meeting
room where Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, but also other things also take place) or even in
cyberspace (like a chat room). "Multi-sited" fieldwork, which allows ethnographers to engage in
research in more than one locale for comparative purposes, is also possible.
It is possible to choose a fieldsite first and then to make a guiding question appropriate to the
site. It is also possible to start with a question about a certain cultural process and to find a site
where that question might be appropriate. Either method for setting up a project can work, as
long as the site and the question are relevant to one another. In other words, be careful that your
research questions hit on something important about social and cultural life and practices in the
group you have chosen.
Once a potential fieldsite has been selected, ethnographers must negotiate entry. This involves
getting permission to visit the site for research purposes from members and often from a person
in authority in the site or groups as well. (See ethics.) If this proves difficult or questions arise
about how to best approach a group, students should consult their professors for advice or
assistance. Sometimes it is possible for a professor to help a student gain entry by providing
official assurances regarding the project and its purposes to complement that which students
provide.

Ethics in Ethnographic Research

Since ethnographic research takes place among real human beings, there are a number of special
ethical concerns to be aware of before beginning. In a nutshell, researchers must make their
research goals clear to the members of the community where they undertake their research and
gain the informed consent of their consultants to the research beforehand. It is also important to
learn whether the group would prefer to be named in the written report of the research or given a
pseudonym and to offer the results of the research if informants would like to read it. Most of all,
researchers must be sure that the research does not harm or exploit those among whom the
research is done.
The American Anthropological Association's statement on professional ethics is considered
standard for ethical ethnographic research, and all researchers - including students completing
term papers - are required to adhere to it. Read the latest version of this document before
beginning your project. Students should read this statement from beginning to end and discuss
any concerns they have about their proposed work with their instructors before beginning their
research.

Fieldnotes
Ethnographers engage in participant observation in order to gain insight into cultural
practices and phenomena. These insights develop over time and through repeated analysis of
many aspects of our fieldsites. To facilitate this process, ethnographers must learn how to take
useful and reliable notes regarding the details of life in their research contexts. These fieldnotes
will constitute a major part of the data on which later conclusions will be based.
Fieldnotes should be written as soon as possible after leaving the fieldsite, immediately if
possible. Even though we may not think so when we are participating and observing, we are all
very likely to forget important details unless we write them down very quickly. Since this may
be very time-consuming, students should plan to leave a block of time for writing just after
leaving the research context.
Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein (1997) have developed a list of what should be included in all
fieldnotes:

