Computational Model for Ethnographically Informed Systems Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iqbal, Rahat; James, Anne; Shah, Nazaraf; Terken, Jacuqes

This paper presents a computational model for ethnographically informed systems design that can support complex and distributed cooperative activities. This model is based on an ethnographic framework consisting of three important dimensions (e.g., distributed coordination, awareness of work and plans and procedure), and the BDI (Belief, Desire and Intention) model of intelligent agents. The ethnographic framework is used to conduct ethnographic analysis and to organise ethnographically driven information into three dimensions, whereas the BDI model allows such information to be mapped upon the underlying concepts of multi-agent systems. The advantage of this model is that it is built upon an adaptation of existing mature and well-understood techniques. By the use of this model, we also address the cognitive aspects of systems design.

Writing and Retelling Multiple Ethnographic Tales of a Soup Kitchen for the Homeless.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Dana L.; Creswell, John W.; Olander, Lisa

An ethnographic study narrated three tales about a soup kitchen for the homeless and the near-homeless. To provide a cultural, ethnographic analysis, and share fieldwork experiences the study began with realist and confessional tales. These two tales emerged from the initial writing and presenting of the soup kitchen ethnography to qualitative…

[Ethnographic approaches to research and intervention in mental health].

PubMed

Nunes, Mônica de Oliveira; de Torrenté, Maurice

2013-10-01

The specifics of ethnographic approaches to mental health research are examined, highlighting the motives why the type of knowledge produced by ethnography is relevant to the context of Psychiatric Reform and the biomedicalization of existence. The discussion is focused on interpretation-based ethnography in the field of mental health, stressing the theoretical and methodological foundations of a comprehensive form of apprehending the scope of mental health as an object akin to a clinic of the individual. The centrality of social and cultural aspects in the ethnographic approach and the inflexions mediated by the type of ethnographic methodological undertaking is stressed. Lastly, the ethnography of madness is seen as a fitting example that substantiates some of these characteristics. The contention is that accessing psychotic persons (and others who may speak about these experiences) from varied areas of their daily life, situated in their various social inscriptions, while confronting these interpretations with other interpretative dimensions of their social reality and within the logic linked to local psychologies, is a pertinent procedure, from whence certain aspects of an understanding of madness (or causes of its incomprehension) can emerge.

Using Meta-Ethnographic Analysis to Understand and Represent Youth's Notions and Experiences of Learning in and out of Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hernández-Hernández, Fernando; Sancho-Gil, Juana M.

2017-01-01

In the last four years, we have been researching how five groups of young people were learning inside and outside secondary schools. The novelty of this proposal was to invite these young people to act as researchers by carrying out their own ethnographic cases. As a result we produced 10 ethnographic reports--5 prepared by students and 5 by the…

The pros and cons of researching events ethnographically

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Events (remarkable, disruptive happenings) are important subjects of study for understanding processes of change. In this essay, I reflect upon the issue of what the ethnographic method has to offer for the analysis of this social phenomenon. To do so, I review three recently published ethnographic studies of events. My conclusion is that it is indeed a very useful method for understanding the feelings and ideas of people who are experiencing eventful situations, for instance around protests or natural disasters. However, using this method also brings about practical difficulties, such as the ‘luck’ that an event occurs at the ethnographic fieldwork site. Next, as transformative responses to events are not bound by the place or time of the happening, other methods (interviews, discourse analysis, surveys) that make it easier to follow them in varying locations and periods might be more suitable for getting a comprehensive picture of their meaning-making dynamics. PMID:29081715

Interprofessional collaboration and family member involvement in intensive care units: emerging themes from a multi-sited ethnography.

PubMed

Reeves, Scott; McMillan, Sarah E; Kachan, Natasha; Paradis, Elise; Leslie, Myles; Kitto, Simon

2015-05-01

This article presents emerging findings from the first year of a two-year study, which employed ethnographic methods to explore the culture of interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and family member involvement in eight North American intensive care units (ICUs). The study utilized a comparative ethnographic approach - gathering observation, interview and documentary data relating to the behaviors and attitudes of healthcare providers and family members across several sites. In total, 504 hours of ICU-based observational data were gathered over a 12-month period in four ICUs based in two US cities. In addition, 56 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a range of ICU staff (e.g. nurses, doctors and pharmacists) and family members. Documentary data (e.g. clinical guidelines and unit policies) were also collected to help develop an insight into how the different sites engaged organizationally with IPC and family member involvement. Directed content analysis enabled the identification and categorization of major themes within the data. An interprofessional conceptual framework was utilized to help frame the coding for the analysis. The preliminary findings presented in this paper illuminate a number of issues related to the nature of IPC and family member involvement within an ICU context. These findings are discussed in relation to the wider interprofessional and health services literature.

Ethnographies of pain: culture, context and complexity

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

This article briefly introduces and discusses the value of ethnographic research, particularly research hailing from the discipline of social and cultural anthropology. After an introduction to ethnography in general, key ethnographic studies of pain are described. These show that ethnography provides a set of techniques for data collection and analysis, as well as a way of thinking about pain as socially and culturally embedded. Modern ethnographic writing is far removed from the literature of the past that sometimes described stereotypes rather than process and complexity. Ethnography provides the chance to describe the complexity and nuance of culture, which serves to counter stereotypes. The article concludes with an example from pain research conducted in a clinical setting. Through the use of ethnographic techniques, the research study provided greater insight than other methods alone might have achieved. The article includes references for further reading should readers be interested in developing their engagement with ethnographic method and interpretation. PMID:26516554

Video ethnography during and after caesarean sections: methodological challenges.

PubMed

Stevens, Jeni; Schmied, Virginia; Burns, Elaine; Dahlen, Hannah G

2017-07-01

To describe the challenges of, and steps taken to successfully collect video ethnographic data during and after caesarean sections. Video ethnographic research uses real-time video footage to study a cultural group or phenomenon in the natural environment. It allows researchers to discover previously undocumented practices, which in-turn provides insight into strengths and weaknesses in practice. This knowledge can be used to translate evidence-based interventions into practice. Video ethnographic design. A video ethnographic approach was used to observe the contact between mothers and babies immediately after elective caesarean sections in a tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia. Women, their support people and staff participated in the study. Data were collected via video footage and field notes in the operating theatre, recovery and the postnatal ward. Challenges faced whilst conducting video ethnographic research included attaining ethics approval, recruiting vast numbers of staff members and 'vulnerable' pregnant women, and endeavouring to be a 'fly on the wall' and a 'complete observer'. There were disadvantages being an 'insider' whilst conducting the research because occasionally staff members requested help with clinical tasks whilst collecting data; however, it was an advantage as it enabled ease of access to the environment and staff members that were to be recruited. Despite the challenges, video ethnographic research enabled the provision of unique data that could not be attained by any other means. Video ethnographic data are beneficial as it provides exceptionally rich data for in-depth analysis of interactions between the environment, equipment and people in the hospital environment. The analysis of this type of data can then be used to inform improvements for future care. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

How to Conduct Ethnographic Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sangasubana, Nisaratana

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of conducting ethnographic research. Methodology definition and key characteristics are given. The stages of the research process are described including preparation, data gathering and recording, and analysis. Important issues such as reliability and validity are also discussed.

Examining organizational change in primary care practices: experiences from using ethnographic methods.

PubMed

Russell, Grant; Advocat, Jenny; Geneau, Robert; Farrell, Barbara; Thille, Patricia; Ward, Natalie; Evans, Samantha

2012-08-01

Qualitative methods are an important part of the primary care researcher's toolkit providing a nuanced view of the complexity in primary care reform and delivery. Ethnographic research is a comprehensive approach to qualitative data collection, including observation, in-depth interviews and document analysis. Few studies have been published outlining methodological issues related to ethnography in this setting. This paper examines some of the challenges of conducting an ethnographic study in primary care setting in Canada, where there recently have been major reforms to traditional methods of organizing primary care services. This paper is based on an ethnographic study set in primary care practices in Ontario, Canada, designed to investigate changes to organizational and clinical routines in practices undergoing transition to new, interdisciplinary Family Health Teams (FHTs). The study was set in six new FHTs in Ontario. This paper is a reflexive examination of some of the challenges encountered while conducting an ethnographic study in a primary care setting. Our experiences in this study highlight some potential benefits of and difficulties in conducting an ethnographic study in family practice. Our study design gave us an opportunity to highlight the changes in routines within an organization in transition. A study with a clinical perspective requires training, support, a mixture of backgrounds and perspectives and ongoing communication. Despite some of the difficulties, the richness of this method has allowed the exploration of a number of additional research questions that emerged during data analysis.

Aged women, witchcraft, and social relations among the Igbo in South-Eastern Nigeria.

PubMed

Atata, Scholastica Ngozi

2018-02-13

Belief in the existence of witchcraft has remained a social phenomenon in Igbo society, especially with aged women who are often labeled witches. This study is exploratory and explains the implication of labeling an aged woman a witch and social relations in Igbo society in South-Eastern Nigeria. Twenty interviews were conducted with aged women who are victims of the witchcraft label and their relatives using qualitative methods of data collection, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews. Data collected were analyzed using ethnographic content analysis. Findings reveal different social views attached to witchcraft and how it relates to aged women.

Mexican American family processes: nurturing, support, and socialization.

PubMed

Niska, K J

1999-04-01

The purpose of this ethnographic study with Mexican American families was to document characteristics of Mexican American family processes of nurturing, support, and socialization. Audiotaped conversations with participants were transcribed verbatim in Spanish or English. Content analysis was used to derive characteristics of family processes. Family nurturing was characterized by being kin-based and intimate in nature. Family support was kin-based, with material support oriented toward household needs; with emotional support grounded in shared stories, problem solving, and prayer; and with informational support offered in consejos (wisdom sayings and words of advice), stories, and guidance. Family socialization was kin-based, hierarchical, and ritualistic.

Japan's Teacher Acculturation: Critical Analysis through Comparative Ethnographic Narrative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howe, Edward R.

2005-01-01

Cross-cultural teaching and research in Canada and Japan is reported. Ethnographic narrative methods were used to examine Japan's teacher acculturation. Canada's teachers are largely required to work in isolation, to learn their practice through trial and error. There is little provision for mentorship and insufficient time to reflect. In…

Translanguaging as Dynamic Activity Flows in CLIL Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Angel M. Y.; He, Peichang

2017-01-01

In this article, the role of translanguaging in facilitating content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is examined in connection with the notion of academic language across the curriculum in multilingual contexts. Ethnographic naturalistic observations and interviews were conducted to analyse translanguaging in the dynamic flow of…

Between butch/femme: On the performance of race, gender, and sexuality in a YouTube web series.

PubMed

Day, Faithe

2017-11-27

Drawing on a legacy of Black television and film production, Black web series remediate earlier media forms in order to usher in a twenty-first-century revival of indie Black cultural production. Specifically, video sharing and social media platforms operate as a sphere in which content creators and users are afforded unique opportunities to engage with video content and each other on a variety of levels. Focusing on the YouTube media sphere, one can also observe the myriad ways in which the performance of race, gender, and sexuality influences the types of discourse that circulate within these sites. In watching and analyzing Black queer web series on YouTube, I examine how the performance of gender and sexuality by Black queer women within and outside of web series are policed and protected by both community insiders and outsiders. Utilizing an ethnographic framework, which includes a critical discourse analysis of the YouTube comments for the series Between Women, as well as a textual analysis of series content, this project draws conclusions about the role that the politics of pleasure, performance, and the public sphere play in the recognition and/or refusal of queer sexuality within Black communities.

["Prisms of Perception": multiple readings of mass media health messages in Northeast Brazil].

PubMed

Diógenes, Kátia Castelo Branco Machado; Nations, Marilyn

2011-12-01

This anthropological study from February 2009 to November 2010 revealed the comprehension and cultural critique of three mass media health campaigns in Northeast Brazil. Twenty-four ethnographic interviews were conducted, exploring the iconographic and semantic content of the campaigns in the Dendê community in Fortaleza, Ceará State, Brazil. The authors used Content Analysis; Systems of Signs, Significance, and Actions; and Contextualized Semantic Interpretation. There is a gap between the elaboration and reception of messages. Multiple interpretations occur (proximal reading, kaleidoscope of comprehension, and distant reading), depending on the reader's cognitive proximity to (or detachment from) the message. This "perceptual plasticity" arises from the creativity of popular imagination. Health professionals who hear rather than dismiss the "recipient's" subjective voice, which re-signifies authoritative messages, can penetrate the perception of the recipient's "visual world". In the context of poverty, this re-framing is essential for people to comprehend and proactively defend their own health.

"What You Supposed to Know": Urban Black Students' Perspectives on History Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodson, Ashley N.

2015-01-01

Research in social studies education has raised significant practical and epistemological concerns with the history textbooks used in urban schools. While these concerns are well documented, we know less about their implications for Black students' understandings and applications of historical content. This qualitative, ethnographic study explored…

A Cross-Institutional Ethnographic Project: Mapping Play in Intercultural Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Addo, Akosua Obuo; Castle, Eric E.

2015-01-01

Curricula content and structure that encourages interdisciplinary learning, inter-level organization, cross-institutional study supports innovation and inspires new ideas about curricular design in higher education. The purpose of this article is to discuss a collaborative effort of two classes on different campuses to map play in the culturally…

Virtual Models of Long-Term Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phenice, Lillian A.; Griffore, Robert J.

2012-01-01

Nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home-care organizations, use web sites to describe their services to potential consumers. This virtual ethnographic study developed models representing how potential consumers may understand this information using data from web sites of 69 long-term-care providers. The content of long-term-care web…

Tackling complexities in understanding the social determinants of health: the contribution of ethnographic research.

PubMed

Bandyopadhyay, Mridula

2011-11-25

The complexities inherent in understanding the social determinants of health are often not well-served by quantitative approaches. My aim is to show that well-designed and well-conducted ethnographic studies have an important contribution to make in this regard. Ethnographic research designs are a difficult but rigorous approach to research questions that require us to understand the complexity of people's social and cultural lives. I draw on an ethnographic study to describe the complexities of studying maternal health in a rural area in India. I then show how the lessons learnt in that setting and context can be applied to studies done in very different settings. I show how ethnographic research depends for rigour on a theoretical framework for sample selection; why immersion in the community under study, and rapport building with research participants, is important to ensure rich and meaningful data; and how flexible approaches to data collection lead to the gradual emergence of an analysis based on intense cross-referencing with community views and thus a conclusion that explains the similarities and differences observed. When using ethnographic research design it can be difficult to specify in advance the exact details of the study design. Researchers can encounter issues in the field that require them to change what they planned on doing. In rigorous ethnographic studies, the researcher in the field is the research instrument and needs to be well trained in the method. Ethnographic research is challenging, but nevertheless provides a rewarding way of researching complex health problems that require an understanding of the social and cultural determinants of health.

A Model of Distance Analysis. Epistemic Field Notes for Education Ethnographers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marty, O.

2015-01-01

This document aims to help education ethnographers to think about, describe and complete their scientific research: based on a personal research curricula and ongoing scientific discussions in social sciences and psychology, I develop an anthropology synthesis of three epistemic distances. (1) Cultural distance from fieldwork: How far is the…

An Ethnographic Case Study of the Administrative Organization, Processes, and Behavior in a Model Comprehensive High School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimman, Richard N.

Using ethnographic case study methodology (involving open-ended interviews, participant observation, and document analysis) theories of administrative organization, processes, and behavior were tested during a three-week observation of a model comprehensive (experimental) high school. Although the study is limited in its general application, it…

A Potentially Heteroglossic Policy Becomes Monoglossic in Context: An Ethnographic Analysis of Paraguayan Bilingual Education Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mortimer, Katherine S.

2016-01-01

Ethnographic and discursive approaches to educational language policy (ELP) that explore how policy is appropriated in context are important for understanding policy success/failure in meeting goals of educational equity for language-minoritized students. This study describes how Paraguayan national policy for universal bilingual education…

An Ethnographic Approach to Syllabus Design: A Case Study of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramani, Esther; And Others

1988-01-01

Argues for an ethnographic reorientation to needs analysis and syllabus design in English for specific purposes in advanced postgraduate centers of science and technology. The seven-stage framework (specify learners, analyze needs, specify enabling objectives, select materials, identify teaching/learning activities, evaluate, and revise) used to…

Students' Experience of Synchronous Learning in Distributed Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Anissa R.; Harlow, Danielle B.; DeBacco, Kim

2011-01-01

This article reports on a two-year ethnographic study of learners participating in multi-site, graduate-level education classes. Classes sometimes met face-to-face in the same physical location; at other times part of the class met physically elsewhere. Yet all were linked through the virtual space. Ethnographic analysis of four data types…

Critical Medical Anthropology in Midwifery Research: A Framework for Ethnographic Analysis.

PubMed

Newnham, Elizabeth C; Pincombe, Jan I; McKellar, Lois V

2016-01-01

In this article, we discuss the use of critical medical anthropology (CMA) as a theoretical framework for research in the maternity care setting. With reference to the doctoral research of the first author, we argue for the relevance of using CMA for research into the maternity care setting, particularly as it relates to midwifery. We then give an overview of an existing analytic model within CMA that we adapted for looking specifically at childbirth practices and which was then used in both analyzing the data and structuring the thesis. There is often no clear guide to the analysis or writing up of data in ethnographic research; we therefore offer this Critical analytic model of childbirth practices for other researchers conducting ethnographic research into childbirth or maternity care.

Having the stomach for it: a contribution to Neanderthal diets?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buck, Laura T.; Stringer, Chris B.

2014-07-01

Due to the central position of diet in determining ecology and behaviour, much research has been devoted to uncovering Neanderthal subsistence strategies. This has included indirect studies inferring diet from habitat reconstruction, ethnographic analogy, or faunal assemblages, and direct methods, such as dental wear and isotope analyses. Recently, studies of dental calculus have provided another rich source of dietary evidence, with much potential. One of the most interesting results to come out of calculus analyses so far is the suggestion that Neanderthals may have been eating non-nutritionally valuable plants for medicinal reasons. Here we offer an alternative hypothesis for the occurrence of non-food plants in Neanderthal calculus based on the modern human ethnographic literature: the consumption of herbivore stomach contents.

