With reference to a published ethnographic study to illustrate the points you make, discuss your understanding of the defining activities and principles of ethnographic research.

The term ‘ethnography’ relates to a specific method upon which a researcher goes through to understand a certain situation. These methods involve the ethnographer becoming interrelated either ‘covertly’ (whereby the researcher does not let the participants know who they are; either they hide their identity or they observe from a far) or ‘overtly’ (whereby researchers inform participants of who they are) with the people under investigation and within their daily lives. As Marvin Harris and Orna Johnson (2001) state, ethnography literally means “a portrait of people, ethnography is a written description of a particular culture- the customs, beliefs and behaviour- based on information collected through fieldwork”.

This ethnographic method starts with a selection of the culture upon which they wish to observe and understand. The ethnographer then researchers this specific culture and identifies variables of interest, typically these will be variables perceived as significant by members of the culture. The ethnographer then has to decide how they will gain entrance, this is especially difficult when done within covert ethnography as there is pressure in whatever circumstance it is to not stand out and look like an intruder or ‘ethnographer’. It is not unusual for ethnographers to live within their chosen society for months or even years, yet it doesn’t take long in most cases for the ethnographer to gain cultural immersion. The middle stages of ethnographic research rely on the ethnographer gaining as much information as possible; this can be done through a range of both qualitative data as well as quantitative. This is their ‘fieldwork’ and is vital when carrying out such investigations. When they feel as though they have enough data, or that staying within such a society wouldn’t benefit their research anymore they leave, they then use their field work for their data analysis and theory development whereby the ethnographer strives to avoid theoretical preconceptions.

As the ethnographer often gets very involved in the research, rich qualitative data can be yielded from ethnography, but as this type of research needs to be gained over a long period of time and can often invite an array of different opinions, other research methods may be used within the study, therefore quantitative data can be gained from methods such as questionnaires, interviews, experiments and observations. This specific form of social research can be identified as triangulation as it combines different methods so that the strengths of one complement the weaknesses of the other.

There are a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

There are a range of different types of ethnography not just that of covert and overt methods. Micro and Macro ethnography tends to study the narrowly or broadly defined cultural groupings. Whereas Emic and Etic ethnography is considered a research approach to the way in which members or non-members perceive and interpret behaviours and phenomena associated with a given culture.

There are a number of documentaries that have been broadcast across our television screens recently whereby ethnographic research has been the main focus. Journalists have particularly taken to ethnographic research as it gives more depth and intensity to their so called ‘stories’ and interests the public greatly. Donal MacIntyre for example has managed to make a career out of ethnographic research, as he has covertly managed to fool people in to believing that he is not a journalist and is therefore one of them. His research method has in many circumstances worked very well as he has managed to prove a variety of things that could not have been done overtly.

One of Donal MacIntyre’s most famous and well recognised ethnographic study was in 1999. He wanted to show the public just how dangerous football hooligans are and how much they relish violence. In just eighteen months Donal MacIntyre infiltrated the Chelsea ‘Head-Hunters’ (the hooligan firm for Chelsea football team) with the help of hidden cameras and recording equipment, the results were just what he wanted. In preparation for this ethnographic study MacIntyre had to watch hours of Chelsea videos and had to leaf through pages of literature to enable him to become culturally immersed within the hooligans. He pretended to be a drug dealer, and a very successful one at that. He moved into the same block of flats as the main ring leader of the Head-hunters and even hired out a £45,000 Mercedes to look the part. Donal MacIntyre was born in Ireland so for eighteen months he had to loose his accent. To get involved he started to take the Head-hunters to away games, he slowly became one of them and at one point even ended up in a fight at one of the football matches with them, he stated in his documentary that “it was real”. He got very badly hurt, yet he was getting what he needed from the investigation so decided to carry on. He even went to the extremes of having a Chelsea tattoo on his arm for authenticity, which he is now getting removed. Sitting in Donal’s £45,000 Mercedes on more than one occasion was Andrew Frain (nicknamed ‘nightmare’) who boast on the documentary about ‘slashing’ an off duty police officer. He also spent one particular journey to a football match with Leicester on the phone arranging a 150 man riot.

Within in all ethnographic research, observation is one of the main methods upon which a sociologist or ethnographer can collect their fieldwork. Yet, they do not just observe people as and when they need to decide when and where to observe people and to actually observe the specific things that relate to the investigation. With such an immense study it is often difficult to keep the fieldwork observations completely related to the specific variables of interest. In Donal MacIntyre’s case he took the role of becoming a ‘complete participant’, whereby he took a very highly active and involved participation within the group being examined, the Head-hunters. (Fulcher & Scott,Sociology,2nd edition, p88) Although this may seem easy, it is very difficult to actually gain the information needed as it is difficult to ask questions or raise specific issues that would make it obvious that the researcher is not a participant. Therefore the researcher has to remain within the role and sometimes can get so involved within it that it is difficult for them to then be able to analyse the findings. Also without recording equipment it may be difficult to remember everything before you get the chance to write it down, also with a recording you can replay it as many times as you like and get different opinions upon it yet without this your evidence is subject to watch you saw, which can lead to a bias view.

Donal MacIntyre stated that the very difficult eighteen month investigation was ‘traumatic and very scary’. Donal spoke of his fear for life on many occasions. As the documentary was aired on the BBC, the police had the evidence to arrest two of the main ring leaders of the Chelsea Head-hunters. One was jailed for seven years and one was jailed for six and they both have been banned from attending football matches for twenty years. Through this specific ethnographic investigation Donal managed to gain evidence and information on an aspect that the Head-hunters would have not been willing to discuss elsewhere. The Head-hunters didn’t feel the need to lie as they may have in an interview for example as they assumed that Donal was their friend. As Donal gained an insider status he had access to their so called ‘native language’.

However, although this type of methodology was considered the most efficient when getting truthful, reliable and valuable information, it has had its consequences upon Donal. Since the investigation Donal has received a number of death threats, his car has been spray painted, he has been mugged and beaten up and he now lives in constant fear within a ‘safe-house’.

This shows the extremes and amount of work people are prepared to go through to get the result they want. Donal MacIntyre has put his own safety aside as he wanted to prove to the public what hooliganism was really like. Ethnographic research is a method which involves so many different types of research; therefore it is considered that it is a very good way of investigating cases which are not just a yes or no answer. Although some people state that covert ethnography is wrong as you are leading people to believe you are somebody that you are not, many sociologists view is that the only way you are able to get a reliable result is through being covert, because people will always try to make themselves sound or look better if they know they are being investigated, whether they mean to or not.

Bibliography

Books: