Reconsidering educational ethnography and the field notebook: a contribution from inclusive ethics

Abstract

This article examines the processes of educational ethnography and questions the traditional use of the field notebook and research relationships. It forms part of an ongoing collaborative study analyzing university students’ learning trajectories. Guided by inclusive ethics, the study proposes that researcher–participant collaboration is fundamental in defying traditional research methodologies. Post-qualitative inquiry enables an inclusive ethics perspective by providing a critical view of the usual ways of conducting research. The paper presents three cases of collaborators taking a field notebook and self-observing their learning. Participant agency facilitates our immersion in different worlds and produces new, non-standardized perceptions that enable the transformation of educational ethnography.