Date, time, and place of observation

Specific facts, numbers, details of what happens at the site

Sensory impressions: sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes

Personal responses to the fact of recording fieldnotes

Specific words, phrases, summaries of conversations, and insider language

Questions about people or behaviors at the site for future investigation

Page numbers to help keep observations in order

There are 4 major parts of fieldnotes, which should be kept distinct from one another in some
way when we are writing them:
1. Jottings are the brief words or phrases written down while at the fieldsite or in a situation
about which more complete notes will be written later. Usually recorded in a small notebook,
jottings are intended to help us remember things we want to include when we write the fullfledged notes. While not all research situations are appropriate for writing jottings all the time,
they do help a great deal when sitting down to write afterwards.
2. Description of everything we can remember about the occasion you are writing about - a
meal, a ritual, a meeting, a sequence of events, etc. While it is useful to focus primarily on
things you did or observed which relate to the guiding question, some amount of general
information is also helpful. This information might help in writing a general description of the
site later, but it may also help to link related phenomena to one another or to point our useful
research directions later.
3. Analysis of what you learned in the setting regarding your guiding question and other related
points. This is how you will make links between the details described in section 2 above and the
larger things you are learning about how culture works in this context. What themes can you
begin to identify regarding your guiding question? What questions do you have to help focus
your observation on subsequent visits? Can you begin to draw preliminary connections or
potential conclusions based on what you learned?
4. Reflection on what you learned of a personal nature. What was it like for you to be doing this
research? What felt comfortable for you about being in this site and what felt uncomfortable? In
what ways did you connect with informants, and in what ways didn't you? While this is
extremely important information, be especially careful to separate it from analysis.
Methods of writing fieldnotes can be very personal, and we are all likely to develop ways of
including and separating the above four parts which work for us but might not work for others.
However, to give an idea of how some others have done it, included here are excerpted
examples of actual fieldnotes written by students.
Example #1: an ethnography of waitresses in an all-night diner. Notice how the writer, Reah
Johnson, keeps description separate from analysis by italicizing the analysis of this specific
incident. Further analysis of the entire sequence of events (only a portion of which are included
here) are kept separate from description and analysis by adding an extra section at the end.
"Two men came into the restaurant with the intent of trying to sell things to the customers. They
each have plastic sacks filled with random objects that they are showing to the customers in the
bar area. Bernie sees them from where she is sitting with Jay. She stands up and asks one of
them, 'Are you buy'n somethin' baby?' The man gives Bernice a mean look and she tells them
they both can leave, adding, 'I done you a favor.' The man Bernie spoke directly to turns to his
friend and says something negative while making a gesture towards Bernie. 'Don't take it
personal,' she tells him. 'Well I did,' he yells back. As the two men walk out of the diner, Bernie
warns them not to get her upset. After they are gone she lights a cigarette and says out loud, 'I

ain't gonna be get'n hurt by this dumb shit.' Jay has been sitting still and has said nothing
throughout this entire encounter. I was amazed at how Bernie handles the two men and she did
so entirely by herself, without the help of any male employee in the diner. Her language
accomplished two things. Firstly, she avoided taking the role of an uncompassionate member of
her establishment by claiming, ' I done you a favor.' In this respect it might also be argued she
was protecting her reputation. Secondly, her language managed to serve as self-protection when
she said 'I ain't gonna be get'n hurt by this dumb shit.' Bernie, like Debbie also revealed in her
interview, doesn't let herself get hurt by others."
Further analysis: "A lot took place in regards to protection. ... I have heard many of the
graveyard shift waitresses at St. George's comment on how the cooks are always there to protect
them, but in this case it seems they were there solely to take the credit for protecting the
waitresses. Bernie is, however, a very unique waitress in the way she powerfully expresses
herself. Perhaps the events of this evening unfolded the way they did because of Bernie's strong
and unyielding character."
Example # 2: an ethnography of an adult English as a Second Language class by Hallie
Mittleman. Hallie, too, chooses to italicize analysis.
"In order to encourage the other students to speak, Karen (the teacher) asks them about their
favorite American movies, or alternatively their favorite American tv shows. ... Borach (new
class tonight, Turkish) says that he feels that American movies are very important in portraying
American relationships and politics for the world. But Alison, motioning to Joanna when she
speaks, points out that the difference between TV and real life is significant. She speaks of the
glamour and wealth portrayed on Dynasty and describes how this is definitely not real life and
Joanna nods her head in agreement. Borach attempts to illustrate this point by describing a
movie he watched about Vietnam. He says that watching this movie was key in his
understanding of American history. He then speaks to Memet, who is Turkish, in Turkish and
says (to the group that) only one or two Turkish movies are produced and released internationally
every year. Joanna is asked about Polish movies and their international release, and together
Joanna and Alison say, 'of course, Roman Polansky'."
"Discussion of material culture is often, as in this case, labeled 'American.' These goods
enforce a 'here vs. there' dichotomy, because if something is labeled as 'American' there must be
a contrast to what is not American. Although there could be multiple constructions of what is
'not American' through constantly asking students to define the American product in terms of
'what x is like in your country', categories of what culture can be are defined in terms of
American cultural categories. Additionally, a notion of difference is always implied if something
is labeled 'American'; because there is something (product z) American, there must therefore be
a corresponding, but necessarily different product z in 'your' country. 'Your country' is becoming
a category possessing something analogous but different."
References

