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Ethnography is a research technique adapted from the field of anthropology in which a researcher lives with a group of people as a participant observer, taking part in the group’s everyday life while also observing and interviewing the people in the group. The primary goal of this approach is to use observations to understand how people make sense of their world and their experiences in it (Merriam, 2009). It is especially helpful when studying children in different cultures because it allows the researcher to see the whole context of the children’s development. For example, Sudhir Venkatesh (2008) wanted to administer questionnaires to gang members in inner city Chicago and ended up living among them for almost 10 years. This resulted in a rich account of their lives in a book titled Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets.

Ethnography: A qualitative research technique in which a researcher lives with a group of people as a participant observer, taking part in the group’s everyday life while observing and interviewing people in the group.

Although ethnographies give us an in-depth look at a cultural group from someone embedded in that group for an extended period of time, researchers must recognize that their presence may change the behavior of the group they are observing and their own biases may affect how they interpret what they see. A researcher’s personal safety could be placed in jeopardy in some research settings, and a considerable amount of time is needed to carry out this type of study.

Ethnography. This ethnographic researcher entered into the everyday life of this group of people to gain a rich picture of all aspects of their environment.

MICHAEL NICHOLS/National Geographic Creative

Table 2.5 gives a brief summary of the different types of methodology used in research with children.

Table 2.5

Each type of research method has some advantages and some disadvantages. Think about why you might choose each of these methods.