Understanding ethnography

Abstract

Ethnography is considered to be the oldest of the qualitative research methodologies. The research methodology of ethnography is becoming increasingly popular in the field of health-care research to study behaviour and social interactions, and specifically in midwifery, to explore the culture of childbirth. Ethnography is a research methodology that can enable researchers to make sense of peoples actions by observing them in the context of their environment, such as a labour ward. This then allows for an understanding of midwives' behaviour within their cultural arena. This demonstrates the essence of ethnography. There are two types of observation used in this research methodology: participant and non-participant observation. The researcher is the major research tool for data collection and collects the data in ‘field notes’. If the researcher does not understand what has been observed, further data collection is conducted by semi-structured interviews with representatives from the group observed. Data collection methods can also incorporate photography and the use of film. Ethnographers are also open to visual analysis of any artefact or document witnessed within the environment under study, for example, a noticeboard in the clinical area.