Chiseri-Strater, Elizabeth and Bonnie Stone Sunstein

1997 FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research. Pp. 73. Blair Press: Upper Saddle River,
NJ.
Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw
1995 Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sanjek, Roger, ed.
1990 Fieldnotes: The Makings of Anthropology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Interviews
Ethnographers supplement what they learn through participant observation by interviewing
people who can help them understand the setting or group they are researching. It can be useful
to interview a variety of people at various points in ethnographic research. For example,
interviews might be helpful when choosing a site, when choosing a guiding question, after much
participant observation, when the informants are going through changes that interest you, and
other times. While participant observation lends information about behavior in action, interviews
provide a chance to learn how people reflect directly on behavior, circumstances, identity,
events, and other things. This can be very valuable in fulfilling the main goal of ethnography:
gaining an insider's perspective.
An important part of the interview is establishing rapport with the informant. The best way to
do this is by being a good listener. It is crucial for ethnographers to listen far more than we talk
in interviews. Conveying genuine interest to the interviewee and doing what we can to make the
other person socially comfortable are also high priorities. We should also endeavor to choose
settings where our informants can relax and talk openly. Depending in the circumstances of the
fieldsite or the informant's position within it, it may be important to conduct the interview in a
private place. Be sure that the informant knows that the interview is data for a research project
and understands the implications of being interviewed. (See ethics.)
Before interviewing, we should ask ourselves what we want to learn from the interview. It is
a good idea to make a list of possible questions which can help to hone in on different aspects of
the guiding question. Plan open-ended questions which require paragraph answers. If the
informant goes off on a tangent in answering the question, listen for a while instead of
immediately insisting on the prepared agenda. This often leads to very useful information that we
didn't know was needed! If it seems like nothing useful is coming from the tangent, find a way to
gracefully re-direct the conversation. Don't worry if not all of the questions on the list get asked
and answered; it is far more important to come away with information that addresses the guiding
question. Be sure to record important information like the date and place of the interview and
why this informant seemed like a good choice for the project.
It is important to tape the interview, with the informant's informed consent. Even for people
who are very good at keeping notes during a conversation, it is extremely helpful to have an
actual account of exactly what was said and how so that you can listen to it many times. In
addition, it is possible to focus more attention on establishing rapport, taking in nonverbal clues,

and the like if it isn't necessary to write very much during the interview. Taping also allows us to
leave open the possibility of transcribing the interview for later close inspection. This inspection,
known as discourse analysis, can be an additional way of uncovering layers of meaning in what
your informants say. If the informant does not want to be taped, learn from the interview
anyway. After the interview, write down notes about what was learned, following the general
formula for four aspects of fieldnotes.
Be sure to test the equipment beforehand, to turn the tape recorder on at an appropriate volume
and to turn the tape when necessary. Remember to take extra tapes and new batteries to the
interview!!!!!
Transcribing interviews opens up enormous potential for learning from them through close
attention to detail. And yet, it is challenging to find ways to render live conversation accurately
on paper, since such crucial elements as tone of voice, facial expression, pauses, and other things
can be difficult to capture on paper. Below are excerpts from actual ethnographic interviews
conducted by students. Notice how the following are included and yet kept separate from one
another:

exact transcription of what was said, including strange grammar, run-on sentences,
"ummm-hmmmm", pauses, hesitations, words only partially said, and other ""messy"
aspects of actual speech,

parenthetical descriptions of tone of voice, facial expression, events in the background, or

overall manner of the speaker, and

analysis of what was learned (step 3 as described in fieldnotes.)