Rapid response: email, immediacy, and medical humanitarianism in Aceh, Indonesia.

PubMed

Grayman, Jesse Hession

2014-11-01

After more than 20 years of sporadic separatist insurgency, the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government signed an internationally brokered peace agreement in August 2005, just eight months after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated Aceh's coastal communities. This article presents a medical humanitarian case study based on ethnographic data I collected while working for a large aid agency in post-conflict Aceh from 2005 to 2007. In December 2005, the agency faced the first test of its medical and negotiation capacities to provide psychiatric care to a recently amnestied political prisoner whose erratic behavior upon returning home led to his re-arrest and detention at a district police station. I juxtapose two methodological approaches-an ethnographic content analysis of the agency's email archive and field-based participant-observation-to recount contrasting narrative versions of the event. I use this contrast to illustrate and critique the immediacy of the humanitarian imperative that characterizes the industry. Immediacy is explored as both an urgent moral impulse to assist in a crisis and a form of mediation that seemingly projects neutral and transparent transmission of content. I argue that the sense of immediacy afforded by email enacts and amplifies the humanitarian imperative at the cost of abstracting elite humanitarian actors out of local and moral context. As a result, the management and mediation of this psychiatric case by email produced a bureaucratic model of care that failed to account for complex conditions of chronic political and medical instability on the ground. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lean leadership: an ethnographic study.

PubMed

Aij, Kjeld Harald; Visse, Merel; Widdershoven, Guy A M

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to provide a critical analysis of contemporary Lean leadership in the context of a healthcare practice. The Lean leadership model supports professionals with a leading role in implementing Lean. This article presents a case study focusing specifically on leadership behaviours and issues that were experienced, observed and reported in a Dutch university medical centre. This ethnographic case study provides auto-ethnographic accounts based on experiences, participant observation, interviews and document analysis. Characteristics of Lean leadership were identified to establish an understanding of how to achieve successful Lean transformation. This study emphasizes the importance for Lean leaders to go to the gemba, to see the situation for one's own self, empower health-care employees and be modest. All of these are critical attributes in defining the Lean leadership mindset. In this case study, Lean leadership is specifically related to healthcare, but certain common leadership characteristics are relevant across all fields. This article shows the value of an auto-ethnographic view on management learning for the analysis of Lean leadership. The knowledge acquired through this research is based on the first author's experiences in fulfilling his role as a health-care leader. This may help the reader examining his/her own role and reflecting on what matters most in the field of Lean leadership.

"Reflexivity Is Kicking Our Asses": Tensions in Foregrounding Photographs in a Multimodal Ethnographic Analysis of Participation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaffee, Rachel; Luehmann, April Lynn; Henderson, Joseph

2016-01-01

Bringing multimodal and ethnographic approaches together, this paper seeks to identify key considerations, limitations, and implications of using photographs as primary data. We offer a concrete example of an approach that capitalizes on a systematic look at how different modes work together to foreground unique aspects of participation, while…

Identification and Subjectivity in a Year-3 Classroom: Using Lacan's Mirror Stage to Analyse Ethnographic Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Sue

2014-01-01

This paper is a re-engagement with some ethnographic data, originally analysed using a sociocultural approach. It makes use of a recent proposal that Lacan's "mirror stage" when applied to an analysis of classroom settings and interactions can offer a fruitful way of explaining and understanding classroom lives, identities and…

Ethnographic Performance: A Change Agent for Drama Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallis, R.

2014-01-01

This article considers the ways in which an ethnographic performance can be an effective means of data generation, analysis and presentation for a researcher working in collaboration with drama teachers and students in an educational setting. The creation of the ethnodramatic play was part of a three-year Ph.D. educational ethnography conducted by…

The Influence of Pastors' Ideologies of Homosexuality on HIV Prevention in the Black Church.

PubMed

Quinn, Katherine; Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Young, Staci

2016-10-01

Young, Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV, and Black Churches may be a source of stigma which can exacerbate HIV risk and contribute to negative health and psychosocial outcomes. Findings from this study are based on 21 semi-structured interviews with pastors and ethnographic observation in six Black Churches. Interview transcripts and field notes were analyzed in MAXQDA using thematic content analysis. Although pastors espoused messages of love and acceptance, they overwhelmingly believed homosexuality was a sin and had difficulty accepting YBMSM into their churches. The tension around homosexuality limited pastors' involvement in HIV prevention efforts, although there still may be opportunities for some churches.

Tackling complexities in understanding the social determinants of health: the contribution of ethnographic research

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Objective The complexities inherent in understanding the social determinants of health are often not well-served by quantitative approaches. My aim is to show that well-designed and well-conducted ethnographic studies have an important contribution to make in this regard. Ethnographic research designs are a difficult but rigorous approach to research questions that require us to understand the complexity of people’s social and cultural lives. Approach I draw on an ethnographic study to describe the complexities of studying maternal health in a rural area in India. I then show how the lessons learnt in that setting and context can be applied to studies done in very different settings. Results I show how ethnographic research depends for rigour on a theoretical framework for sample selection; why immersion in the community under study, and rapport building with research participants, is important to ensure rich and meaningful data; and how flexible approaches to data collection lead to the gradual emergence of an analysis based on intense cross-referencing with community views and thus a conclusion that explains the similarities and differences observed. Conclusion When using ethnographic research design it can be difficult to specify in advance the exact details of the study design. Researchers can encounter issues in the field that require them to change what they planned on doing. In rigorous ethnographic studies, the researcher in the field is the research instrument and needs to be well trained in the method. Implication Ethnographic research is challenging, but nevertheless provides a rewarding way of researching complex health problems that require an understanding of the social and cultural determinants of health. PMID:22168509

Using Children's Literature to Teach about the American Revolution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drake, Janet J.; Drake, Frederick D.

1990-01-01

Reports on an ethnographic study in which the teacher of a combined third and fourth grade class reads historical literature from the U.S. Revolutionary period to students daily for nine weeks. Finds that study of historical content through literature is appropriate at these grade levels. Reports student enthusiasm for this activity. (SLM)

Bridging the Gap: The Case for Expanding Ethnographic Techniques in the Marketing Research Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Lynne; Spanjaard, Daniela

2012-01-01

This article challenges the content of most marketing research courses whereby students are indoctrinated into the qualitative-then-quantitative archetype commonly found in scholarly research, under the assumption that it is both sufficient and appropriate when equipping students with the necessary skills for business. By following this standard…

Using Technology and Mentorship to Improve Teacher Pedagogy and Educational Opportunities in Rural Nicaragua

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindenberg, Anni; Henderson, Kathryn I.; Durán, Leah

2016-01-01

This study used ethnographic methods to understand factors influencing the implementation of an educational intervention combining short math content videos with teacher trainings and mentorship in high-poverty primary schools in Nicaragua with implications for rural school reform. Educators in rural schools in Latin American face serious…

Teachers' Code-Switching in Bilingual Classrooms: Exploring Pedagogical and Sociocultural Functions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cahyani, Hilda; de Courcy, Michele; Barnett, Jenny

2018-01-01

The pedagogical and sociocultural functions of teachers' code-switching are an important factor in achieving the dual goals of content learning and language learning in bilingual programmes. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study investigating how and why teachers switched between languages in tertiary bilingual classrooms in Indonesia,…

Critical Reflections in the Second Language Classroom through Audiotaped Journals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dantas-Whitney, Maria

2002-01-01

Focuses on the use of reflective audiotaped journals within a university content-based English-as-a-Second-Language course. Data came from 54 audiotaped journal entries made by 18 students and an unstructured ethnographic group interview. Results support the adoption of constructivist learning approaches that encourage students to take a more…

Analyzing Whispers: College Students' Representation and Reproduction of Sociocultural Discourses about Bodies, Relationships, and (Hetero)sexuality Using a Mobile Application

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pitcher, Erich N.

2016-01-01

Previous research about college students' social media usage emphasizes social media "practices," often ignoring the "content" that students' post. Increasing knowledge about the language that college students use to describe their intimate relationships can inform student affairs practice. Using a digital ethnographic data…

Translanguaging, TexMex, and Bilingual Pedagogy: Emergent Bilinguals Learning through the Vernacular

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sayer, Peter

2013-01-01

This article presents an ethnographic study of how bilingual teachers and children use their home language, TexMex, to mediate academic content and standard languages. From the premise that TESOL educators can benefit from a fuller understanding of students' linguistic repertoires, the study describes language practices in a second-grade classroom…

"Words that Hold Us up": Teacher Talk and Academic Language in Five Upper Elementary Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ernst-Slavit, Gisela; Mason, Michele R.

2011-01-01

This study investigates the oral academic language used by English as a second language prepared teachers during content area instruction in five upper elementary classrooms in the United States. Using ethnographic and sociolinguistic perspectives the authors examine the oral, academic language exposure students received from their teachers during…

An ethnographic study of illness perceptions and practices of Yemeni-Arabs in Michigan.

PubMed

Kulwicki, A

1996-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the illness practices of Yemeni-Arab Americans and to generate illness themes based on informant reports. A convenient sample of 30 Yemeni-Arab American women was selected from Dearborn, Michigan. A content analysis of interview data was the basis for data analysis. The Arabic language was used in all the interviews due to enability of the informants to speak English. Thirty-three illness practices were identified by the study informants. Analysis of interview data indicated that informants relied heavily on religious explanations of illness practices. Several cultural themes were deduced from collected data. Among these were belief in an omnipotent deity who is the cause of all that is, confidence in the rational mind of man and empirical knowledge, susceptibility to disease based on gender, reliance and trust in health care providers and desirability of adapting to change.

Keeping gay and bisexual men safe: The arena of HIV prevention science and praxis.

PubMed

Green, Adam Isaiah

2016-04-01

Abstract In this article, I draw from an ongoing ethnographic study of HIV prevention for gay, bisexual, and 'men who have sex with men' to develop an institutional analysis of HIV behavioral intervention science and praxis. I approach this analysis through the lens of the social worlds framework, focusing on the institutional arena in which HIV behavioral interventions are devised and executed. Toward this end, I focus on two fundamental points of contention that lie at the heart of the prevention enterprise and put its social organization in high relief: (1) conceptions of health and lifestyle practices and (2) attributions of expertise. These core contentions reveal less the steady advance of normal science than an arena of actors ensconced in boundary work and jurisdictional struggles over how to engineer behavior change and reduce the scale of the HIV epidemic. Their resolution, I argue, has occurred in a historically contingent process determined by the political economy of the US HIV prevention arena and the differential structural location of its social worlds.

The verification of ethnographic data

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Anthropologists are increasingly required to account for the data on which they base their interpretations and to make it available for public scrutiny and re-analysis. While this may seem straightforward (why not place our data in online repositories?), it is not. Ethnographic ‘data’ may consist of everything from verbatim transcripts (‘hard data’) to memories and impressions (‘soft data’). Hard data can be archived and re-analysed; soft data cannot. The focus on hard ‘objective’ data contributes to the delegitimizing of the soft data that are essential for ethnographic understanding, and without which hard data cannot be properly interpreted. However, the credibility of ethnographic interpretation requires the possibility of verification. This could be achieved by obligatory, standardised forms of personal storage with the option for audit if required, and by being more explicit in publications about the nature and status of the data and the process of interpretation. PMID:29081713

The verification of ethnographic data.

PubMed

Pool, Robert

2017-09-01

Anthropologists are increasingly required to account for the data on which they base their interpretations and to make it available for public scrutiny and re-analysis. While this may seem straightforward (why not place our data in online repositories?), it is not. Ethnographic 'data' may consist of everything from verbatim transcripts ('hard data') to memories and impressions ('soft data'). Hard data can be archived and re-analysed; soft data cannot. The focus on hard 'objective' data contributes to the delegitimizing of the soft data that are essential for ethnographic understanding, and without which hard data cannot be properly interpreted. However, the credibility of ethnographic interpretation requires the possibility of verification. This could be achieved by obligatory, standardised forms of personal storage with the option for audit if required, and by being more explicit in publications about the nature and status of the data and the process of interpretation.

The Effects of the "Welcome Schools" Program in Madrid, Spain: An Ethnographic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

del Olmo, Margarita

2010-01-01

The aim of this paper is to share the conclusions of a recent ethnographic study carried out in Madrid from 2005 to 2008 to analyze the effects of a program implemented by the Community of Madrid, Spain, to address diversity in schools. The Program was given an English name--"Welcome Schools"--and was aimed at preparing children recently…

Sport and Physical Activity in a High Security Spanish Prison: An Ethnographic Study of Multiple Meanings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martos-Garcia, Daniel; Devis-Devis, Jose; Sparkes, Andrew C.

2009-01-01

Drawing on data generated by a two-year ethnographic study in a high security Spanish prison, this article explores the multiple meanings given to the social practices of sport and physical activity. We provide details of the following key themes that emerged from the analysis: (a) escaping time; (b) perceived therapeutic benefits; (c) social…

How Do They Research? An Ethnographic Study of Final Year Undergraduate Research Behavior in an Irish University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunne, Siobhán

2016-01-01

The objectives of this study were to identify how, when, and where students research; the impact of learning environments on research productivity, and to recommend improved supports to facilitate research. An ethnographic approach that entailed following five students in the final six weeks of their program enabled deep level analysis. The study…

The Effect of School Culture on Science Education at an Ideologically Innovative Elementary Magnet School: An Ethnographic Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meier, Lori T.

2012-11-01

This ethnographic case study investigated the science practices of teachers at one public elementary magnet school in light of how school culture influenced science curriculum design and instruction. The purpose of the study was to address how school culture impacted the school's overall treatment of science as a viable content area. Key informant teachers were interviewed to explore their personal beliefs and values, teaching, access to materials, and views of the adopted integrated thematic curriculum model and magnet structure. The resulting data, triangulated with informal observation and artifact collection, were analyzed using a theoretical framework that emphasized five interdependent school culture indicators (values, beliefs, practices, materials, and problems). Findings suggest that the school's culture adversely influenced the treatment of science.

Learning science in an era of globalization: a phenomenology of the foreign/strange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hwang, Sungwon; Roth, Wolff-Michael

2008-12-01

In this study, we propose a set of concepts for conceptualizing issues of learning science related to globalization, the encounter with the (radically) foreign/strange—as this occurs as part of migration and even as part of the encounter of a learner with the unknown content that science lessons are to impart—from the perspective of the experiencing person and the experience. We take an approach to the question of the foreign/strange that is grounded in philosophies of difference, which have emerged in continental Europe, and which make use of advances in phenomenology, dialectics, and materialism. We draw on ethnographic work in one undergraduate physics course at a Canadian university, where we followed in particular one female Japanese student, who had come to this country for the purpose of getting a degree. As an entry point and as source of empirical materials, we draw on our own auto/ethnographic experience that brings particular advantages to ally pathos to the experience of the foreign/strange, something is happening to (affecting) us that is beyond all experience, understanding, and anticipation. We articulate three phenomenological aspects that pathos (empathy) allows us to understand concerning the experience of the foreign/strange and then provide an exemplary and exemplifying analysis.

How the Cultural Contexts of Urban Teaching Affect Novice Science Educators: Implications for School Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan, Marlina

2014-01-01

While the challenge to retain highly competent teachers affects all schools, the crisis is critical in urban districts, which historically suffer from high teacher turnover (Ingersoll, 2004). This high turnover is especially problematic in the content areas of science (Ingersoll & Perda, 2010). Through ethnographic case studies the first year…

Recreating Realities: An Ethnographic/Case Study Approach to the Historic Composition Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Claywell, Gina

Traditional histories of American college composition instruction in the 19th and 20th centuries examine primarily the textbooks used in those courses, then draw conclusions based on the content of those textbooks about the activities and attitudes expressed in the classroom. The canon of composition historiography is lacking in several ways: the…

Youth Studies and Timescapes: Insights from an Ethnographic Study of "Young Night Drifters" in Hong Kong's Public Housing Estates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groves, Julian M.; Ho, Wai-Yip; Siu, Kaxton

2012-01-01

This article draws on insights from the sociology of time to examine how scheduling influences social interaction and identity among young people and those who work with them. Drawing on an ethnographic analysis of "Young Night Drifters" and youth outreach social workers in Hong Kong's public housing estates, we create a framework to…

Patient-Centered Handovers: Ethnographic Observations of Attending and Resident Physicians: Ethnographic Observations of Attending and Resident Physicians.

PubMed

Mount-Campbell, Austin F; Rayo, Michael F; OʼBrien, James J; Allen, Theodore T; Patterson, Emily S

Handover communication improvement initiatives typically employ a "one size fits all" approach. A human factors perspective has the potential to guide how to tailor interventions to roles, levels of experience, settings, and types of patients. We conducted ethnographic observations of sign-outs by attending and resident physicians in 2 medical intensive care units at one institution. Digitally audiotaped data were manually analyzed for content using codes and time spent using box plots for emergent categories. A total of 34 attending and 58 resident physician handovers were observed. Resident physicians spent more time for "soon to be discharged" and "higher concern" patients than attending physicians. Resident physicians spent less time discussing patients which they had provided care for within the last 3 days ("handbacks"). The study suggested differences for how handovers were conducted for attending and resident physicians for 3 categories of patients; handovers differ on the basis of role or level of expertise, patient type, and amount of prior knowledge of the patient. The findings have implications for new directions for subsequent research and for how to tailor quality improvement interventions based upon the role, level of experience, level of prior knowledge, and patient categories.

Emotion work, ethnography, and survival strategies on the streets of Yogyakarta.

PubMed

Stodulka, Thomas

2015-01-01

Anthropological research with street-related children, adolescents, and young adults raises epistemological, methodical, and ethical predicaments. In this article, I illustrate the advantages of an anthropology that acknowledges the ethnographer's emotions as valuable data when conducting research with marginalized communities. By drawing on my own experiences when conducting long-term fieldwork, I argue that systematic self-reflexivity and an emotionally aware epistemology enhance both the anthropologist's emotional literacy and his or her understanding of informants and interlocutors. The integration of the ethnographer's emotions in the analysis and interpretation of ethnographic data can assist in formulating anthropological theory, challenging the limits of traditional empiricism, and raising emotions to a category of epistemic value.

