Priya kumariAIR 232 · CSE 2025 · 184 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening · a definition
Ethnography is a qualitative research tool, used by Non-positivists sociologists in sociological studies. It involves immersing completely among the respondent's social life through participant observation.
Body · points
Strengths of ethnography
- Contextual understanding through participant observation of their social settings.
- Presents a total or complete picture of the sociological study.
- Includes even what can be put aside as non-valuable information.
- Gives a deeper insight into respondent's social life.
- Reduces the chances of "exclusion" of qualitative information.
- Researcher can put aside his own ethnocentric and egocentric view and apply ethno-relativism to understand the social phenomenons.
- Researcher gets a chance to participate himself in various day to day activities.
Limitations
- Timetaking and costly.
- Ex: Malinowski's study of Tribes in Australia took 6 years.
- Chances of researcher's bias - due to personal participation, often develops empathy & sympathy & affects research findings.
- Difficult to replicate the study - reduces chances of validation.
- Narrow empiricism.
- Lack of generality.
Close · a summary
Ethnography presents a complete view of a study and aids the growth of sociological research methodology to understand the society.