Example #1: an ethnography of an urban hospice which provides end-of-life care for dying
people and their families by Annie Farmer. What follows is an excerpt of an interview with the
pastor who directs pastoral care at the hospice.
"A: Well, what exactly do you see as the (trail off), we talked a lot in training about the different
parts of hospice. How do you see the spiritual part of hospice coming into play with the rest of
it?
Pastor: Ok, well, I see the spiritual part as being essential to the families and the patient being
able to have some sense of balance and peace to be able to go through what they're going
through. Because we are all spiritual beings, it's not necessarily about religion it's about
spirituality, and we're all spiritual beings, and being spiritual beings that's one of the areas in our
life that we have to have some peace in. Just like we have the physical realm, have a sense of
peace about our bodies and the pain that we may be going through. What I talk about a lot of the
time, is that people do experience spiritual pain just like they experience physical pain. ...
A: Do most of the patients that you see, are they like open to the spiritual component of the
hospice, or do you ever see patients who just don't want any part of that at all?

Pastor: Well basically, the patients are just the way they are in life in many terms.
A: (mumbles of agreement)
Analysis: One thing not mentioned (in the interview) as much as I'd anticipated was religion.
During the training sessions, the topic of God was frequently mentioned, not by the staff
normally, but by volunteers. Since the pastor heads the pastoral care for the hospice, I had
assumed this would come up more frequently. Instead religion was pretty much avoided and the
idea of spirituality was stressed. Religion is often a very touchy subject, and with the hospices's
focus on inclusiveness and acceptance, I am sure they try to avoid anything that might alienate."
Example #2: an ethnography of waitresses in an all-night diner by Reah Johnson. The following
excerpt is from an interview with a waitress who has worked both the day and night shifts.
"Patty is sitting in the back corner of the bar at a video screen playing a touch-screen solitaire
game and smoking Marlboro Mediums. Her shift ended at 9 pm and she has been relaxing for
two hours. She is a heavy set woman in her fifties with frizzled shoulder length hair that is
layered. She is dressed in all black with an abundance of matching black eyeliner that is smeared
about her upper eyelids. She prefers not to leave her spot because she is tired and wants to
continue her card game as she answers my questions. I squeeze in next to her, forcing the man to
my right to scoot his stool further over. There is a baseball game on tv that is turned up for the
entire bar to hear. Patty's voice is low and wispy; her first word identified at least thirty years of
smoking.
P: You okay? You wanna coke or something?
R: Um, I'm fine thank you.
P: You sure? ... to bartender Johnny, get this girl a coke, will ya? She's gonna be asking me
questions for school.
R: My first question would be... did you like the graveyard shift when you worked it?
P: overlapping and abrupt I loved it.
R: What was it... why did you love it?
P: Nobody bothered you. Morning people and night people are different.
R: Ah-ha... taking notes awkwardly in lap
P: A lot different.
R: Ah-ha... taking notes
P: Ask me questions.

R: Um... what about the night people?

P: They're more friendlier.
R: Ah-ha... how about any regulars?
P: O-yeah. We used to have, at one time we had the Inquirer.
R: You had what? in a higher pitch
P: The Inquirer drivers. much louder
R: Oh, okay...
P: You know, they'd be in all night long from eleven o'clock till mornin.
Bartender places a coke and straw in front of me.
Analysis: When I showed up Wednesday night Bernie claimed she was in far too foul of a mood
to be interviewed and then led me back to Patty. ... Patty acted remotely amused to be research
worthy but more so she seemed to be doing Bernie a favor. My experience accessing this
interview was insightful as to how favors are acted out at Holy Joe's, at least on the part of the
waitresses. Overall, both women were happy to do favors. ... It appears favors are requested by
and of each worker regularly and are necessary within the St. George's work place."
References
Briggs, Charles L.
1986 Learning How to Ask: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the Interview in Social
Science Research. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Site Documents
In addition to participant observation and interviews, ethnographers may also make use of
various documents in answering guiding questions. When available, these documents can add
additional insight or information to our projects. Because ethnographic attention has been and
continues to be focused on both literate and non-literate peoples, not all research projects will
have site documents available. It is also possible that even research among a literate group will
not have relevant site documents to consider; this could vary depending on the focus of your
research. Thinking carefully about our sites and how they function and asking questions of
our informants helps us to decide what kinds of documents might be available.
There are a variety of kinds of documents which might be relevant for our projects. These
documents are not produced for research purposes. Generally, these documents can be

divided into three categories. Be absolutely clear in the final paper how the documents used fit
into these categories!

