What's wrong with ethnography? : methodological explorations
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
What's wrong with ethnography? : methodological explorations
Routledge, 1992
- : pbk
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Note
Bibliography: p. 204-222
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
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ISBN 9780415054768
Description
While now widely accepted as an approach to social research, ethnography is still by no means uncontroversial. Current debates centre on its claim to capture an independent social reality and its relations to social and political practice. There has always been a relativistic strand in ethnographic thinking, but this has become stronger in recent years. For example, there are those who (under the influence of post-structuralism and other recent philosophical trends) regard ethnographic texts as constructing the `realities' they describe. Similarly, the distanced attitude of many ethnographers towards politics and practice has come under increasing challenge from those who seek to employ ethnography for the pursuit of practical and political goals. Even the long-standing debate about the relationship between quantitative and qualitative method has not been satisfactorily resolved. Martyn Hammersley examines three issues. He argues that traditional ethnographic thinking involves a naive relativism, an option that seems increasingly attractive to ethnographers. This book should be of interest to students of sociology, psychology, and ethnography.
Table of Contents
Part One: Ethnography, Theory and Reality 1. What's wrong with ethnography? The myth of theoretical description 2. Some questions about theory in ethnography and history 3. Ethnoraphy and realism 4. By what criteria should ethnographic research be judged? Part Two: Ethnography, Relevance and Practice 5. The relevance of ethnography 6. Critical theory as a model for ethnography 7. Parts that even ethnography cannot reach: Some reflections on the relationship between research and policy 8. On practitioner ethnography Part Three: Qualitative versus Quantitative Method 9. Deconstructing the quantitative-qualitative divide 10. Keeping the conversation open: the relationship between quantitative and qualitative 11. The logic of theory-testing in case study research 12. So, what are case studies?.
- Volume
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: pbk ISBN 9780415054775
Description
This stimulating and refreshing study, written by one of the leading commentators in the field, provides novel answers to these crucial questions.
"What's Wrong With Ethnography provides a fresh look at the rationale for and distinctiveness of ethnographic research in sociology, education and related fields, and succeeds in slaying a number of currently fashionable sacred cows. Relativism, critical theory, the uniqueness of the case study and the distinction between qualitative and quantitative research are all examined and found wanting as a basis for informed ethnography. The policy and political implications of ethnography are a particular focus of attention. The author compels the reader to reexamine some basic methodological assumptions in an exciting way", Martin Bulmer, London School of Economics.
Table of Contents
Part One: Ethnography, Theory and Reality 1. What's wrong with ethnography? The myth of theoretical description 2. Some questions about theory in ethnography and history 3. Ethnoraphy and realism 4. By what criteria should ethnographic research be judged? Part Two: Ethnography, Relevance and Practice 5. The relevance of ethnography 6. Critical theory as a model for ethnography 7. Parts that even ethnography cannot reach: Some reflections on the relationship between research and policy 8. On practitioner ethnography Part Three: Qualitative versus Quantitative Method 9. Deconstructing the quantitative-qualitative divide 10. Keeping the converstion open: the relationship between quantitative and qualitative 11. The logic of theory-testing in case study research 12. So, what are case studies?
by "Nielsen BookData"