Utilities of gossip across organizational levels : Multilevel selection, free-riders, and teams.

PubMed

Kniffin, Kevin M; Wilson, David Sloan

2005-09-01

Gossip is a subject that has been studied by researchers from an array of disciplines with various foci and methods. We measured the content of language use by members of a competitive sports team across 18 months, integrating qualitative ethnographic methods with quantitative sampling and analysis. We hypothesized that the use of gossip will vary significantly depending on whether it is used for self-serving or group-serving purposes. Our results support a model of gossip derived from multilevel selection theory that expects gossip to serve group-beneficial rules when rewards are partitioned at the group level on a scale that permits mutual monitoring. We integrate our case study with earlier studies of gossip conducted by anthropologists, psychologists, and management researchers.

Comparing Parents’ and Children’s Views of Children’s Quality of Life after Heart Transplant

PubMed Central

Green, Angela L.; McSweeney, Jean; Ainley, Kathy; Bryant, Janet

2012-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this focused ethnographic study was to explore the quality of life (QOL) of school-age heart-transplant recipients. Design and Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 parent-child dyads. Data were analyzed using content analysis and constant comparison. Results Participants identified key factors impacting the children’s QOL including: participation in normal activities, normalcy, staying healthy, sources of strength and support, and struggles (parents’ perspectives) and doing what kids do, being with family and friends, and being a heart transplant kid (children’s perspectives). Practice Implications Interventions focusing on the key factors identified by participants may impact the QOL of school-age heart-transplant recipients. PMID:19161575

The influence of pastors’ ideologies of homosexuality on HIV prevention in the Black Church

PubMed Central

Quinn, Katherine; Dickson-Gomez, Julia; Young, Staci

2016-01-01

Young, Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV and Black churches may be a source of stigma which can exacerbate HIV risk and contribute to negative health and psychosocial outcomes. Findings from this study are based on 21 semi-structured interviews with pastors and ethnographic observation in six Black Churches. Interview transcripts and field notes were analyzed in MAXQDA using thematic content analysis. Although pastors espoused messages of love and acceptance, they overwhelmingly believed homosexuality was a sin and had difficulty accepting YBMSM into their churches. The tension around homosexuality limited pastors’ involvement in HIV prevention efforts, although there still may be opportunities for some churches. PMID:27099095

Progressing toward a more culturally competent approach to dental care for African American elders.

PubMed

Slaughter, Ann; Smith, Virginia J; Taylor, Lynne

2004-01-01

This study was conducted to understand perceptions that may influence oral self-care behaviors among elderly African American adults living in an urban community. Four focus groups at two senior centers were recruited, involving a total of 25 participants. Content analysis and ethnographic summaries were used to identify themes, common concepts and language. The results indicated that although the participants recognized the advantages of routine brushing, the importance of keeping teeth clean to prevent gum disease was not widely acknowledged. On the basis of these focus groups, the authors suggest that health promotion approaches for adults who are elderly should be linked to the audience's cultural norms and perceptions regarding the benefits of oral hygiene practices.

Color in graphic design: an analysis of meaning and trends

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinson, Barbara; Waldron, Carol C.

2002-06-01

Graphic design is visual communication through the selection, arrangement, and presentation of words and images, most often for the printed page which offer the designer almost limitless options for color use. The objective of this project is to identify patterns of color use. Ethnographic content analysis was used to document color use in annual reports represented in two publications, Print and Communication Arts, 1993-2000. The analysis focuses on the selection, combination, and contrast of hues; and their use with achromatic values. An analysis of the entire sample indicates that one-third of the annual reports used a palette that include black, white, and a hue from quadrant one (red to yellow). Nearly one-fifth of the designs used black, white, and colors from quadrants one and three (cyan to blue). The large samples for Technology, Health Sciences, Financial, and Civic organizations follow the first pattern. Food Service, Business products and services, and Transportation industries favor the second pattern.

I.D.ology and the Technologies of Public (School) Space: An Ethnographic Inquiry into the Neo-Liberal Tactics of Social (Re)Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, Kathleen; Fusco, Caroline

2006-01-01

This paper explores spatial theory, and particularly a Foucauldian analysis of space, power, and the subject, as a frame within which to examine moves toward security in North American urban schools. We bring into play empirical data from an ethnographic study of New York City and Toronto schools where policies and technologies of record-keeping,…

On Not Taking Language Inequality for Granted: Hymesian Traces in Ethnographic Monitoring of South Africa's Multilingual Language Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornberger, Nancy H.

2014-01-01

South African higher education is at a critical juncture in the implementation of South Africa's multilingual language policy promoting institutional status for nine African languages, English, and Afrikaans. South African scholars, not content merely to comment from the sidelines on the policy, its promise, and challenges, have also engaged in…

From dioramas to the dinner table: An ethnographic case study of the role of science museums in family life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellenbogen, Kirsten M.

What we know about learning in museums tends to come from studies of single museum visits evaluating success according to the museum's agenda, neglecting the impressive cooperative learning strategies and resources that families bring to their museum experiences. This is a report of an ethnographic case study of four families that visit science museums frequently. The study used ethnographic research and discourse analysis as combined methodological approaches, and was grounded in a sociocultural perspective that frames science as a socially and culturally constituted activity. Over eighteen months, data were collected during observations of the families in science museums, at home, and at other leisure sites. The study generated two types of findings. First, macroanalysis based on established frameworks for understanding learning in museums revealed differences in the orientation and extent of the museum visits. Additionally, a hierarchical framework for measuring science learning in museums proved insensitive. These findings underscore limitations of some of the traditional frameworks for understanding family learning in science museums. Second, microanalysis of interactions around science objects at home and in museums revealed that parents provided children with opportunities to understand the "middle ground" of science. Analysis also revealed that families adapted the science content of the museum to renegotiate family identities. Interestingly, the types of discourse most valued in science education were least important for establishing family identity. These frequent museumgoers eliminated the distance between them and science objects by transforming their meanings to establish family identity. This study demonstrates that the families' mediating strategies shape not just an understanding of science, but also a family identity that is constructed in and through interactions with science. The results of this study provide a foundation for examining how families use museums over time and the network of learning resources that support family life. This study suggests possible ways for museum professionals to reconsider the design of learning activities, museum environments, and a shift in focus from the learning institution of the science museum to the learning institution of the family.

Old age and vulnerability between first, second and third person perspectives. Ethnographic explorations of aging in contemporary Denmark.

PubMed

Grøn, Lone

2016-12-01

This paper is based on an ethnographic fieldwork aimed at exploring ethnographically how vulnerability in old age is perceived and experienced in contemporary Denmark. The fieldwork showed remarkable differences between two phases of the fieldwork: the first addressing vulnerability from the "outside" through group interviews with professionals, leaders and older people who were not (yet) vulnerable; and the second from the "inside" through more in depth fieldwork with older people who in diverse ways could be seen as vulnerable. After a short introduction to anthropological and social gerontological literature on characteristics of "Western" aging: medicalization, successful, healthy and active aging, I present findings from both phases of this ethnographic fieldwork arguing that the ethnographic approach reveals the composite and complex nature of vulnerability in old age and the constant interactions between first, second and third person perspectives. Through these methodological and analytical moves a complex and empirically tenable understanding of vulnerability in old age has emerged which 1. moves beyond rigid dichotomies that have characterized the study of old age, 2. integrates individual experience, social interaction and the structural and discursive context into the analysis, and 3. reveals the complex interplay between vulnerability and agency in diverse situations and settings of old age. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The insight and challenge of reflexive practice in an ethnographic study of black traumatically injured patients in Philadelphia.

PubMed

Jacoby, Sara F

2017-07-01

The integrity of critical ethnography requires engagement in reflexive practice at all phases of the research process. In this discussion paper, I explore the insights and challenges of reflexive practice in an ethnographic study of the recovery experiences of black trauma patients in a Philadelphia hospital. Observation and interviews were conducted with twelve patients who were admitted to trauma-designated units of the hospital over the course of a year. During fieldwork, I learned the ways that my background as a professional nurse structured my way of being in clinical space and facilitated a particular interpretation of clinical culture. In analysis, reflection on subjectivities through which I designed this ethnographic research allowed me to see beyond my preconceived and theoretically informed perspective to permit unexpected features of the field to emerge. Reflexive practice also guided my reconciliation of key practical and epistemological differences between clinical ethnographic research and the anthropologic tradition in which it is rooted. I conclude that with careful reflection to the subjectivities that influence the research process, interdisciplinary clinically relevant applied interpretations of critical ethnographic work can be used to generate detailed knowledge across contexts in clinical care, nursing practice, and patient experiences. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Portraying Islam and Muslims in MEDLINE: a content analysis.

PubMed

Laird, Lance Daniel; de Marrais, Justine; Barnes, Linda L

2007-12-01

The growing number and diversity of Muslims in the United States and Western Europe challenge clinicians and researchers to understand this population's perspectives and experiences regarding health and biomedicine. For information about Muslim patient populations, clinicians and researchers routinely consult medical literature. To examine how this literature portrays Muslims, we conducted an ethnographic content analysis of 2342 OVID MEDLINE-indexed abstracts from 1966 through August 2005, derived from a Boolean search for "islam or muslim or muslims." Manifest (explicitly stated) themes included Muslim religious practices, Islamic law and ethics, history of Islamic medicine, public health, social medicine, and cultural competence. Latent (underlying) themes implied that being an observant Muslim poses health risks; Muslims are negatively affected by tradition, and should adopt modernity; and that "Islam" is a problem for biomedical healthcare delivery. A countervailing latent theme implies that being Muslim may promote good health. We discuss ambiguities in uses of the term "Muslim;" implications of Muslim practices for health management and healthcare delivery; and ways in which MEDLINE-indexed literature intersects with orientalist and colonialist discourse about religious Others. Such intersections highlight connections with potential structural inequalities in healthcare delivery to Muslim patients.

Patient and family perspectives on peritoneal dialysis at home: findings from an ethnographic study.

PubMed

Baillie, Jessica; Lankshear, Annette

2015-01-01

To discuss findings from an ethnographic study, considering the experiences of patients and families, using peritoneal dialysis at home in the United Kingdom. Peritoneal dialysis is a daily, life-preserving treatment for end-stage renal disease, undertaken in the patient's home. With ever-growing numbers of patients requiring treatment for this condition, the increased use of peritoneal dialysis is being promoted. While it is known that quality of life is reduced when using dialysis, few studies have sought to explore experiences of peritoneal dialysis specifically. No previous studies were identified that adopted an ethnographic approach. A qualitative design was employed, utilising ethnographic methodology. Ethical and governance approvals were gained in November 2010 and data were generated in 2011. Patients (n = 16) and their relatives (n = 9) were interviewed and observed using peritoneal dialysis in their homes. Thematic analysis was undertaken using Wolcott's (1994) three stage process: Description, Analysis and Interpretation. This article describes four themes: initiating peritoneal dialysis; the constraints of peritoneal dialysis due to medicalisation of the home environment and the imposition of rigid timetables; the uncertainty of managing crises and inevitable deterioration; and seeking freedom through creativity and hope of a kidney transplant. This study highlights the culture of patients and their families living with peritoneal dialysis. Despite the challenges posed by the treatment, participants were grateful they were able to self-manage at home. Furthermore, ethnographic methods offer an appropriate and meaningful way of considering how patients live with home technologies. Participants reported confusion about kidney transplantation and also how to identify peritonitis, and ongoing education from nurses and other healthcare professionals is thus vital. Opportunities for sharing experiences of peritoneal dialysis were valued by participants and further peer-support services should thus be considered. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

"Now I Believe if I Write I Can Do Anything": Using Poetry to Create Opportunities for Engagement and Learning in the Language Arts Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiseman, Angela M.

2010-01-01

This paper describes how adolescent students responded to a poetry workshop in an English classroom where the content was derived from their knowledge from their various life experiences and understanding of world events. Informed by theories of New Literacy Studies, ethnographic methods of participant-observation were used to document an eighth…

Using real objects to teach about climate change: an ethnographic perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conner, L.; Perin, S.; Coats, V.; Sturm, M.

2017-12-01

Informal educators frequently use real objects to connect visitors with science content that can otherwise seem abstract. Our NSF-funded project, "Hot Times in Cold Places," leverages this premise to teach about climate change through real objects associated with the nation's only permafrost tunnel, located in Fox, Alaska. We posit that touching real ice, holding Pleistocene bones, and seeing ice wedges in context allows learners to understand climate change in a direct and visceral manner. We are conducting ethnographic research to understand visitor experience at both the tunnel itself and at a permafrost museum exhibit that we are creating as part of the project. Research questions include: 1) What is the nature of visitor talk with respect to explanations about permafrost, tipping points, climate change, and geological time? 2) How do attributes of "realness" (scale, resolution, uniqueness, history and adherence to an original) affect visitor's experience of objects, as perceived through the senses and emotions? We use naturalistic observation, interviews, and videotaping to answer these questions. Analysis focuses on child-to-child talk, reciprocal talk between educator and child, and reciprocal talk between parent and child. Our results elucidate the value of real, vs. replicated and virtual objects, in informal learning, especially in the context of climate change education. An understanding of these factors can help informal learning educators make informed choices about program and exhibit design.

Ethnographic Auditing: A New Approach to Evaluating Management in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David

Ethnographic auditing is the application of ethnographic or anthropological concepts and methods to the appraisal of administrative controls over resources. Ethnographic auditing highlights the role of culture, subculture, values, rituals and physical environment in management in higher education. The ethnographic auditor measures the fiscal and…

Don't let the suffering make you fade away: an ethnographic study of resilience among survivors of genocide-rape in southern Rwanda.

PubMed

Zraly, Maggie; Nyirazinyoye, Laetitia

2010-05-01

Rape has been used in contemporary armed conflicts to inflict physical, psychological, cultural and social damage. In endeavoring to address the psychological damage of collective violence, some researchers and global health practitioners are turning toward post-conflict mental health promotion approaches that centrally feature resilience. Though previous findings from resilience and coping research are robust, few studies have actually investigated resilience among genocide-rape survivors in cultural context in non-Western settings. This paper presents ethnographic data gathered over 14 months (September 2005 to November 2006) in southern Rwanda on resilience among genocide-rape survivors who were members of two women's genocide survivor associations. Study methods included a content analysis of a stratified purposive sample of 44 semi-structured interviews, as well as participant-, and non-participant-observation. Resilience among genocide-rape survivors in this context was found to be shaped by the cultural-linguistic specific concepts of kwihangana (withstanding), kwongera kubaho (living again), and gukomeza ubuzima (continuing life/health), and comprised of multiple sociocultural processes that enabled ongoing social connection with like others in order to make meaning, establish normalcy, and endure suffering in daily life. The results of this research show that the process of resilience among genocide-rape survivors was the same regardless of whether genocide survivor association membership was organized around the identity of genocide-rape survivorship or the identity of widowhood. However, the genocide-rape survivors' association members were more involved with directing resilience specifically toward addressing problems associated with genocide-rape compared to the members of the genocide widows' association. The findings from this research suggest that ethnographic methods can be employed to support resilience-based post-conflict mental health promotion efforts through facilitating collective sexual violence survivors to safely socially connect around their shared experiences of rape, neutralizing social threats of stigma and marginalization. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Ethnographic Meta-Synthesis of Three Southwestern Rural Studies.

PubMed

Averill, Jennifer B

2016-01-01

The objectives were to synthesize cumulative findings across three critical ethnographic, community-partnered studies in the southwestern United States and to describe the process of meta-ethnography for that analysis. The meta-ethnography followed the design of Noblit and Hare for constructing an analysis of composite data, informed by community-based participatory research and Stringer's ethnographic strategies of Look-Think-Act. The three studies occurred in rural settings of Colorado and New Mexico, engaging 129 total participants, along with community organizations and agencies as partners. Methods consisted of detailed review of each original study, mapping of major concepts and themes, and general analysis, interpretation, and synthesis across the studies. Overall themes were: health is the capacity to care for oneself and do work, meaningful relationships are key in health care interactions, patterns of discrimination persist in rural settings, poor literacy and health literacy are barriers, and food insecurity is a growing concern for older rural adults. Resolutions involve practice, policy, and research and must incorporate all stakeholder groups in rural settings; a participatory approach is critical to prioritize and impact existing inequities; and work is needed to extend education and understanding of multiple cultures, groups, customs, and rural contexts. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Early Learning with Digital Media: A Naturalistic, Ethnographic Investigation of Children's Engagement with and Learning from Television and Digital Technology in Early Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dugan, Therese E.

2012-01-01

Digital media is a broad concept that includes everything from movies to video games to websites. These media are cultural norms for young people, becoming part of their identity as they use and create content. In this dissertation I discuss the observed diversity of interactions that children from infancy through kindergarten have with digital…

The impact of nursing leadership and management on the control of HIV/AIDS: an ethnographic study.

PubMed

Nawafleh, Hani; Francis, Karen; Chapman, Ysanne

2012-10-01

This paper reports on an aspect of a larger ethnographic study that sought to investigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the practice of primary care nurses in Jordan. Nursing leadership and the style of management adopted by senior nursing and medical administrators at the Ministry of Heath were identified as factors impacting on the practice of the nurses and their capacity to raise community awareness and contribute to the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. The study was undertaken in three rural and three urban primary health care centres (PHCC). Data collection included participant observation, key informant interviews, and document analysis. These data informed the development of descriptive ethnographic accounts that allowed for the subsequent identification of common and divergent themes reflective of factors recognized as influencing the practice of the nurse participants.

Occupational patterns of people with dementia in residential care: an ethnographic study.