Documents produced by the people in your fieldsite. These kinds of documents can help
us learn how the group in question expresses itself to either insiders or outsiders. What is
written about and how? Why would this document be produced? Who will read or use
it, and how? What isn't included that could be? What does it tell you, either directly or
indirectly, about your guiding question? Specific reflection on the topic of our research
need not be present for us to find documents produced by our informants useful.

Documents produced by people somehow like the people in your fieldsite. These kinds of
documents can help us learn about general issues which might affect our specific
fieldsite. We might learn specific vocabulary for trial use in our site through reading these
kinds of documents. It is also possible to become sensitized to certain issues which may
be present in our sites before approaching the group directly. Always remember that
considerable variation among sites exists and that not everything you learn will be
relevant to your specific site.

Documents produced about the people in your fieldsite. These kinds of documents can
help you to place your group in a wider institutional, interactional, or global context. We
can learn more about what kinds of constrictions are placed upon the people in our site,
prejudices against them, privileges they are accorded, or their reputations among certain
other groups of people. Useful sources of demographic information or documentation of
historical events might also be available.

Possible documents include: budgets, advertisements, work descriptions, annual reports,

memos, correspondence, informational brochures, teaching materials, newsletters, websites,
recruitment or orientation packets, contracts, records of court proceedings, posters, minutes of
meetings, menus, and many other kinds of written items.
For example, an ethnographer studying how third graders learn science in a classroom setting
might want to collect such things as the state- or school-mandated science curriculum for third
graders in the school(s) where he or she does research, and examples of written student work.
Local school budget allocations to science education, specific teachers' lesson plans, and copies
of age-appropriate science textbooks could also be relevant. It might also be useful to try finding
subgroups of professional educators organizations which focus on teaching elementary school
science and join their listservs, attend their meetings, or get copies of their newsletters. All of
these things could greatly enrich the participant observation and the interviews that we do!
Another example: In her ethnography of an AIDS funding organization, anthropology major
Jhuma Chaudhuri took note of the various posters in the office which portrayed messages about
the HIV virus and people with AIDS. She also gathered informational brochures distributed but
not produced by the organization, as well as an agency staff-produced questionnaire regarding
quality of life issues for local HIV + individuals. These documents helped her to add to what she
learned through participant observation and interviews with regards to her main interest: how the
organization socially constructs HIV and AIDS.

Privacy or copyright issues may apply to the documents you gather, so it is important to inquire
about this when you find or are given documents. If you are given permission to include what
you learn from these documents in your final paper, the documents should be cited
appropriately and included in the bibliography of your final paper. (See drafting the paper
for citation guidelines.) If you are not given permission, do not use them in any way!
References
Hammersley, Martyn and Paul Atkinson
1995 "Documents" In Ethnography: Principles in Practice. Pp. 157-174. Second edition. New
York: Routledge.

Data Analysis
In ethnography, data analysis most usually takes place throughout the project. That is to
say, we learn from the data we gather during one visit to the field helps us learn what to watch
for, notice, or ask during the next visit. As fieldwork progresses, constantly refining our ideas of
what might be happening at the site. At this level, data analysis is ongoing and helps fieldwork
gain momentum towards useful information.
Presumably, however, there eventually comes a point when we turn our attention more fully to
working with the data we have gathered already, often after leaving or limiting visits to the
fieldsite. What does our data mean? What have we learned? What can we say regarding our
guiding question, or others that we may know how to ask now based on the research? In short,
how might we best analyze the data we have gathered?
While there is no single canonical way to approach ethnographic data, the following points may
be useful in helping us arrive at some conclusions:

Read through the fieldnotes, notes on interviews, interview transcripts, site documents,
or whatever data has been gathered several times. Becoming very familiar with the
information at the start helps to to proceed.

Mark the data and take notes on any patterns, connections, similarities, or contrastive
points in the data. Does anything stand out as a usual way of doing things at the site?
What seems unusual, and why? What becomes clear analytically that was not clear
before?

