Ethnographic approach

Originating in anthropology, but now used throughout the social sciences, involving the use of a variety of field techniques, such as observation, documentation, and interviewing. These techniques are intended to enable the researcher to become immersed in a culture, identify its many elements, and begin to shape an understanding of the experience and world views of the people studied (Fielding, 1993). In LIS, see, for example, Chatman (1992), Kwasnik (1992), Pettigrew (2000), and Wilson & Streatfield (1981). A related, popular approach is grounded theory development (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). See Ellis (1993), Ellis & Haugan (1997), Kwasnik (1991), and Mellon (1986). Sundstrom & Sandstrom (1995) discuss the ways in which both nomothetically and ideographically oriented researchers have used ethnographic methods.

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