PubMed

Holthe, Torhild; Thorsen, Kirsten; Josephsson, Staffan

2007-06-01

This paper describes an ethnographic study that sought to gain knowledge of the occupational patterns of persons with dementia in a care home and how the residents perceived the group activities in which they participated. The residents' ages ranged from 82 to 92 years. They were seven women and one man. Both participant observation and interviews were used to collect data. Data analysis resulted in an ethnographic story organised around two key themes: (1) the occupational patterns of the residents, and (2) the residents' perceptions of the activities offered. In this story residents appeared passive, playing the role of guests in the care home. Residents were dependent on staff to engage in daily occupations. Interviews revealed that residents perceived participation in activities as important to their mental and physical health and an advantage of living in the care home.

On Ethnographic Intent.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolcott, Harry F.

1985-01-01

Defines the essence of ethnographic research as describing and interpreting cultural behavior. Clarifies why some characteristics of ethnography are not defining characteristics, considers what is meant by "culture," examines the ethnographic process, and discusses the application of ethnographic methods in the educational setting. (PGD)

Assuming the mantle of leadership: issues and challenges for directors of nursing.

PubMed

Fleming, Mary Louise; Kayser-Jones, Jeanie

2008-11-01

This ethnographic study investigated leadership from the perspective of directors of nursing (DONs) in proprietary nursing homes. Data from interviews and extensive participant observation with 10 DONs were analyzed using open coding and content analysis. The study drew on a priori concepts from transformational leadership theory to describe the role, DON approaches to leadership, and factors that facilitate or impede leadership in nursing homes. This article reports findings from a larger study related to conditions existing when participants entered the DON position. Antecedent conditions influenced organizational expectations of incoming DONs and shaped participants' leadership experiences. DONs filling long-standing vacancies had to reestablish the influence and authority of the role. Those replacing unsuccessful DONs confronted serious regulatory, care, and morale issues. In contrast, DONs with successful predecessors experienced organizational support and had confidence in their abilities to lead.

Come bien, camina y no se preocupe--eat right, walk, and do not worry: selective biculturalism during pregnancy in a Mexican American community.

PubMed

Laganá, Kathleen

2003-04-01

Mexican American childbearing women appear to offer a healthy model for pregnancy. However, statistics suggest that they may be at increased risk for poor birth outcome as they acculturate to a U.S. lifestyle. An ethnographic study in Watsonville, California, examined the influence of acculturation on pregnancy beliefs and practices of 29 Mexican American childbearing women. Data from formal semi-structured interviews were submitted to content analysis. During pregnancy, women balanced well-documented, traditional Mexican cultural beliefs with the individualistic beliefs common to Anglo-Americans. Selective biculturalism emerged as a protective approach to stress reduction and health promotion. Stress reduction interventions as part of routine prenatal care have potential benefit for all pregnant women. Future research on cultural barriers to family-based social support during pregnancy is needed.

Performativity, Guilty Knowledge, and Ethnographic Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puttick, Steven

2017-01-01

This paper applies Dennis' [(2009). "What does it Mean when an Ethnographer Intervenes?" "Ethnography and Education" 4 (2): 131-146] modes of ethnographic intervention to a fieldwork experience of an observed secondary school lesson in England. Ethnographic research raises numerous ethical dilemmas, in the face of which…

Mathematics teacher professional development in and through internet use: reflections on an ethnographic study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patahuddin, Sitti Maesuri

2013-12-01

This paper is a reflection on a model for mathematics teacher professional development with respect to technology. The model was informed by three interrelated concepts: (1) a theory of teacher professional development from analysis of the field, (2) the zone theory of teacher professional learning, and (3) ethnography as a method. The model was applied in a study that focused on the uses of the Internet for primary mathematics teacher professional development, particularly to exploit the potential of the Internet for professional learning and to use it in professional work. This is illustrated through selected critical events over an eight-month ethnographic intervention in a primary mathematics classroom in Australia. Though the model is theoretically grounded, it opens up questions about the power, potential, and challenges as well as its feasibility, with respect to not only the teacher but also the ethnographer.

A meta-analytic investigation of the relation between interpersonal attraction and enacted behavior.

PubMed

Montoya, R Matthew; Kershaw, Christine; Prosser, Julie L

2018-05-07

We present a meta-analysis that investigated the relation between self-reported interpersonal attraction and enacted behavior. Our synthesis focused on (a) identifying the behaviors related to attraction; (b) evaluating the efficacy of models of the relation between attraction and behavior; (c) testing the impact of several moderators, including evaluative threat salience, cognitive appraisal salience, and the sex composition of the social interaction; and (d) investigating the degree of agreement between the meta-analytic findings and an ethnographic analysis. Using a multilevel modeling approach, an analysis of 309 effect sizes (N = 5,422) revealed a significant association (z = .20) between self-reported attraction and enacted behavior. Key findings include: (a) that the specific behaviors associated with attraction (e.g., eye contact, smiling, laughter, mimicry) are those behaviors research has linked to the development of trust/rapport; (b) direct behaviors (e.g., physical proximity, talking to), compared with indirect behaviors (e.g., eye contact, smiling, mimicry), were more strongly related to self-reported attraction; and (c) evaluative threat salience (e.g., fear of rejection) reduced the magnitude of the relation between direct behavior and affective attraction. Moreover, an ethnographic analysis revealed consistency between the behaviors identified by the meta-analysis and those behaviors identified by ethnographers as predictive of attraction. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of the relation between attraction and behavior, for the behavioral expressions of emotions, and for how attraction is measured and conceptualized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Nurses' experiences of ethnographic fieldwork.

PubMed

de Melo, Lucas Pereira; Stofel, Natália Sevilha; Gualda, Dulce Maria Rosa; de Campos, Edemilson Antunes

2014-09-01

To reflect on the experiences of nurses performing ethnographic fieldwork in three studies. The application of ethnography to nursing research requires discussion about nurses' experiences of ethnographic fieldwork. This article examines some of the dilemmas that arise during the research process. Three ethnographic studies conducted by the authors in the south and southeast of Brazil. Excerpts from field diaries created during each research are presented at the end of each topic discussed. This is a reflexive paper that explores the nurses' experience in ethnographic fieldwork. This article discusses the main tasks involved in ethnographic research, including defining the study aim, reading and understanding anthropological theoretical bases, and setting a timeframe for the study. The article also discusses the idiosyncrasies of the cultural contexts studied, the bureaucracy that may be confronted when gaining access to the field, the difficulty of transforming the familiar into the strange, why ethnocentric perspectives should be avoided, and the anthropological doubt that places the ethnographer in the position of apprentice. It also discusses the importance of listening to others, reflexivity and strategies to stay in the field. For researchers, ethnographic fieldwork can be a rite of passage, but one that provides invaluable experiences that emphasise the value of relationships based on dialogue, reflexivity and negotiation. The main tasks undertaken in ethnographic research discussed in this article could contribute to the nurse' experience of conducting ethnographic fieldwork.

Walking the Fine Line between Fieldwork Success and Failure: Advice for New Ethnographers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gill, Peter Richard; Temple, Elizabeth C.

2014-01-01

While the importance of ethnographic research in developing new knowledge is widely recognised, there remains minimal detailed description and discussion of the actual practice and processes involved in completing ethnographic fieldwork. The first author's experiences and struggles as an ethnographer of a group of young men from two locations (a…

Nursing and the ethnographic accomplishment.

PubMed

Patterson, Christopher; Procter, Nicholas; Toffoli, Luisa

2017-03-22

This issue of Nurse Researcher focuses on ethnographic research in nursing. The three themed papers provide an overview of the ethnographic accomplishment dealing with methodological issues in the conduct of ethnographic work and how nursing and nurses' work is represented. The authors take account of how contemporary approaches to ethnography are shaped by understandings of and approaches to nursing.

Ethnographic Depiction of a Multiethnic School: A Comparison to Desegregated Settings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Semons, Maryann

This report compares the findings of a recent ethnographic study of a multiethnic urban high school to some of the highlights of a series of ten-year-old ethnographic studies on court-ordered desegregated school settings. The study of the multiethnic urban school employed an ethnographic design whereby a participant-observer interviewed students…

Analyzing railroad dispatchers' strategies : a cognitive task analysis of a distributed planning task

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-10-11

This paper describes a preliminary cognitive task analysis (CTA) that is being conducted to examine how experienced train dispatchers manage and schedule trains. The CTA uses ethnographic field observations and structured interview techniques. The ob...

Australian letters to the editor on tobacco: triggers, rhetoric, and claims of legitimate voice.

PubMed

Smith, Katherine Clegg; McLeod, Kim; Wakefield, Melanie

2005-11-01

News coverage of tobacco issues influences both individual behavior change and policy progression. Thus, media advocacy is increasingly recognized as important for promoting public health. Letters to the editor (LTE) are a basic form of media advocacy, serving to demonstrate community sentiment on a given issue. Such letters are yet to receive systematic analytic consideration. The authors conducted an ethnographic content analysis of LTE on tobacco issues from a sample of 11 Australian daily newspapers over a 3-year period (2001 to 2003, N=361). They argue that letters are artifacts of active engagement in a public debate and note that various stakeholders adopt similar strategies to pursue their objectives. They illustrate how identifying personal and collective identities is crucial in the assertion of legitimacy of voice in LTEs. Better understanding is needed of both the particular issues that spark public engagement, and the salient rhetoric employed by advocates of disparate positions.

Discovering Self: Childbearing Adolescents' Maternal Identity.

PubMed

Macintosh, Janelle; Callister, Lynn Clark

2015-01-01

Adolescent pregnancy and motherhood have long been a topic of interest for many healthcare professionals. However, there are limited data on how childbearing adolescents incorporate motherhood identity into their sense of self. The purpose of this study was to explore how childbearing adolescents perceive motherhood as becoming part of their personal identity. This qualitative study using ethnographic data collection involved 7 months of observation, interaction, and interviews. Data were collected from nine expectant adolescents during in-depth interviews. All participants were patients at a teen mother and child clinic staffed by certified nurse midwives and a pediatrician. Narrative content analysis revealed the overall theme of discovering self, with three major themes: confirming the pregnancy, the loss of my body, and imagining my child in my arms. Adolescent mothers may need assistance to construct their maternal identity in order to strengthen self-perceptions and improve maternal/child outcomes.

[Moral problems in home health care--a descriptive ethical study].

PubMed

Lauxen, Oliver

2009-12-01

In Germany there is an increasing importance of home health care and nurses that are employed in the home care sector often have to face ethical issues. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore moral problems in the daily practice of these nurses. The method used was qualitative interviews with 20 nurses which have been analysed by content analysis. The results showed that the ethical principle of beneficence was the core concept for the participants. Moral problems arise when nurses cannot act in accordance to this principle or when they cannot determine the good in a situation. In particular, there were four types of moral problems: "beneficence vs. autonomy", "beneficence vs. justice", "beneficence vs. loyalty" and "The good cannot be determined". The way nurses in home health care address moral problems should be improved. Some participants lack ethical competencies. Furthermore, appropriate support services for dealing with moral problems have to be designed.

Gendering the migraine market: do representations of illness matter?

PubMed

Kempner, Joanna

2006-10-01

Migraine is a common, debilitating and costly disorder. Yet help-seeking for and rates of diagnosis of migraine are low. Drawing on ethnographic observations of pharmaceutical marketing practices at professional headache conferences and a content analysis of migraine advertising, principally in the USA, this paper demonstrates: (1) that the pharmaceutical industry directs its marketing of migraine medication to women; and (2) as part of this strategy, pharmaceutical advertisements portray women as the prototypical migraine sufferer, through representations that elicit hegemonic femininity. This strategy creates the impression that migraine is a "women's disorder", which, in turn, exacerbates gender bias in help seeking and diagnosis of migraine and reifies presumptions about the epidemiology of the disorder. I conclude that these pharmaceutical marketing practices have a paradoxical effect: even as they educate and raise awareness about migraine, they also create barriers to help seeking and diagnosis.

Native American nurse leadership.

PubMed

Nichols, Lee A

2004-07-01

To identify which characteristics, wisdom, and skills are essential in becoming an effective Native American nurse leader. This will lead to the development of a curriculum suitable for Native American nurses. A qualitative, descriptive design was used for this study. Focus groups were conducted in Polson, Montana. A total of 67 Native and non-Native nurses participated. Sixty-seven percent of them were members of Indian tribes. Data were content analyzed using Spradley's ethnographic methodology. Three domains of analysis emerged: point of reference for the leader (individual, family, community), what a leader is (self-actualized, wise, experienced, political, bicultural, recognized, quiet presence, humble, spiritual, and visionary), and what a leader does (mentors, role models, communicates, listens, demonstrates values, mobilizes, and inspires). Native nurse leaders lead differently. Thus, a leadership curriculum suitable for Native nurses may lead to increased work productivity and therefore improved patient care for Native Americans.

Shared Decision-Making and the Limits of Democratization: A Case Study of Site-Based Reform.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radnofsky, Mary L.; Spielmann, Guy

This paper presents findings of an ethnographic study of a school district's Staff Development, Supervision, and Evaluation Program (SDSEP). Data were gathered through interviews, observations, participant observation, analysis of kinesics and proxemics, semiotic analysis of discourse, unobtrusive measures, and analysis of official documents. The…

Being-in-the-Chemotherapy-Suite versus Being-in-the-Oncology-Ward: An Analytical View of Two Hospital Sites Occupied by People Experiencing Cancer †

PubMed Central

Hughes, Catherine; van Heugten, Kate; Keeling, Sally; Szekely, Francisc

2017-01-01

How do people with cancer occupy places within the health system during their journey through palliative care? The answer to this question was explored by the authors as part of a wider ethnographic study of eight people’s journeys from referral to palliative care services to the end of life. This article reports on findings that have emerged from ongoing analysis that has been completed in the years proceeding data collection. An ethnographic research design was used to collect data about the participants and their family members over a three-year period. Data was collected using participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Over 380 transcripts based on field note entries and taped interviews were produced during the 1121 h of contact with participants and family members that made up the research period. Analysis of these texts identified two focal sites within Christchurch Hospital that were occupied by the participants. These were the Chemotherapy Suite and the Oncology Ward. Drawing on literature concerning previous anthropological analysis, research was conducted to understand how places affect people and how people affect places. The researchers have used a model outlined by the American ethnographer Miles Richardson to analyse two distinct sites within one hospital. As explained in Richardson’s article, whose title is used to model the title of this article, a sense of place becomes apparent when comparing and contrasting two sites within the same location. Richardson’s article is highly interpretative and relies not only on pre-existing theoretical frameworks but also on personal interpretation. The same approach has been used in the current article. Here, ethnographic methods require the researcher’s interpretation of how participants occupied these sites. Following this approach, the Chemotherapy Suite is presented as a place where medicine dominates illness, and appears as distinct from the Oncology Ward, where disease predominates and death is secreted away. PMID:28587264

A Focused Ethnographic Study of Sri Lankan Government Field Veterinarians’ Decision Making about Diagnostic Laboratory Submissions and Perceptions of Surveillance

PubMed Central

Sawford, Kate; Vollman, Ardene Robinson; Stephen, Craig

2012-01-01

The global public health community is facing the challenge of emerging infectious diseases. Historically, the majority of these diseases have arisen from animal populations at lower latitudes where many nations experience marked resource constraints. In order to minimize the impact of future events, surveillance of animal populations will need to enable prompt event detection and response. Many surveillance systems targeting animals rely on veterinarians to submit cases to a diagnostic laboratory or input clinical case data. Therefore understanding veterinarians’ decision-making process that guides laboratory case submission and their perceptions of infectious disease surveillance is foundational to interpreting disease patterns reported by laboratories and engaging veterinarians in surveillance initiatives. A focused ethnographic study was conducted with twelve field veterinary surgeons that participated in a mobile phone-based surveillance pilot project in Sri Lanka. Each participant agreed to an individual in-depth interview that was recorded and later transcribed to enable thematic analysis of the interview content. Results found that field veterinarians in Sri Lanka infrequently submit cases to laboratories – so infrequently that common case selection principles could not be described. Field veterinarians in Sri Lanka have a diagnostic process that operates independently of laboratories. Participants indicated a willingness to take part in surveillance initiatives, though they highlighted a need for incentives that satisfy a range of motivations that vary among field veterinarians. This study has implications for the future of animal health surveillance, including interpretation of disease patterns reported, system design and implementation, and engagement of data providers. PMID:23133542

The Effects and Meanings of Receiving a Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer’s Disease When One Lives Alone

PubMed Central

Portacolone, Elena; Johnson, Julene K.; Covinsky, Kenneth E.; Halpern, Jodi; Rubinstein, Robert L.

2018-01-01

Background One third of older adults with cognitive impairment live alone and are at high risk for poor health outcomes. Little is known about how older adults who live alone experience the process of receiving a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective The aim of this study was to understand the effects and meanings of receiving a diagnosis of MCI or AD on the lived experience of older adults living alone. Methods This is a qualitative study of adults age 65 and over living alone with cognitive impairment. Participants’ lived experiences were elicited through ethnographic interviews and participant observation in their homes. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, interview transcripts and fieldnotes were analyzed to identify codes and themes. Results Twenty-nine older adults and 6 members of their social circles completed 114 ethnographic interviews. Core themes included: relief, distress, ambiguous recollections, and not knowing what to do. Participants sometimes felt uplifted and relieved by the diagnostic process. Some participants did not mention having received a diagnosis or had only partial recollections about it. Participants reported that, as time passed, they did not know what to do with regard to the treatment of their condition. Sometimes they also did not know how to prepare for a likely worsening of their condition, which they would experience while living alone. Conclusion Findings suggest the need for more tailored care and follow-up as soon as MCI or AD is diagnosed in persons living alone. PMID:29376864

Kikiskawâwasow - prenatal healthcare provider perceptions of effective care for First Nations women: an ethnographic community-based participatory research study.