Consider facilitating the above process, called coding, by using a computer-assisted data
analysis program like Nud/ist or Ethnograph. Students should see the computer lab TA
for assistance in getting started.

Follow up on what you noticed above by looking for "local categories of meaning" in
the data. What terms do the informants have for things? What can you as a researcher

identify as themes, even if the informants don't? Remember that the main purpose of
ethnography is eliciting "native points of view"; these "local categories" are its
components. Try to come up with a list of "local categories" from the data.

Test the categories and explanations you have started to draw out of the data against the
variety of cases you have recorded. Are there alternative explanations for what you
think you have seen so far? What can you learn from looking at the data from a variety
of perspectives?

Try triangulating among the various forms of data you have gathered. If a point or an
explanation holds across several sources you have gathered - if, for example, it can be
supported by fieldnotes, interviews, and/or site documents - then you can be more sure
that you have found something integral to understanding your site.

Consider trying "respondent validation", or explaining your developing conclusions to

your informants. The informants might be in a position to share additional things which
help to confirm or complicate what you have learned. Remember, of course, that the
informants are still socially positioned, and may or may not agree with the analysis in
part based on their positions or perspectives within the social network have investigated.
Agreement from informants doesn't necessarily mean we're right, and disagreement
doesn't necessarily mean we're wrong.

Once we have arrived at some conclusions regarding the data gathered, we must consider the
question of how to focus on the guiding question which drove the research. Can that question be
answered from what we learned? Is another question more appropriate? What other questions
has the research provoked? Remembering that the thesis sentence must be an answer to the
guiding question, it is important to work back and forth between our emerging conclusions and
guiding question to produce a cohesive paper.
References
Hammersley, Martyn and Paul Atkinson
1995 "Documents" In Ethnography: Principles in Practice. Pp. 157-174. Second edition. New
York: Routledge.

Developing a Thesis and Argument

As an academic paper, an ethnographic paper needs a thesis statement as its foundation.
This statement must be persuasively presented and argued in order for the paper to be successful.
In ethnographic papers, the thesis sentence is often the answer to the guiding question. In
other words, the thesis is the simply stated conclusion of the research. If the ethnography has
been brief, it may be necessary to refer to the thesis as "preliminary conclusions", but in any case
the paper must argue for them as well. Thesis statements are most commonly found in the first
paragraph of the paper.

The process of developing a thesis sentence is intimately linked to the process of data analysis.
From the various ways of understanding and explaining data which have been tried as analysis,
ethnographers are generally able to choose one which seems most appropriate. This, then, forms
the basis for the thesis statement.
Theses are usually one sentence claims which report the results of the research. Booth, Colomb
and Williams (1995) make these points about strong theses:

A thesis should be substantive. That is, it should do more than introduce the topic or
announce what the paper will discuss. The thesis should attract audience interest by
briefly stating the claim that the paper will focus on, with the contradiction, new
information, or surprise it contains taking center stage.

A thesis must be contestable. This means that it must not be either completely obvious
or constitute common knowledge on a subject. Good theses should pique reader interest
by announcing something that has the possibility of changing people's minds.

A thesis must be specific. Therefore, it must announce as simply and clearly as possible
what kinds of evidence will be necessary to prove it. These elements constitute an outline
of what strands of argument the paper will present in its defense.