PubMed

Oster, Richard T; Bruno, Grant; Montour, Margaret; Roasting, Matilda; Lightning, Rick; Rain, Patricia; Graham, Bonny; Mayan, Maria J; Toth, Ellen L; Bell, Rhonda C

2016-08-11

Pregnant Indigenous women suffer a disproportionate burden of risk and adverse outcomes relative to non-Indigenous women. Although there has been a call for improved prenatal care, examples are scarce. Therefore, we explored the characteristics of effective care with First Nations women from the perspective of prenatal healthcare providers (HCPs). We conducted an ethnographic community-based participatory research study in collaboration with a large Cree First Nations community in Alberta, Canada. We carried out semi-structured interviews with 12 prenatal healthcare providers (HCPs) that were recorded, transcribed, and subjected to qualitative content analysis. According to the participants, relationships and trust, cultural understanding, and context-specific care were key features of effective prenatal care and challenge the typical healthcare model. HCPs that are able to foster sincere, non-judgmental, and enjoyable interactions with patients may be more effective in treating pregnant First Nations women, and better able to express empathy and understanding. Ongoing HCP cultural understanding specific to the community served is crucial to trusting relationships, and arises from real experiences and learning from patients over and above relying only on formal cultural sensitivity training. Consequently, HCPs report being better able to adapt a more flexible, all-inclusive, and accessible approach that meets specific needs of patients. Aligned with the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, improving prenatal care for First Nations women needs to allow for genuine relationship building with patients, with enhanced and authentic cultural understanding by HCPs, and care approaches tailored to women's needs, culture, and context.

Moral landscapes and everyday life in families with Huntington's disease: aligning ethnographic description and bioethics.

PubMed

Huniche, Lotte

2011-06-01

This article is concerned with understanding moral aspects of everyday life in families with Huntington's Disease (HD). It draws on findings from an empirical research project in Denmark in 1998-2002 involving multi-sited ethnography to argue that medical genetics provides a particular framework for conducting life in an HD family. A framework that implies that being informed and making use of genetic services expresses greater moral responsibility than conducting life without drawing on these resources. The moral imperative of engagement in medical genetics is challenged here by two pieces of ethnographic analysis. The first concerns a person who, as described by a family member, does not engage with medical genetics but who brings to the fore other culturally legitimate concerns, priorities and areas of responsibility. The second figures a genetic counselling session where neither the knowledge nor the imagined solutions of medical genetics are as unproblematic and straightforward as might be thought. To assist our understanding of the moral aspects of living with severe familial disease, the ethnographic analysis is aligned with bioethical reflections that place the concrete concerns of those personally involved centre stage in the development of theoretical stances that aim to assist reflections in practice. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Narrating Beliefs: A Language Ideologies Approach to Teacher Beliefs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Razfar, Aria

2012-01-01

This article explores how we can better understand the language ideologies of teachers working with second language learners through narrative analysis. This analysis draws on ethnographic data collected in an urban high school with a predominant Latina/o population and nearly a quarter designated as English learners. This analysis illustrates how…

Learning through Ethnographic Dialogues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landis, David; Kalieva, Rysaldy; Abitova, Sanim; Izmukhanbetova, Sophia; Musaeva, Zhanbota

2006-01-01

This article describes ways that conversations constituted ethnographic research for students and teachers in Kazakhstan. Through dialogues with local community members, students worked as researchers to develop knowledge about cultural patterns and social life. Ethnographic research and writing provided valuable language and research experiences…

Ethnographic Approaches in Primatology.

PubMed

Dore, Kerry M; Radford, Lucy; Alexander, Sherrie; Waters, Siân

2018-01-01

The shared evolutionary histories and anatomical similarities between humans and non-human primates create dynamic interconnections between these alloprimates. In this foreword to Folia Primatologica's special issue on "Ethnographic Approaches in Primatology," we review the ethnographic method and existing literature at the intersection of primatology and ethnography. We summarize, compare and contrast the 5 contributions to this special issue to highlight why the human-non-human primate interface is a compelling area to investigate via ethnographic approaches and to encourage increased incorporation of ethnography into the discipline of primatology. Ethnography is a valuable and increasingly popular tool with its use no longer limited to anthropological practitioners investigating traditional, non-Western peoples. Scholars from many disciplines now use ethnographic methods to investigate all members of our globalised world, including non-humans. As our closest living relatives, non-human primates (hereafter "primates") are compelling subjects and thus appear in a range of contexts within ethnographic investigations. The goal of this special issue is to highlight the trajectory of research at the intersection of primatology and ethnography and to illustrate the importance of ethnographic methods for the advancement of primatology as a discipline. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Teaching Consumer-Oriented Ethnographic Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Andrew D.; Wu, Lan

2012-01-01

Despite an increasing demand for marketing researchers familiar with ethnographic methods, ethnographic consumer research has received little coverage in current marketing curricula. The innovation discussed in the present paper addresses this problem: it introduces the notion of "cultural relativism" and gives students hands-on experience in…

Design and implementation of the web Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Colombia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rocha S., Luz Angela; Bonilla, Johnatan; Bernal, Julio; Duarte, Catherine; Rodriguez, Alejandro

2018-05-01

The Atlas Lingüístico y Etnográfico de Colombia (Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Colombia), known by "ALEC" is a compilation of popular speaking Spanish of the populations of Colombia; such research was carried out for more than fifty years. The result of this work is a collection of thematic maps organized in six volumes and its supplements in analog format. In that sense was created the project entitles "Interactive ALEC" which main objective is to develop a digital and interactive web version of the ethnographic and Linguistic Atlas of Colombia (1983) and its supplements. In this way the Corpus linguistics research group belonging to the Institute Caro y Cuervo and the research group NIDE of the Universidad Distrital "Francisco José de Caldas" have been working together in the design and development of the Atlas Web, that allows the visualization and consulting of the spatial information contained in the volume III of the analog ALEC Atlas, applying concepts of Geographical Information Systems and web cartography. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to show the process of design and development of the web prototype of the ALEC as a collection of static and dynamic maps, which show spatial information, combined with multimedia content, taking into account that in addition to all maps, the total compendium includes images, illustrations, photographs, audio and text comments. Likewise, the interactive ALEC is a good example of how to use geo-technology tools nowadays, because they are essential for the dissemination of geo linguistic information through internet, achieving more access and distribution of the Atlas web.

Racism and Asian American Student Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Jennifer Y.

2014-01-01

This article provides a theoretical analysis and ethnographic account of Asian American student leadership in higher education. Existing literature highlights Asian and Asian American leadership styles as cultural differences. I shift the analysis from culture to racism in order to work toward a more socially just conception of Asian American…

"We Are Textbook 'Badnekais'!": A Bernsteinian Analysis of Textbook Culture in Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vijaysimha, Indira

2013-01-01

This article is an empirical study of science teaching practices using a Bernsteinian framework. It provides a comparative analysis through ethnographic examination of pedagogic recontextualisation in different school types--government, private unaided and international. Bernstein drew attention to the process of pedagogic recontextualisation and…

Informed consent, anticipatory regulation and ethnographic practice.

PubMed

Murphy, Elizabeth; Dingwall, Robert

2007-12-01

In this paper we examine the application of informed consent to ethnographic research in health care settings. We do not quarrel with either the principle of informed consent or its translation into the requirement that research should only be carried out with consenting participants. However, we do challenge the identification of informed consent with the particular set of bureaucratic practices of ethical review which currently operate in Canada, the US and elsewhere. We argue that these anticipatory regulatory regimes threaten the significant contribution of ethnographic research to the creation of more efficient, more effective, more equitable and more humane health care systems. Informed consent in ethnographic research is neither achievable nor demonstrable in the terms set by anticipatory regulatory regimes that take clinical research or biomedical experimentation as their paradigm cases. This is because of differences in the practices of ethnographic and biomedical research which we discuss. These include the extended periods of time ethnographers spend in the research setting, the emergent nature of ethnographic research focus and design, the nature and positioning of risk in ethnographic research, the power relationships between researchers and participants, and the public and semi-public nature of the settings normally studied. Anticipatory regulatory regimes are inimical to ethnographic research and risk undermining the contribution of systematic inquiry to understanding whether institutions do what they claim to do, fairly and civilly and with an appropriate mobilisation of resources. We do not suggest that we should simply ignore ethics or leave matters to the individual consciences of researchers. Rather, we need to develop and strengthen professional models of regulation which emphasise education, training and mutual accountability. We conclude the paper with a number of suggestions about how such professional models might be implemented.

Multimodal Genre Systems in EAP Writing Pedagogy: Reflecting on a Needs Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molle, Daniella; Prior, Paul

2008-01-01

This article reports on a genre-based needs analysis for a graduate course in English for academic purposes (EAP) at a large public U.S. university. In particular, it describes the theoretical reconceptualizations of genre analysis that the data provoked. Using ethnographic methods, an investigation of academic genres in several classrooms in…

Conceptual Crossroads: Methods and Ethics in Ethnographic Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David M.

1986-01-01

The delicacy required of ethnographic work is nowhere more evident and more necessary than at the conceptual crossroads where methods and ethical decision making intersect. This paper addresses moments of decision and puts them into perspective by locating them within the lifecycle of ethnographic evaluation. (LMO)

An ethnography of nonadherence: culture, poverty, and tuberculosis in urban Bolivia.

PubMed

Greene, Jeremy A

2004-09-01

The author conducted a focused descriptive ethnographic study of nonadherence with tuberculosis (TB) therapy among Aymara-speaking residents of the city of La Paz, Bolivia. A cohort of patient-informants was identified from the District III TB Control Registry of La Paz as having been nonadherent with their TB medication protocol. From June to August 1998, ethnographic material was collected through participant-observation and repeated interviews and visits in homes, workplaces, clinics, and the community. Ethnographic analysis revealed structural barriers to be more important than cultural differences in the production of nonadherence. Though informants maintained a variety of beliefs and practices related to Aymara medicine, the majority of patients were comfortable with a biomedical model of tuberculosis and maintained belief in the efficacy of antituberculosis chemotherapy and desire to finish treatment. Patients overwhelmingly cited hidden costs of treatments, poor access to care, ethnic discrimination, and prior maltreatment by the health system as reasons for abandoning treatment. These data suggest that overemphasis of cultural difference without exploration of other social dimensions of health care delivery can obscure a more practical understanding of nonadherence in marginalized populations.

Ethnographic Methods in Academic Libraries: A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramsden, Bryony

2016-01-01

Research in academic libraries has recently seen an increase in the use of ethnographic-based methods to collect data. Primarily used to learn about library users and their interaction with spaces and resources, the methods are proving particularly useful to academic libraries. The data ethnographic methods retrieve is rich, context specific, and…

Somewhere between What Is and What If: Fictionalisation and Ethnographic Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Malcolm

2011-01-01

Fictionalisation seems to render ethnographic inquiry suspect as research appropriate to the social sciences because it subverts a claim of realism or objectivity. This leads some ethnographers to propose alternative criteria for validation, such as participation and evocation, which offer alignment with realism; others suggest that scientific…

Return Interviews and Long Engagements with Ethnographic Informants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tobin, Joseph; Hayashi, Akiko

2017-01-01

This paper uses examples from research conducted in preschools in Japan, China, and the United States to illustrate the features and virtues of return interviews with informants with whom ethnographers have long research engagements. Return interviews and long research engagements are powerful research strategies that help the ethnographers ask…

Viewing Places: Students as Visual Ethnographers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Kimberly

2010-01-01

This article presents a micro-ethnographic study that took place during a summer research course for six undergraduate and four graduate students majoring in the disciplines of architecture, art education, geography, landscape architecture and an integrative arts program. The research sought to implement ethnographic, visual methods as a means to…

The Form and Flow of Teaching Ethnographic Knowledge: Hands-On Approaches for Learning Epistemology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corte, Ugo; Irwin, Katherine

2017-01-01

A glance across ethnographic methods terrain reveals multiple controversies and divisive critiques. When training graduate students, these debates and controversies can be consequential. We offer suggestions for teaching graduate ethnographic methods courses that, first, help students understand some of the common epistemological debates in the…

Finding a Way out of the Ethnographic Paradigm Jungle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Subhadip; Banerjee, Pratyush

2012-01-01

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a hybrid ethnographic paradigm, taking the best points from the different approaches of ethnographic research. The pioneering proponents of ethnography differed in their conceptualization of the method, resulting in the development of three distinct schools of thought-holistic, semiotic and…

Integrating Quantitative and Ethnographic Methods to Describe the Classroom. Report No. 5083.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malitz, David; And Others

The debate between proponents of ethnographic and quantitative methodology in classroom observation is reviewed, and the respective strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches are discussed. These methodologies are directly compared in a study that conducted simultaneous ethnographic and quantitative observations on nine classrooms. It is…

Fertility Control: Reproductive Desires, Kin Work, and Women's Status in Contemporary India

PubMed Central

Singh, Holly Donahue

2018-01-01

This article reappraises the link between fertility and women's status by examining changing means and meanings of reproduction in India. It is based on data gathered during and after 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2005 and 2007 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, on the social and cultural contexts of infertility. Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. Historical views of population and fertility control in India and perspectives on the contemporary use of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for practices such as surrogacy situate the ethnographic perspectives analysis. Analysis of ARTs in practice complicates ideas of autonomy and choice in reproduction. Results show that these technologies allow women to challenge power relations within their marital families and pursue stigmatized forms of reproduction. However, they also offer new ways for families to continue and extend an old pattern of exerting control over women's reproductive potential. PMID:27353387

American High School as a Clan: Dynamics of Organization and Leadership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Robert G.

Using ethnographic methods of field work and data analysis, this study investigated one example of a comprehensive senior high school to illuminate the nature of its organizational structure and the way in which organizational control and leadership is exercised. Three principal findings emerged from theme analysis of the data. First,…

Using weather data to determine dry and wet periods relative to ethnographic records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felzer, B. S.; Jiang, M.; Cheng, R.; Ember, C. R.

2017-12-01

Ethnographers record flood or drought events that affect a society's food supply and can be interpreted in terms of a society's ability to adapt to extreme events. Using daily weather station data from the Global Historical Climatology Network for wet events, and monthly gridded climatic data from the Climatic Research Unit for drought events, we determine if it is possible to relate these measured data to the ethnographic records. We explore several drought and wetness indices based on temperature and precipitation, as well as the Colwell method to determine the predictability, seasonality, and variability of these extreme indices. Initial results indicate that while it is possible to capture the events recorded in the ethnographic records, there are many more "false" captures of events that are not recorded in these records. Although extreme precipitation is a poor indicator of floods due to antecedent moisture conditions, even using streamflow for selected sites produces false captures. Relating drought indices to actual food supply as measured in crop yield only related to minimum crop yield in half the cases. Further mismatches between extreme precipitation and drought indices and ethnographic records may relate to the fact that only extreme events that affect food supply are recorded in the ethnographic records or that not all events are recorded by the ethnographers. We will present new results on how predictability measures relate to the ethnographic disasters. Despite the highlighted technical challenges, our results provide a historic perspective linking environmental stressors with socio-economic impacts, which in turn, will underpin the current efforts of risk assessment in a changing environment.

Inadequate environment, resources and values lead to missed nursing care: A focused ethnographic study on the surgical ward using the Fundamentals of Care framework.

PubMed

Jangland, Eva; Teodorsson, Therese; Molander, Karin; Muntlin Athlin, Åsa

2018-06-01

To explore the delivery of care from the perspective of patients with acute abdominal pain focusing on the contextual factors at system level using the Fundamentals of Care framework. The Fundamentals of Care framework describes several contextual and systemic factors that can impact the delivery of care. To deliver high-quality, person-centred care, it is important to understand how these factors affect patients' experiences and care needs. A focused ethnographic approach. A total of 20 observations were performed on two surgical wards at a Swedish university hospital. Data were collected using participant observation and informal interviews and analysed using deductive content analysis. The findings, presented in four categories, reflect the value patients place on the caring relationship and a friendly atmosphere on the ward. Patients had concerns about the environment, particularly the high-tempo culture on the ward and its impact on their integrity, rest and sleep, access to information and planning, and need for support in addressing their existential thoughts. The observers also noted that missed nursing care had serious consequences for patient safety. Patients with acute abdominal pain were cared for in the high-tempo culture of a surgical ward with limited resources, unclear leadership and challenges to patients' safety. The findings highlight the crucial importance of prioritising and valuing the patients' fundamental care needs for recovery. Nursing leaders and nurses need to take the lead to reconceptualise the value of fundamental care in the acute care setting. To improve clinical practice, the value of fundamentals of care must be addressed regardless of patient's clinical condition. Providing a caring relationship is paramount to ensure a positive impact on patient's well-being and recovery. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An Ethnographic Investigation of Attitude Development in Vocational Education: The Importance of Ethnographic Meaning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Claus, John F.

An ethnographic, case-study complement to a statewide survey in New York State attempted to shed light on the interwoven personal, social, economic, and program factors underlying secondary vocational education students' reports of improved attitudes. The survey assessed whether the state's two-year, half-day, separate-facility vocational programs…

Sarah's birth. How the medicalisation of childbirth may be shaped in different settings: Vignette from a study of routine intervention in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Scamell, Mandie; Altaweli, Roa; McCourt, Christine

2017-02-01

The expansion of the medicalisation of childbirth has been described in the literature as being a global phenomenon. The vignette described in this paper, selected from an ethnographic study of routine intervention in Saudi Arabian hospitals illustrates how the worldwide spread of the bio-medical model does not take place within a cultural vacuum. To illuminate the ways in which the medicalisation of birth may be understood and practised in different cultural settings, through a vignette of a specific birth, drawn as a typical case from an ethnographic study that investigated clinical decision-making in the second stage of labour in Saudi Arabia. Ethnographic data collection methods, including participant observation and interviews. The data presented in this paper are drawn from ethnographic field notes collected during field work in Saudi Arabia, and informed by analysis of a wider set of field notes and interviews with professionals working in this context. While the medicalisation of care is a universal phenomenon, the ways in which the care of women is managed using routine medical intervention are framed by the local cultural context in which these practices take place. The ethnographic data presented in this paper shows the medicalisation of birth thesis to be incomplete. The evidence presented in this paper illustrates how local belief systems are not so much subsumed by the expansion of the bio-medical model of childbirth, rather they may actively facilitate a process of localised reinterpretation of such universalised and standardised practices. In this case, aspects of the social and cultural context of Jeddah operates to intensify the biomedical model at the expense of respectful maternity care. In this article, field note data on the birth of one Saudi Arabian woman is used as an illustration of how the medicalisation of childbirth has been appropriated and reinterpreted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Copyright © 2016 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tales from the "hood:" placing reproductive health communication between African American fathers and children in context.

PubMed

Ohalete, Nnenna; Georges, Jane; Doswell, Willa

2010-01-01

To evaluate reproductive health communication between African American fathers and their children. In this qualitative ethnographic study, data were collected through tape-recorded individual interviews about the content and timing of reproductive health communication, the reproductive health values fathers intended to impart to their children, and their comfort level in doing so. A total sample of 19 African-American fathers participated. Data were coded according to the qualitative analytic principles established by Miles and Huberman (1994), and analyzed using manifest and latent content analysis approaches. Although 10 fathers reported feeling uncomfortable having these conversations, 18 reported having reproductive health communication with their children, and most encouraged their sons and daughters to delay sex until adulthood. These conversations were primarily driven by the fear of HIV/AIDS and the negative consequences of sex; however, some conversations were inappropriate for developmental age. African-American fathers may benefit from education to help them have age appropriate reproductive health communication with their children. Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners are well positioned to educate African American adolescents and their fathers on reproductive health. Future dyadic African American father-child studies are needed to explore more fully African-American children's perceptions of reproductive health communication and the effect on delaying sex.

Cultural significance of primary teeth for caregivers in Northeast Brazil.

PubMed

Nations, Marilyn K; Calvasina, Paola Gondim; Martin, Michele N; Dias, Hilma Fontenele

2008-04-01

This anthropological study critically evaluates Brazilian caregivers' symbolic production and significance of their malnourished offspring's primary teeth, as well as their own, and describes popular dental practices. From January to June 2004, ethnographic interviews of 27 poor, low-literacy mothers were conducted at a public Malnutrition Treatment Center in Fortaleza, Ceará State. Participant observation of clinical pathways and home environments supplemented the data. Content analysis was performed. Results confirm that primary teeth are imbued with cultural significance in Northeast Brazil. Mothers examine mouths, perceive signs of decay, associate primary with permanent tooth healthiness, identify ethnodental illnesses, seek assistance, and perform rituals with exfoliated teeth. The mother's motivation to care for primary teeth is sparked by her memories of past toothache and attempts to avoid stigma and discrimination. Social determinants, not mothers' beliefs or behaviors, are the most critical obstacles to effective dental care. Legitimizing lay knowledge and empowering caregivers and children can improve oral health in Northeast Brazil.

Sending-country violence and receiving-country discrimination: effects on the health of Colombian refugees in Ecuador.

PubMed

Shedlin, Michele G; Decena, Carlos U; Noboa, Hugo; Betancourt, Óscar

2014-02-01

This study explored factors affecting the health and well being of recent refugees from Colombia in Ecuador. Data collection focused on how sending-country violence and structural violence in a new environment affect immigrant health vulnerability and risk behaviors. A qualitative approach included ethnographic observation, media content analysis, focus groups, and individual interviews with refugees (N = 137). The focus groups (5) provided perspectives on the research domains by sex workers; drug users; male and female refugees; and service providers. Social and economic marginalization are impacting the health and well being of this growing refugee population. Data illustrate how stigma and discrimination affect food and housing security, employment and health services, and shape vulnerabilities and health risks in a new receiving environment. Widespread discrimination in Ecuador reflects fears, misunderstanding, and stereotypes about Colombian refugees. For this displaced population, the sequelae of violence, combined with survival needs and lack of support and protections, shape new risks to health and well-being.

The cultural dialogue on the domestic dimension of care to immigrant caregivers in Spain1

PubMed Central

Morales-Moreno, Isabel; Giménez-Fernández, Maravillas; Echevarría-Pérez, Paloma

2015-01-01

Objectives: to determine how the immigration phenomenon influences the response to informal care in the domestic level through the caregiver activity, and to analyze the cultural dialogue established in the residential area of Murcia (Spain). Method: This is an ethnographic study, conducted in 26 informal immigrant caregivers. As data collection instruments, semi-structured interviews and participant observation were employed. MAXQDA-2 assisted content analysis was also applied. Results: the immigrant caregiver is the main consumer of traditional medicines, extending these health practices to her home group. A cultural dialogue is established on informal care, characterized by interculturalism and mutual adaptation. Conclusions: cultural hybridization was identified for informal caregivers, immigrants and cultural integration: new health care practices and cultural behaviors in informal systems. There is a transformation in the roles of family members attended in domestic environments, increasing quality of life and self care. They represent an alternative to medicalization, promoting self-management of health. PMID:26487131

Sending-Country Violence & Receiving-Country Discrimination: Effects on the Health of Colombian Refugees in Ecuador

PubMed Central

Shedlin, Michele G.; Decena, Carlos U.; Noboa, Hugo; Betancourt, Óscar

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND This study explored factors affecting the health and well being of recent refugees from Colombia in Ecuador. Data collection focused on how sending-country violence and structural violence in a new environment affect immigrant health vulnerability and risk behaviors. METHODS A qualitative approach included ethnographic observation, media content analysis, focus groups, and individual interviews with refugees (N=137). The focus groups (5) provided perspectives on the research domains by sex workers; drug users; male and female refugees; and service providers. RESULTS Social and economic marginalization are impacting the health and well being of this growing refugee population. Data illustrate how stigma and discrimination affect food and housing security, employment and health services, and shape vulnerabilities and health risks in a new receiving environment. DISCUSSION Widespread discrimination in Ecuador reflects fears, misunderstanding, and stereotypes about Colombian refugees. For this displaced population, the sequelae of violence, combined with survival needs and lack of support and protections, shape new risks to health and well-being. PMID:23377565

Slicing the Onion Ethnographically: Layers and Spaces in Multilingual Language Education Policy and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hornberger, Nancy H.; Johnson, David Cassels

2007-01-01

In this article, we take up the call for more multilayered and ethnographic approaches to language policy and planning (LPP) research by sharing two examples of how ethnography can illuminate local interpretation and implementation. We offer ethnographic data collected in two very different institutions--the School District of Philadelphia and the…

Conceptualising the Use of Facebook in Ethnographic Research: As Tool, as Data and as Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Sally

2013-01-01

This article proposes a three-part conceptualisation of the use of Facebook in ethnographic research: as a tool, as data and as context. Longitudinal research with young adults at a time of significant change provides many challenges for the ethnographic researcher, such as maintaining channels of communication and high rates of participant…

Tales from the Ethnographic Field: Navigating Feelings of Guilt and Privilege in the Research Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeLuca, Jaime R.; Maddox, Callie Batts

2016-01-01

This article explores questions of reflexivity, positionality, identity, and emotion within the process of ethnographic research. We reflect on our feelings of privilege and guilt in and through our ethnographic fieldwork and discuss the ways in which these experiences encouraged reflexive thinking and a crucial interrogation of the place of the…

An Ethnographic Approach to Education: What Are You Doing in This Village?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanik, Betül

2017-01-01

This study describes the ethnographic approach used in educational research, as seen through the eyes of an ethnographer. This work is the product of research that investigates the transition of young children to pre-school, within the cultural processes of their everyday lives. The article describes the village setting and the processes in which…

The Dani of West Irian. An Ethnographic Companion to the Film "Dead Birds". Module 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heider, Karl G.

The purpose of this study guide is to provide students of anthropology with an ethnographic accompaniment to Robert Gardiner's film about the Dani tribesmen, "Dead Birds." The first section offers an ethnographic profile of Dani culture, describing its most important features. These include: 1) their material culture, covering matters…

Ethnographic Observational Study of the Biologic Initiation Conversation Between Rheumatologists and Biologic-Naive Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients.

PubMed

Kottak, Nicholas; Tesser, John; Leibowitz, Evan; Rosenberg, Melissa; Parenti, Dennis; DeHoratius, Raphael

2018-01-30

This ethnographic market research study investigated the biologic initiation conversation between rheumatologists and biologic-naive patients with rheumatoid arthritis to assess how therapy options, particularly mode of administration, were discussed. Consenting rheumatologists (n = 16) and patients (n = 48) were videotaped during medical visits and interviewed by a trained ethnographer. The content, structure, and timing of conversations regarding biologic initiation were analyzed. The mean duration of physician-patient visits was approximately 15 minutes; biologic therapies were discussed for a mean of 5.6 minutes. Subcutaneous (SC) and intravenous (IV) therapy options were mentioned in 45 and 35 visits, respectively, out of a total of 48 visits. All patients had some familiarity with SC administration, but nearly half of patients (22 of 48) were unfamiliar with IV therapy going into the visit. IV administration was not defined or described by rheumatologists in 77% of visits (27 of 35) mentioning IV therapy. Thus, 19 of 22 patients who were initially unfamiliar with IV therapy remained unfamiliar after the visit. Disparities in physician-patient perceptions were revealed, as all rheumatologists (16 of 16) believed IV therapy would be less convenient than SC therapy for patients, while 46% of patients (22 of 48) felt this way. In post-visit interviews, some patients seemed confused and overwhelmed, particularly when presented with many treatment choices in a visit. Some patients stated they would benefit from visual aids or summary sheets of key points. This study revealed significant educational opportunities to improve the biologic initiation conversation and indicated a disparity between patients' and rheumatologists' perception of IV therapy. © 2018 The Authors. Arthritis Care & Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American College of Rheumatology.

[Field work, narrative and knowledge production in contemporary ethnographic research: a contribution to the field of health].

PubMed

Trad, Leny Alves Bomfim

2012-03-01

In this article I reflect on the peculiarities of contemporary ethnographic research, highlighting some challenges inherent to this process. The discussion focuses in particular on the following aspects: the limits imposed by the clear reduction in immersion time in the field; the challenges in learning about ethnographic work, either in the process of observation or interaction in the field, or in the task of textual production; issues of an epistemological and ethical nature that deserve particular attention on the part of practitioners of the ethnographic approach and the scientific community in general. It is especially appropriate to foster debate around the ethnographic method, addressing its peculiarities, operational complexity and potential as a tool for knowledge production, in the sphere of health/public health, bearing in mind the marked increase of this approach in this field.

Racialized Spaces in Teacher Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Place-Based Identities in Roche Bois, Mauritius

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiehe, Elsa M.

2013-01-01

This eleven-month ethnographic study puts critical discourse analysis in dialogue with postmodern conceptualizations of space and place to explore how eight educators talk about space and in the process, produce racialized spaces in Roche Bois, Mauritius. The macro-historical context of racialization of this urban marginalized community informs…

Digital Discourse Markers in an ESL Learning Setting: The Case of Socialisation Forums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shakarami, Alireza; Hajhashemi, Karim; Caltabiano, Nerina

2016-01-01

Analysis of the linguistic discourse plays an important role in the social, cultural, ethnographic, and comparative studies of languages. Discourse markers as indispensable parts of this analysis are reportedly more common in informal speech than in written language. They could be used at different levels, i.e. as "linking words,"…

Authority in Cross-Racial Teaching and Learning (Re)considering the Transferability of Warm Demander Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Amy Carpenter; Sassi, Kelly

2014-01-01

This article compares a White teacher's approach to authority with that of an African American warm demander. Ethnographic methods and discourse analysis illuminated how an African American teacher grounded her authority with African American students in shared culture, history, and frame of reference. A comparative analysis makes visible…

Critical Medical Anthropology in Midwifery Research

PubMed Central

Newnham, Elizabeth C.; Pincombe, Jan I.; McKellar, Lois V.

2016-01-01

In this article, we discuss the use of critical medical anthropology (CMA) as a theoretical framework for research in the maternity care setting. With reference to the doctoral research of the first author, we argue for the relevance of using CMA for research into the maternity care setting, particularly as it relates to midwifery. We then give an overview of an existing analytic model within CMA that we adapted for looking specifically at childbirth practices and which was then used in both analyzing the data and structuring the thesis. There is often no clear guide to the analysis or writing up of data in ethnographic research; we therefore offer this Critical analytic model of childbirth practices for other researchers conducting ethnographic research into childbirth or maternity care. PMID:28462347

Reconstructing the star knowledge of Aboriginal Tasmanians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gantevoort, Michelle; Hamacher, Duane W.; Lischick, Savannah

2016-12-01

The canopy of stars is a central presence in the daily and spiritual lives of Aboriginal Tasmanians. With the arrival of European colonists, Tasmanian astronomical knowledge and traditions were interrupted and dispersed. Fragments can be found scattered in the ethnographic and historical record throughout the nineteenth century. We draw from these ethnohistorical documents to analyse and reconstruct Aboriginal astronomical knowledge in Tasmania. This analysis demonstrates that stars, the Milky Way, constellations, dark nebula, the Sun, Moon, meteors and aurorae held cultural, spiritual and subsistence significance for the Aboriginal cultures of Tasmania. We move beyond a monolithic view of Aboriginal astronomical knowledge in Tasmania, commonly portrayed in previous research, to lay the groundwork for future ethnographic and archaeological fieldwork with Aboriginal elders and communities.

Achieving Affective and Behavioral Outcomes in Culture Learning: The Case for Ethnographic Interviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bateman, Blair E.

2004-01-01

This study sought to extend previous research on ethnographic interviews as a method of culture learning in foreign language classes by employing a qualitative case study methodology. Fifty-four university students in a first-year Spanish course worked in pairs to conduct a series of three ethnographic interviews with a native speaker of Spanish.…

Research with Rawness: The Remembering and Repeating of Auto/Biographical Ethnographic Research Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sagan, Olivia

2007-01-01

This paper explores the auto/biographicity of ethnographic research, describing the way in which our research pursuits can be seen as the replaying of past agendas. It looks specifically at the auto/biographic interview as part of the ethnographic data collected, positing it as the site of co-construction of new memory, and the re-enactment of…

Using the Learners-as-Ethnographers Approach to Enhance Intercultural Learning among American College Students Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Minhui

2012-01-01

This study explored how the learners-as-ethnographers (LAE) approach facilitated intercultural learning among American students learning Chinese as a foreign language. Two research questions addressed the effectiveness of the LAE approach and students' learning experiences in a non-immersion context. I designed six ethnographic tasks for the…

From the teachers' eyes: An ethnographic-case study on developing models of Informal Formative Assessments (IFA) and understanding the challenges to effective implementation in science classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sezen, Asli

The emphasis on socio-cultural theories of learning has required the understanding of multi-dimensional, dynamic and social nature of acquiring the scientific knowledge and practices. Recent policy documents suggest a focus on formative and dynamic assessment practices that will help understand and improve the complex nature of scientific learning in classrooms. This study focuses on teachers' use of "Informal Formative Assessments (IFA)" aimed at improving students' learning and teachers' frequent recognition of students' learning process. The study was designed as an ethnographic case study of four middle school teachers and their students at a local charter school. The data of the study included (a) teachers' responses to history of teaching questionnaire (b) video and audio records of teachers' assessment practices during two different scientific projects (c) video and audio records of ethnographic interviews with teachers during their reflections on their practices, and (d) field notes taken by the researcher to understand the assessment culture of the school. The analytical tools from sociolinguistics (e.g., transcripts and event maps) were prepared and discourse analysis based in an ethnographic perspective was used to analyze the data. Moreover, Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was also introduced as an alternative data analysis framework for understanding the role of division of labor among the elements of the community on the challenges and the outcomes of IFA practices. The findings from the analysis of the classroom discourse showed three different types of IFA cycles: connected, non-connected, and repeating. The analysis of the teachers' reflections showed that the effectiveness of these cycles did not only depend on whether the cycles were connected, but also on other variables such as the phase of the lessons and student's identities and abilities. Teachers' reflections during researcher-teacher meetings on the concept and the aims of IFA improved through the use of academic literature on IFA and video-cases of their own practice. Teachers also reflected on the challenges for effective implementations of IFA and they emphasized challenges due to the division of labor among the classroom participants and the open nature of scientific knowledge. Through participation in the study, the teachers helped develop an IFA model for middle school science classrooms designed to capture the complex nature of teacher-student interaction. This model can be used for further analysis of IFA activity and professional development activities focused on assessment practices.

Tuberculosis among the Xavante Indians of the Brazilian Amazon: an epidemiological and ethnographic assessment.

PubMed

Basta, Paulo Cesar; Coimbra, Carlos E A; Welch, James R; Corrêa Alves, Luiz Carlos; Santos, Ricardo Ventura; Bastos Camacho, Luiz Antonio

2010-01-01

Despite broad availability of a national tuberculosis (TB) control program that has proved effective in Brazil, TB remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among indigenous peoples. We report the results of an interdisciplinary investigation of TB epidemiology, healthcare services, and ethnomedicine among the Xavante Indians of Central Brazil. Fieldwork components included clinical assessment of TB (479 subjects, 89.3% of the population = 1 year of age), analysis of medical health records, and ethnographic research. We found TB to constitute a major health risk, with moderately high annual risk of infection (0.94%), moderate prevalence of infection, high percentage of X-ray images suggestive of TB (14.2% in subjects > or = 10 years of age), and a relatively low percentage of individuals with reactive TB skin tests (16.6% of reactions > or = 10 mm) despite high BCG vaccine coverage. We also found a high rate of TB patients showing no evidence of prior infection. Ethnographic interviews show that Xavante and biomedical health perspectives are simultaneously divergent in their etiologies but pragmatically compatible. Ineffective diagnosis procedures compromise the efficacy of existing TB prevention efforts and threaten to undermine otherwise favorable institutional and cultural conditions.

Perception of mercury contamination by Brazilian adolescents in a gold mining community: an ethnographic approach.

PubMed

Novais, Gabriel; Câmara, Volney de Magalhães

2009-01-01

This study used ethnographic methods to examine the perception of mercury contamination by adolescents in the mining community of Poconé, Mato Grosso, Brazil. In Phase I, 53 students aged 13 to 16 years in six schools presented theatrical sketches about community health risks to generate key terms for a pile sorting activity in Phase II. Mercury was reported by four of the 15 groups (26%). In Phase II, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews and pile sorts with 31 students to assess adolescent attitudes about mercury and to generate an ethnomedical model of mercury perception. The lack of consensus evident in the model reveals that while students view mercury as an overall threat, many of them do not understand how its presence can harm human health. Few adolescents felt confident about their knowledge (3%) or could accurately explain how it was used (9%), even though many of them had relatives working as miners (55%). Further analysis of pile sort data suggests that mercury may not belong in a 'typical risks' domain. The authors argue that ethnographic methods are a useful tool for public health research, and hope that these findings can contribute to health education interventions in the field.