Examples of thesis sentences:

1. For an ethnography of changing strategies of ethnic identity maintenance strategies among
Laotian immigrants to Philadelphia:
While extended family networks remain an extremely important in the maintenance of ethnic
identity among Laotian immigrants in Philadelphia, non-kin networks developed through
neighborhood community centers have taken on a new role of increasing prominence as well.
2. In her ethnography of an urban hospice's social construction of death, Annie Farmer used the
following thesis:
"Because of hospice's construction of death as an individual event that is a natural part of the life
cycle, a view of death that differs greatly from that held by much of American society and its
medical community, hospice provides a different type of care than a traditional hospital or
nursing home."
Once a claim has been asserted, it is necessary to put forth an argument which proves it to
the reader. Embedded in the thesis sentence should be a kind of abbreviated outline for the
paper; this outline consists of several sub-claims for which evidence must be provided. The
evidence from which a conclusion and then a thesis sentence was gleaned now comes into the
foreground. How do you know what you claimed to know in the thesis sentence? Excerpts from
the data gathered should be interwoven in the text of ethnographic papers as proof for your
conclusions. It is important to break this down for readers exactly how the evidence presented
leads to the points asserted in the paper.
References

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams

1995 Chapter 3: Making a Claim and Supporting It. In The Craft of Research. Pp. 85-146.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Theoretical Context
Completed ethnography generally both speaks to and adds to established anthropological
theory. Theory is important in ethnographic papers for two main reasons:
1. Through applying theoretical tools to what we learn in the field about particular groups, we
can come to better understand specific instances of social life in our field contexts. It is through
theory that ethnographic data gains meaning.
Therefore, in ethnographic papers students are required to identify and apply some body of
theory to the data amassed for the purpose of explaining it.
2. Theory also has an important role in helping to generate guiding questions for ethnographic
investigation, allowing us to address larger questions about how culture works among
diverse groups of people. Anthropologists go into the field not just to learn how one group of
people lives, but to learn more about how those particular ways of life both inform and are
informed by general social and cultural processes.

Therefore, in writing ethnographic papers students should consider the implications of what is
learned at the fieldsite for adding new insights or dimensions to existing theory.
The number of theoretical models which have been generated by anthropological thinkers
over the decades since professional anthropology came into existence is enormous. This is in
part because no kind of theory is applicable to all kinds of social and cultural phenomena.
Different theoretical ways of understanding our data also tend to go in and out of wide use for a
variety of reasons related to general intellectual climate and the state of accumulated knowledge
at various times.
Following are general sketches of only a tiny percentage of the anthropological theory in
existence. Students are encouraged to read these descriptions as a way to begin thinking
about theory only. The edited volumes listed below are excellent places to begin searching for
appropriate models in more depth. It is a very good idea to consult with the professor in choosing
theoretical tools to apply to ethnographic papers.

Gender as a social construct: Not all cultural groups have the same understanding of
biological differences between the sexes or ways in which these differences become
socially manifest (or not). Therefore, gender as an analytic concept can help to illuminate
much about cultural variation concerning such topics as divisions of labor, kinship,
politics, and other aspects of the lives of women and men live.

Theorists to consider: Peggy Sanday, Sylvia Junko Yanagisako, Jane Collier, Louise
Lamphere, Sherry Ortner.

Foucault's notion of power: Power allows certain people to define the realm of
possibility for others' actions. The "peripheral effects" of power affect individuals'
understandings of their own social worlds and how things work within it. In this way, it
can be subtle or even unnoticed by those who it affects.
Theorists to consider: Michel Foucault.

Symbolism: Culture is publicly manifest in symbols and actions rather than a primarily
mental phenomenon inside people's heads. Social meaning between and among people is
conveyed via symbols. Consequently, the ways in which people interpret the meanings of
symbols is a major part of understanding their world views.

Theorists to consider: Clifford Geertz. For a slightly different interpretation of symbols, consult
Victor Turner.
References & suggested resources
Borofsky, Robert
1994 Assessing Cultural Anthropology. NY: McGraw-Hill.
Lemert, Charles
1999 Social Theory: the Multicultural and Classic Readings. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
McGee, R. Jon and Warms, Richard L.
1996 Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. Mountainview, CA: Mayfair Publishing
Co.
Web resources:

This site from the University of Indiana is a collection of accessible papers which clearly
outline general theoretical contexts and approaches currently used in anthropology today.
http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/theory.htm

Drafting the Paper

Writing is a process. By carefully attending to each stage of this process in our work, we all
increase our chances of writing lively, interesting papers which easily communicate what we
would like to say. There are three general stages of writing to consider.