An ethnographic study of participant roles in school bullying.

PubMed

Gumpel, Thomas P; Zioni-Koren, Vered; Bekerman, Zvi

2014-01-01

An ethnographic study in a 10th grade remedial class was undertaken in order to discern patterns of school bullying. Twenty 10th graders were observed over the course of one academic year as they interacted with their peers and teachers. The observations helped us identify dispositional and situational factors which influenced participant roles. In-depth interviews of students involved in school bullying showed how participants interpreted and explained their classroom behaviors. The analysis of the data gathered allowed the identification of four main actor roles recognized in the existing literature on bullying-the pure victim, the pure bully, the provocative-victim, and the bystander-as well as the differentiation between aggressive bullies and the bully managers. Most roles fluctuated according to specific circumstances and often appeared to be moderated by the teacher's management style and contextual variables. Some pupils assumed different roles in different contexts, sometimes changing roles within or between episodes. Teacher personality and style also had an impact on the frequencies and types of aggression and victimization. The use of an ethnographic research paradigm is discussed as an important supplement to positivistic studies of school bullying. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In Abundance: Networked Participatory Practices as Scholarship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Bonnie E.

2015-01-01

In an era of knowledge abundance, scholars have the capacity to distribute and share ideas and artifacts via digital networks, yet networked scholarship often remains unrecognized within institutional spheres of influence. Using ethnographic methods including participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, this study investigates…

Cultural perspectives of meals expressed by patients in geriatric care.

PubMed

Sidenvall, B; Fjellström, C; Ek, A C

1996-04-01

The aim of this study was to investigate cultural values and ideas concerning table manners and food habits expressed by patients in geriatric care. The research approach was ethnographic. The findings exposed conflicts related to three themes. The first, "Mind your manners", demonstrated problems in managing food and objects, keeping clean, and conduct at table. The second, "Appetite for food", was connected to tradition and taste, healthy food and the need not to waste food. The third, "Be contented and do not complain", illustrated the elderly patients' socialized manners in talking about meals and food.

Breastfeeding Infants with Ankyloglossia: Insight into Mothers' Experiences.

PubMed

Wong, Kevin; Patel, Punam; Cohen, Michael B; Levi, Jessica R

2017-03-01

Breastfeeding difficulty from ankyloglossia can affect both the mother and baby in a breastfeeding dyad. With renewed emphasis in today's culture on breast milk, mothers may feel increasing pressure to breastfeed, and the inability for some to do so may cause significant distress. Recently, online parenting forums have seen exponential growth; these forums allow mothers to connect with peers undergoing similar life transitions. The purpose of this study was to review online discussions regarding ankyloglossia to understand mothers' experiences with breastfeeding. We performed an ethnographic content analysis of 76 online threads and 501 posts regarding ankyloglossia based on six domains: (1) initial expectations, (2) breastfeeding complications, (3) questions, (4) diagnosis, (5) treatment, and (6) outcomes. About one-fourth of women who participated in online forum discussions had initial expectations to breastfeed, however, many found it impossible due to poor latch or pain. Concerns were frequently exacerbated by healthcare providers who reportedly missed or overlooked ankyloglossia. Although these complications made breastfeeding a challenging experience, mothers often described both subjective and physical improvements after frenotomy. Breastfeeding difficulty was a commonly voiced concern in online ankyloglossia forums. Forum analysis is an effective way to gain insight into patients' experiences, which allows providers to anticipate concerns and provides more effective counseling.

From voice to voices: identifying a plurality of Muslim sources in the news media.

PubMed

Munnik, Michael B

2017-03-01

This article identifies a qualitative change in the diversity of actors who represent Muslims in British news media. Hitherto, the literature discussing Muslims and the media has tended to characterize media organizations as institutions which portray Muslims in an essentialized, monolithic way. In contrast, I propose in this article that the process of representation is more complex, including greater agency and engaging a wider diversity of Muslims than the prevailing literature suggests. Sociological studies distinguish between official and unofficial sources who help determine the representations that journalists employ in their texts, and I apply this to Muslim communities in Glasgow. Using qualitative methods drawn from media production analysis, including participant-observation and ethnographic interviews, I identify a shift from a 'gatekeeper' model of representing the community to that of a plurality of sources, which reveals and insists on the diversity of Muslim communities and voices. I will show why a wider range of actors emerged to speak publicly, what differentiates them and how they position themselves as representatives of Muslims. This focus on producers and on source strategies brings fresh insights into a field dominated by content analysis and a 'media-centric' approach.

From voice to voices: identifying a plurality of Muslim sources in the news media

PubMed Central

Munnik, Michael B

2017-01-01

This article identifies a qualitative change in the diversity of actors who represent Muslims in British news media. Hitherto, the literature discussing Muslims and the media has tended to characterize media organizations as institutions which portray Muslims in an essentialized, monolithic way. In contrast, I propose in this article that the process of representation is more complex, including greater agency and engaging a wider diversity of Muslims than the prevailing literature suggests. Sociological studies distinguish between official and unofficial sources who help determine the representations that journalists employ in their texts, and I apply this to Muslim communities in Glasgow. Using qualitative methods drawn from media production analysis, including participant-observation and ethnographic interviews, I identify a shift from a ‘gatekeeper’ model of representing the community to that of a plurality of sources, which reveals and insists on the diversity of Muslim communities and voices. I will show why a wider range of actors emerged to speak publicly, what differentiates them and how they position themselves as representatives of Muslims. This focus on producers and on source strategies brings fresh insights into a field dominated by content analysis and a ‘media-centric’ approach. PMID:29708127

Where Are the Women? And Other Questions, Asked within an Historical Analysis of Sociology of Music Education Research Publications: Being a Self-Reflective Ethnographic Path

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Roberta

2014-01-01

This article presents a meta-analysis of one area of sociological literature in music education: Where are the women and "others"? Where do we raise concerns about social values? Institutional Ethnography provides the basis for the meta-analysis, presented in two historical periods, pre-1960 and 2007-2012. A short story of an actual…

Training Drug Treatment Patients to Conduct Peer-Based HIV Outreach: An Ethnographic Perspective on Peers' Experiences

PubMed Central

Guarino, Honoria; Deren, Sherry; Mino, Milton; Kang, Sung-Yeon; Shedlin, Michele

2010-01-01

From 2005 to 2008, the Bienvenidos Project trained Puerto Rican patients of New York City and New Jersey methadone maintenance treatment programs to conduct peer-based community outreach to migrant Puerto Rican drug users to reduce migrants' HIV risk behaviors. Ethnographic research, including focus groups, individual interviews and observations, was conducted with a subset of the patients trained as peers (n=49; 67% male; mean age 40.3 years) to evaluate the self-perceived effects of the intervention. Results of the ethnographic component of this study are summarized. The role of ethnographic methods in implementing and evaluating this kind of intervention is also discussed. PMID:20141456

A Typology of Ethnographic Scales for Virtual Worlds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boellstorff, Tom

This chapter outlines a typology of genres of ethnographic research with regard to virtual worlds, informed by extensive research the author has completed both in Second Life and in Indonesia. It begins by identifying four confusions about virtual worlds: they are not games, they need not be graphical or even visual, they are not mass media, and they need not be defined in terms of escapist role-playing. A three-part typology of methods for ethnographic research in virtual worlds focuses on the relationship between research design and ethnographic scale. One class of methods for researching virtual worlds with regard to ethnographic scale explores interfaces between virtual worlds and the actual world, whereas a second examines interfaces between two or more virtual worlds. The third class involves studying a single virtual world in its own terms. Recognizing that all three approaches have merit for particular research purposes, ethnography of virtual worlds can be a vibrant field of research, contributing to central debates about human selfhood and sociality.

Queer in the field: on emotions, temporality, and performativity in ethnography.

PubMed

Rooke, Alison

2009-01-01

This article is a reflection on a year of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in and around a lesbian and gay community center in London. The research was concerned with the ways in which working class lesbian and bisexual women experience the meanings of their sexual identities on an everyday basis. I conducted participant observation in a variety of settings. Activities I took part in included volunteering at the center and running sexualities discussion groups, and photographic workshops with lesbian and bisexual women. In this article I explore the epistemological, ontological, and ethical dimensions of ethnographic research. I argue here that queer ethnography is not merely ethnography that has focus on researching queer lives, it is also a matter of taking queer theory seriously in order to question the conventions of ethnographic research, specifically the stability and coherence of the ethnographic self and performativity of the ethnographic self in writing and doing research. To queer ethnography then, is to bend the established orientation of ethnography in its method, ethics, and reflexive philosophical principles.

Using ethnography to monitor the community health implications of onshore unconventional oil and gas developments: examples from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale.

PubMed

Perry, Simona L

2013-01-01

The ethnographer's toolbox has within it a variety of methods for describing and analyzing the everyday lives of human beings that can be useful to public health practitioners and policymakers. These methods can be employed to uncover information on some of the harder-to-monitor psychological, sociocultural, and environmental factors that may lead to chronic stress in individuals and communities. In addition, because most ethnographic research studies involve deep and long-term engagement with local communities, the information collected by ethnographic researchers can be useful in tracking long- and short-term changes in overall well-being and health. Set within an environmental justice framework, this article uses examples from ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Pennsylvania to describe and justify using an ethnographic approach to monitor the psychological and sociocultural determinants of community health as they relate to unconventional oil and gas development projects in the United States.

Cultures of Abuse within Residential Child Care.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkin, Wendy; Green, Lorraine

1997-01-01

Uses interviews with residents and ex-residents, ethnographic techniques, and document analysis to examine sexuality and sexual abuse in residential childcare settings, including how their culture and leadership contribute to abuse and the denial and invisibility of sexuality. Discusses issues around researching sexuality, children, and abusive…

Linnaeus' study of Swedish swidden cultivation: Pioneering ethnographic work on the 'economy of nature'.

PubMed

Dove, Michael R

2015-04-01

Carl Linnaeus' work on the 'economy of nature' was a major early development in what became the modern field of ecology. This analysis suggests that a key subject of this work that has been ignored or misunderstood for 250 years is the rural livelihoods, especially swidden (or slash-and-burn) agriculture, which Linnaeus studied during his expeditions through rural Sweden. Rereading his reports in the light of modern work on swiddens, political ecology, and the history of science affords a new appreciation of Linnaeus' insights into traditional systems of resource exploitation. The logic of nutrient cycling in swidden agriculture and its utilization of natural dynamics to serve human ends exemplify the principles of the 'economy of nature', and gave Linnaeus a philosophical basis for understanding and defending this system of agriculture as well as other rural resource use systems in Sweden. This analysis sheds new light on Linnaeus' ethnographic work, his view of folk environmental knowledge, and his often derided identification with Sweden's ethnic peoples.

Gatekeepers as Care Providers: The Care Work of Patient-centered Medical Home Clerical Staff.

PubMed

Solimeo, Samantha L; Ono, Sarah S; Stewart, Kenda R; Lampman, Michelle A; Rosenthal, Gary E; Stewart, Greg L

2017-03-01

International implementation of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model for delivering primary care has dramatically increased in the last decade. A majority of research on PCMH's impact has emphasized the care provided by clinically trained staff. In this article, we report our ethnographic analysis of data collected from Department of Veterans Affairs staff implementing PACT, the VA version of PCMH. Teams were trained to use within-team delegation, largely accomplished through attention to clinical licensure, to differentiate staff in providing efficient, patient-centered care. In doing so, PACT may reinforce a clinically defined culture of care that countermands PCMH ideals. Such competing rubrics for care are brought into relief through a focus on the care work performed by clerks. Ethnographic analysis identifies clerks' care as a kind of emotional dirty work, signaling important areas for future anthropological study of the relationships among patient-centered care, stigma, and clinical authority. © 2016 by the American Anthropological Association.

Leading team learning: what makes interprofessional teams learn to work well?

PubMed

Chatalalsingh, Carole; Reeves, Scott

2014-11-01

This article describes an ethnographic study focused on exploring leaders of team learning in well-established nephrology teams in an academic healthcare organization in Canada. Employing situational theory of leadership, the article provides details on how well established team members advance as "learning leaders". Data were gathered by ethnographic methods over a 9-month period with the members of two nephrology teams. These learning to care for the sick teams involved over 30 regulated health professionals, such as physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, dietitians and other healthcare practitioners, staff, students and trainees, all of whom were collectively managing obstacles and coordinating efforts. Analysis involved an inductive thematic analysis of observations, reflections, and interview transcripts. The study indicated how well established members progress as team-learning leaders, and how they adapt to an interprofessional culture through the activities they employ to enable day-to-day learning. The article uses situational theory of leadership to generate a detailed illumination of the nature of leaders' interactions within an interprofessional context.

Palpable Pedagogy: Expressive Arts, Leadership, and Change in Social Justice Teacher Education (An Ethnographic/Auto-Ethnographic Study of the Classroom Culture of an Arts-Based Teacher Education Course)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbera, Lucy Elizabeth

2009-01-01

"Palpable Pedagogy: Expressive Arts, Leadership, and Change in Social Justice Teacher Education" is an arts-informed ethnographic study of the pedagogy and culture engendered when the expressive arts are employed in social justice teacher education. "Palpable Pedagogy" is a qualitative study that examines the power of the expressive arts to…

Genres, Contexts, and Literacy Practices: Literacy Brokering among Sudanese Refugee Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perry, Kristen H.

2009-01-01

This ethnographic study examined literacy brokering among Sudanese refugee families in Michigan. Literacy brokering occurs as individuals seek informal help with unfamiliar texts and literacy practices. Data collection involved participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and collection of artifacts over 18 months. Researcher analysis of…

Voice, Register and Social Position

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackledge, Adrian; Creese, Angela; Kaur Takhi, Jaspreet

2014-01-01

In this article the notion of "community" is examined through a lens which focuses on the way people interact and communicate in and around a Panjabi complementary school. Analysis of linguistic ethnographic data contributes to understandings of how identities are produced and reproduced, and how belonging becomes naturalised. The…

Language, Identity, Education, and Transmigration: Chilean Adolescents in Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Kendall; Ganuza, Natalie

2005-01-01

This article examines patterns of national, cultural, and linguistic identification among Chilean-Swedish transmigrant adolescents in and around Stockholm, Sweden. Drawing from ethnographic interviews and observations, analysis focuses on adolescents' (a) views on ethnic and national identity; (b) general perceptions of Chileans and Swedes; and…

Struggle for Social Position in Digital Media Composition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doerr-Stevens, Candance

2013-01-01

This study investigates the processes and products of multimodal and multi-authored digital media composition. Using ethnographic case study and Mediated Discourse Analysis (Norris & Jones, 2005), this study focuses specifically on the digital media composition of radio and film documentaries, examining struggle among students, media, and…

Effective Instructional Characteristics of Teachers of Junior High School Gifted Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wendel, Robert; Heiser, Sandra

1989-01-01

An ethnographic study analyzed videotapes using simulated recall procedure and comparative analysis of a student opinionnaire to determine effective characteristics of teachers of gifted junior high schools students. Desirable traits noted were humor, enthusiasm, creativity, care and respect for students, and high expectations. (MSE)

Harmony as Language Policy in China: An Internet Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Xuan; Juffermans, Kasper; Du, Caixia

2016-01-01

This paper provides an ethnographic understanding of harmony as language policy in China, grounded in a historical analysis of "harmony" ([character omitted] "he") as a distinct traditional Chinese (Confucian) ideal that gradually finds its new expressions through the policy of Harmonious Society ([characters omitted]…

Elusive implementation: an ethnographic study of intersectoral policymaking for health.

PubMed

Holt, Ditte Heering; Rod, Morten Hulvej; Waldorff, Susanne Boch; Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Tine

2018-01-30

For more than 30 years policy action across sectors has been celebrated as a necessary and viable way to affect the social factors impacting on health. In particular intersectoral action on the social determinants of health is considered necessary to address social inequalities in health. However, despite growing support for intersectoral policymaking, implementation remains a challenge. Critics argue that public health has remained naïve about the policy process and a better understanding is needed. Based on ethnographic data, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis of a local process of intersectoral policymaking in order to gain a better understanding of the challenges posed by implementation. To help conceptualize the process, we apply the theoretical perspective of organizational neo-institutionalism, in particular the concepts of rationalized myth and decoupling. On the basis of an explorative study among ten Danish municipalities, we conducted an ethnographic study of the development of a municipal-wide implementation strategy for the intersectoral health policy of a medium-sized municipality. The main data sources consist of ethnographic field notes from participant observation and interview transcripts. By providing detailed contextual description, we show how an apparent failure to move from policy to action is played out by the ongoing production of abstract rhetoric and vague plans. We find that idealization of universal intersectoralism, inconsistent demands, and doubts about economic outcomes challenge the notion of implementation as moving from rhetoric to action. We argue that the 'myth' of intersectoralism may be instrumental in avoiding the specification of action to implement the policy, and that the policy instead serves as a way to display and support good intentions and hereby continue the process. On this basis we expand the discussion on implementation challenges regarding intersectoral policymaking for health.

Children Writing "Hard Times": Lived Experiences of Poverty and the Class-Privileged Assumptions of a Mandated Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dutro, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

Dutro discusses an analysis of the disconnect between the material realities of the lives of a group of third-grade children living in poverty and the middle-class assumptions of a district-mandated unit within a literacy curriculum. The analysis arose in the context of an ethnographic study of identity and classroom literacy practices; it was…

The Work of Mourning in the Bilingual Schools of Israel: Ambivalent Emotions and the Risks of Seeking Mutual Respect and Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zembylas, Michalinos; Bekerman, Zvi

2011-01-01

This article presents an in-depth analysis of two commemoration events in a first-grade classroom of a bilingual school in Israel. The two events presented--the commemorations of the Holocaust Day and the Memorial Day--derive from a longitudinal ethnographic study of integrated bilingual schools in Israel. The analysis of these events shows…

The research evidence published in high impact nursing journals between 2000 and 2006: a quantitative content analysis.