Pre-writing: the time spent organizing and planning what we want to say. Some people
find it useful to make formal outlines of the paper before actually writing, while others
work better with a looser plan. This stage may also include free-writing exercises in order

to help uncover what we are actually trying to say in the paper. Tacking back and forth
between what was learned during data analysis can help organize the points we want to
make in the final paper.
Draft writing: the first attempt to actually write the full paper. At this stage, it is more
useful to focus on getting our ideas across clearly and effectively than on producing a
well-polished product. Following the plan created during pre-writing but changing it as it
seems necessary to do so can make this stage easier. Sometimes, it is useful to write a
section, take a break to do something else for a few minutes, and then return to write the
next section.
Revising: cleaning up the draft for the purpose of handing it in. It is advisable to finish
the draft at least several days in advance of the due date in order to ask for feedback from
colleagues, fellow students, professors, writing advisors, etc. At this stage, it is possible
to step back from the paper for the purpose of re-evaluating choices made in earlier
stages regarding organization, presentation of evidence, strategy of argument,
conclusions and overall effectiveness. Be sure to spell-check the paper and edit carefully
for grammatical and lexical awkwardness as well!

When preparing papers, ethnographers should be aware of the following conventions that apply
specifically to ethnographic writing:

Ethnographic papers are generally centered around presenting a problem or issue in

the guiding question. They then proceed to explore this question or problem and analyze
it in light of fieldwork. It is, therefore, very useful to clarify early in the paper why the
selected problem is important (both generally and anthropologically) and why it is
worthy of investigation.
Evidence for the thesis sentence and its supporting points is drawn from the
author's fieldwork. Be sure that the points presented as evidence are based upon
description and analysis from fieldnotes and interviews and from what you learned
through site documents (if available). Be clear about how you learned the information
described in the paper, what it means, and how it contributes to your central point.
Remember that this information and your use of it in the paper is the heart of the
argument being presented!

Since ethnographic evidence is both found and presented by the author of the paper, it
will sometimes be necessary to use the first person in ethnographic papers. Usually,
"I" statements are useful when discussing both our own positioning in our research and in
presenting some data. This is in contrast to other kinds of academic papers in which the
author's voice is not personalized, and reflects the fact that who we are as individuals
affects our ethnography.

Ethnographic writing is evocative, descriptive, and lively. It is academic writing that

requires creativity in rendering scenes, sights, smells, feelings, and individuals as lifelike
as possible on the page. Help the reader to be where you were and to understand as
realistically as possible what it was really like.

Names of places and individuals are often, but not always, changed to pseudonyms
in ethnographic papers. It is important to follow the wishes of our informants regarding
their wishes to be named directly or not. Ask them and follow their wishes. If using
pseudonyms, take care to genuinely hide someone's identity while also retaining some
sense of realism in the choice of the pseudonym.

It is necessary to attribute ideas that are not one's own to their authors. References
should be cited in a consistent bibliographic style. Note that even unpublished materials
(as many site documents may be) should be accounted for in the bibliography. Since
much of the data supporting ethnographic papers is oral and not written, writers should be
clear about how the information learned orally was gained and attribute it to that person
in the text of the paper (using a pseudonym as appropriate.)

The following is a slightly revised version of a checklist developed by Dr. Julia Paley for things
which should be included in good ethnographic writing:

guiding question
thesis statement

evocative description of the setting(s)

methodology - what did you do and how?

evidence - excerpts from fieldnotes, quotes, information from documents, pictures,

diagrams, etc.

data - how many people you interviewed, how many times you visited, how much
material you have

portrayal of specific people, using pseudonyms if appropriate

your own positioning in your research

reflexivity - how you're representing all of the above

fairness of presentation, including counter-evidence where it exists and enough data for
readers to draw their own conclusions without simply relying on your interpretations

theoretical component

closure - implications of the research for practice or future study

bibliography

appendix (if relevant)