PubMed

Mantzoukas, Stefanos

2009-04-01

Evidence-based practice has become an imperative for efficient, effective and safe practice. Furthermore, evidences emerging from published research are considered as valid knowledge sources to guiding practice. The aim of this paper is to review all research articles published in the top 10 general nursing journals for the years 2000-2006 to identify the methodologies used, the types of evidence these studies produced and the issues upon which they endeavored. Quantitative content analysis was implemented to study all published research papers of the top 10 general nursing journals for the years 2000-2006. The top 10 general nursing journals were included in the study. The abstracts of all research articles were analysed with regards the methodologies of enquiry, the types of evidence produced and the issues of study they endeavored upon. Percentages were developed as to enable conclusions to be drawn. The results for the category methodologies used were 7% experimental, 6% quasi-experimental, 39% non-experimental, 2% ethnographical studies, 7% phenomenological, 4% grounded theory, 1% action research, 1% case study, 15% unspecified, 5.5% other, 0.5% meta-synthesis, 2% meta-analysis, 5% literature reviews and 3% secondary analysis. For the category types of evidence were 4% hypothesis/theory testing, 11% evaluative, 5% comparative, 2% correlational, 46% descriptive, 5% interpretative and 27% exploratory. For the category issues of study were 45% practice/clinical, 8% educational, 11% professional, 3% spiritual/ethical/metaphysical, 26% health promotion and 7% managerial/policy. Published studies can provide adequate evidences for practice if nursing journals conceptualise evidence emerging from non-experimental and qualitative studies as relevant types of evidences for practice and develop appropriate mechanisms for assessing their validity. Also, nursing journals need to increase and encourage the publication of studies that implement RCT methodology, systematic reviews, meta-synthesis and meta-analysis methodologies. Finally, nursing journals need to encourage more high quality research evidence that derive from interpretative, theory testing and evaluative types of studies that are practice relevant.

Higher satisfaction with ethnographic edutainment using YouTube among medical students in Thailand

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Purpose: At present, transformative learning is one of the most important issues in medical education, since a conventional learning environment is prone to failure due to changing patterns among students. Ethnographic edutainment is a concept that consists of reward, competition, and motivation strategies that be used to effectively engage with learners. Methods: A total 321 first-year medical students took part in ethnographic edutainment sessions in 2011. We defined four preset learning objectives and assigned a term group project using clouding technologies. Participatory evaluation was conducted to assess the delivery of and attitudes towards this method. Results: Career lifestyles in the general population and expected real-life utilization of the final product were used as motivating factors, with competition and rewards provided through a short film contest. Nineteen out of twenty groups (95%) achieved all learning objectives. Females were more satisfied with this activity than males (P<0.001). We found statistically significant differences between lecture-based sessions and field visit sessions, as well as ethnographic edutainment activity sessions and other instructional approaches (P<0.01). The results were consistent in male and female groups. Conclusion: Ethnographic edutainment is well accepted, with higher satisfaction rates than other types of teaching. The concepts of health promotion and the social determinants of health can be learned through ethnographic edutainment activities, which might help train more humanized health professionals. PMID:25043927

Higher satisfaction with ethnographic edutainment using YouTube among medical students in Thailand.

PubMed

Woratanarat, Thira

2014-07-07

At present, transformative learning is one of the most important issues in medical education, since a conventional learning environment is prone to failure due to changing patterns among students. Ethnographic edutainment is a concept that consists of reward, competition, and motivation strategies that be used to effectively engage with learners. A total 321 first-year medical students took part in ethnographic edutainment sessions in 2011. We defined four preset learning objectives and assigned a term group project using clouding technologies. Participatory evaluation was conducted to assess the delivery of and attitudes towards this method. Career lifestyles in the general population and expected real-life utilization of the final product were used as motivating factors, with competition and rewards provided through a short film contest. Nineteen out of twenty groups (95%) achieved all learning objectives. Females were more satisfied with this activity than males (P<0.001). We found statistically significant differences between lecture-based sessions and field visit sessions, as well as ethnographic edutainment activity sessions and other instructional approaches (P<0.01). The results were consistent in male and female groups. Ethnographic edutainment is well accepted, with higher satisfaction rates than other types of teaching. The concepts of health promotion and the social determinants of health can be learned through ethnographic edutainment activities, which might help train more humanized health professionals.

BEYOND TEXT: USING ARRAYS TO REPRESENT AND ANALYZE ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA

PubMed Central

Abramson, Corey M.; Dohan, Daniel

2015-01-01

Recent methodological debates in sociology have focused on how data and analyses might be made more open and accessible, how the process of theorizing and knowledge production might be made more explicit, and how developing means of visualization can help address these issues. In ethnography, where scholars from various traditions do not necessarily share basic epistemological assumptions about the research enterprise with either their quantitative colleagues or one another, these issues are particularly complex. Nevertheless, ethnographers working within the field of sociology face a set of common pragmatic challenges related to managing, analyzing, and presenting the rich context-dependent data generated during fieldwork. Inspired by both ongoing discussions about how sociological research might be made more transparent, as well as innovations in other data-centered fields, the authors developed an interactive visual approach that provides tools for addressing these shared pragmatic challenges. They label the approach “ethnoarray” analysis. This article introduces this approach and explains how it can help scholars address widely shared logistical and technical complexities, while remaining sensitive to both ethnography’s epistemic diversity and its practitioners shared commitment to depth, context, and interpretation. The authors use data from an ethnographic study of serious illness to construct a model of an ethnoarray and explain how such an array might be linked to data repositories to facilitate new forms of analysis, interpretation, and sharing within scholarly and lay communities. They conclude by discussing some potential implications of the ethnoarray and related approaches for the scope, practice, and forms of ethnography. PMID:26834296

Ethnographic research with adolescent students: situated fieldwork ethics and ethical principles governing human research.

PubMed

Hemmings, Annette

2009-12-01

This paper explores ethical dilemmas in situated fieldwork ethics concerning ethnographic studies of adolescent students. While consequentialist and deontological ethics form the basis of the ethical stances shared by ethnographers and research ethics committees, the interpretation of those principles may diverge in school-based ethnography with adolescent students because of the particular role of the adult ethnographer vis-à-vis developmentally immature adolescents not held legally responsible for many of their actions. School ethnographers attempt to build trust with adolescent participants in order to learn about their hidden cultural worlds, which may involve activities that are very harmful to the youths involved. They face many difficult and sometimes unexpected choices, including whether to intervene and how to represent events and adolescents in published findings. Scenarios with examples drawn from research conducted in public high schools are used to illustrate and explicate dilemmas in formal research and latent insider/outsider roles and relations involving harmful adolescent behaviors, advocacy, and psychological trauma. Also examined are analytical procedures used to construct interpretations leading to representations of research participants in the resulting publication.

Revolution as a care plan: ethnography, nursing and somatic solidarity in Honduras.

PubMed

Pine, Adrienne

2013-12-01

While diagnosis is not within the biomedical scope of a nurse's work, assessment-an inherently ethnographic exercise-is. In Honduras, as in the United States, nurses' proximity with patients, in terms of both time spent at the bedside and shared class identification (embodied as habitus), mean that nurses are often more effective than physicians in assessment and healing. Following the 2009 coup that brought a violently repressive regime to power in Honduras, subjectivation as citizen healers brought many nurses to assess patient health as a function of neoliberal and political violence. This assessment framed radical struggle that required nurses to block political violence with their own bodies as being a necessary part of patient care. Similarly, as ethnographer, I came to share with nurses and other Hondurans certain violent processes of subjectivation (albeit from a privileged subject position) that strengthened my solidarity with them as well as my deeply embodied investment in their care plan of organizing for radical social change. This paper examines the politicizing impact of the 2009 coup on Honduran auxiliary and professional nurses and the ways in which nurse assessment and ethnographic analysis can overlap and combine in somatic and political solidarity with patients and others resisting state and political violence through their bodies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Utilization of Standardized Mental Health Assessments in Anthropological Research: Possibilities and Pitfalls.

PubMed

Mendenhall, Emily; Yarris, Kristin; Kohrt, Brandon A

2016-12-01

In the past decade anthropologists working the boundary of culture, medicine, and psychiatry have drawn from ethnographic and epidemiological methods to interdigitate data and provide more depth in understanding critical health problems. But rarely do these studies incorporate psychiatric inventories with ethnographic analysis. This article shows how triangulation of research methods strengthens scholars' ability (1) to draw conclusions from smaller data sets and facilitate comparisons of what suffering means across contexts; (2) to unpack the complexities of ethnographic and narrative data by way of interdigitating narratives with standardized evaluations of psychological distress; and (3) to enhance the translatability of narrative data to interventionists and to make anthropological research more accessible to policymakers. The crux of this argument is based on two discrete case studies, one community sample of Nicaraguan grandmothers in urban Nicaragua, and another clinic-based study of Mexican immigrant women in urban United States, which represent different populations, methodologies, and instruments. Yet, both authors critically examine narrative data and then use the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to further unpack meaning of psychological suffering by analyzing symptomatology. Such integrative methodologies illustrate how incorporating results from standardized mental health assessments can corroborate meaning-making in anthropology while advancing anthropological contributions to mental health treatment and policy.

Utilization of Standardized Mental Health Assessments in Anthropological Research: Possibilities and Pitfalls

PubMed Central

Mendenhall, Emily; Yarris, Kristin; Kohrt, Brandon A.

2017-01-01

In the past decade anthropologists working the boundary of culture, medicine, and psychiatry have drawn from ethnographic and epidemiological methods to interdigitate data and provide more depth in understanding critical health problems. But rarely do these studies incorporate psychiatric inventories with ethnographic analysis. This article shows how triangulation of research methods strengthens scholars’ ability (1) to draw conclusions from smaller data sets and facilitate comparisons of what suffering means across contexts; (2) to unpack the complexities of ethnographic and narrative data by way of interdigitating narratives with standardized evaluations of psychological distress; and (3) to enhance the translatability of narrative data to interventionists and to make anthropological research more accessible to policymakers. The crux of this argument is based on two discrete case studies, one community sample of Nicaraguan grandmothers in urban Nicaragua, and another clinic-based study of Mexican immigrant women in urban United States, which represent different populations, methodologies, and instruments. Yet, both authors critically examine narrative data and then use the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale to further unpack meaning of psychological suffering by analyzing symptomatology. Such integrative methodologies illustrate how incorporating results from standardized mental health assessments can corroborate meaning-making in anthropology while advancing anthropological contributions to mental health treatment and policy. PMID:27553610

The worlds of homeless white and African American youth in San Francisco, California: a cultural epidemiological comparison.

PubMed

Hickler, Benjamin; Auerswald, Colette L

2009-03-01

Research to date has given little attention to differences in the experience of youth homelessness by ethnicity. This article provides a comparative descriptive analysis of the effect of differences and similarities in paths to homelessness, self-perception, and survival strategies on health behaviors and consequent health outcomes of African American and white homeless youth in San Francisco, USA. We conducted participant observation and ethnographic interviews with 54 youth primarily recruited from street venues. Hypotheses generated from the ethnographic data were validated in between-group analyses using concurrent epidemiological data collected from a sample of 205 youth. Our samples of unstably housed African American and white youth, though sharing common histories of family dysfunction, differed in both the ethnographic accounts and epidemiological analyses in their experiences of family, access to housing, street survival strategies, self-presentation, health behaviors and service utilization. Our sample of white youth generally identified with the term "homeless," engaged in survival activities associated with such a label, and accessed the services intended to address the needs of homeless youth. In contrast, our sample of African American youth generally did not perceive themselves as "homeless," a stigmatized term, and were thus less likely to utilize, or be accessed by, relevant services.

Sociocultural facilitators and barriers to condom use during anal sex among men who have sex with men in Guangzhou, China: an ethnographic study.

PubMed

Li, Haochu; Lau, Joseph T F; Holroyd, Eleanor; Yi, Huso

2010-12-01

This ethnographic study explored how cultural belief systems shaped sexual risk practices among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Guangzhou, China. A specific focus was on how these men's sexual practices varied across sexual venues and among different partners in order to better understand sociocultural facilitators and barriers to condom use in the Guangzhou community. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured in-depth interviews with MSM and ethnographic observations in MSM sexual venues in the city. The thematic analysis focused specifically on the accounts of unprotected sex occasions. We found that an erotic idea of "rouyu" (desire of physical flesh) embedded in a subculture of MSM and a metaphor for condom use as being inferior and promoting distance posed a considerable barrier to condom use among these MSM. Some men reported gaining a positive self-concept related to same-sex identity through unprotected sex. These MSM's subjective evaluations of HIV risk were closely tied to the perceived characteristics of sex partners and sexual venues. We conclude by advocating specific sociocultural interventions in emerging risk venues, such as saunas/bathhouses, to better meet the needs of the MSM community in Guangzhou.

Ethnomathematics in Perspective of Sundanese Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdullah, Atje Setiawan

2017-01-01

This study is an exploratory research aims to find and know about a phenomenon by exploration. Therefore, the approach used in this study is ethnographic approach, an empirical and theoretical approach to get description and deep analysis about a culture based on field study. From the sustainable interviews and confirmation about field research…

Reticence in Second Language Case Discussions: Anxiety and Aspirations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Jane

2002-01-01

An ethnographic study investigated the reticence of Chinese students in an English-medium undergraduate business course in Hong Kong. Used surveys, interviews, and observation and analysis to determine reasons for students' reticence. A complex mix of affective, sociocultural, and educational factors were found to play a significant role in…

Configurations of Site-Based Financial Leadership Practice within School Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tegano, Sylvia

2009-01-01

This study employed an ethnographic perspective to generate a grounded theory that contributes to the understanding of financial leadership practice in four elementary school contexts: Non Title I School, Title I School, Empowerment School and Charter School. The literature, interviews, observations, document analysis, and review of relevant…

Citizenship and Education in the Homework Completion Routine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Figueroa, Ariana Mangual

2011-01-01

This article draws from a 23-month ethnographic study of mixed-status Mexican families living in the New Latino Diaspora to examine how citizenship status impacts undocumented parents' and children's participation in everyday activities. Specifically, the analysis illustrates how mothers and sons in two families negotiate school and home…

Children's Moral Reasoning about Illness in Chhattisgarh, Central India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froerer, Peggy

2011-01-01

This article is about children's moral reasoning about illness and supernatural retribution in a rural tribal community in Chhattisgarh, central India. Detailed ethnographic analysis is devoted to the norms and experiences within which conceptions about illness causality and morality are formed. The author is principally interested in the…

"I Hate Group Work!": Addressing Students' Concerns about Small-Group Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, Elizabeth G.

2016-01-01

This article identifies the strategies used by architecture professors and their undergraduate students to mitigate common issues that students raise about group work. Based on participant-observation, interviews with students and faculty, and analysis of instructional materials and student work, this IRB-approved ethnographic case study…

Codeswitching and Stance: Issues in Interpretation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaffe, Alexandra

2007-01-01

This article explores the long-standing problem of ascribing meaning to individual acts of codeswitching. Drawing on ethnographic data from bilingual classrooms in Corsica, I situate the analysis of codeswitching within the more general question of the interpretation of speaker stance, which is defined as speakers' positioning with regard to both…

Telling Tales at Work: An Evolutionary Explanation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Chulguen

2013-01-01

This article explores the adaptive functions of storytelling in the workplace from an evolutionary perspective. Based on the analysis of ethnographic studies on hunter-gatherer and modern work organizations, this article claims that storytelling, as an adapted cognitive device, was selectively retained by natural and sexual selection, because of…

Laptopers in an Educational Practice: Promoting the Personal Learning Situation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindroth, Tomas; Bergquist, Magnus

2010-01-01

In this article an ethnographical study of laptopers' activities during lectures in a university milieu is analyzed as different kinds of involvements. Through interviews and observations we have focused on how these involvements influence the laptopers' alignment towards the educational practice. The analysis shows the importance of separating…

Sociospatial Knowledge Networks: Appraising Community as Place.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skelly, Anne H.; Arcury, Thomas A.; Gesler, Wilbert M.; Cravey, Altha J.; Dougherty, Molly C.; Washburn, Sarah A.; Nash, Sally

2002-01-01

A new theory of geographical analysis--sociospatial knowledge networks--provides a framework for understanding the social and spatial locations of a community's health knowledge and beliefs. This theory is guiding an ethnographic study of health beliefs, knowledge, and knowledge networks in a diverse rural community at high risk for type-2…

Transformative Learning through Education Abroad: A Case Study of a Community College Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brenner, Ashley A.

2014-01-01

This case study examined how participating in a short-term education abroad program fostered transformative learning for a small group of community college students. As a participant-observer, I utilized ethnographic methods, including interviews, observations, and document analysis, to understand students' perceptions of their experiences…

Quality Assurance and Gender Discrimination in English Universities: An Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Jayne

2008-01-01

The present paper argues that university quality assurance (QA) promotes a masculinist culture leading to systemic discrimination against female academics. The analysis relates to the question of what it is about academic life that results in persistent gender inequality. Based on an ethnographically informed comparative study, textual/discourse…

Intelligent Tutoring and the Development of Argumentative Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paneque, Juan J.; Cobo, Pedro; Fortuny, Josep M.

2017-01-01

This ethnographical study aims to interpret how an intelligent tutorial system, geogebraTUTOR, mediates to the student's argumentative processes. Data consisted of four geometrical problems proposed to a group of four students aged 16-17. Qualitative analysis of two selected cases led to the identification of the development of argumentative…

Mapping a Process of Negotiated Identity among Incarcerated Male Juvenile Offenders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrams, Laura S.; Hyun, Anna

2009-01-01

Building on theories of youth identity transitions, this study maps a process of negotiated identity among incarcerated young men. Data are drawn from ethnographic study of three juvenile correctional institutions and longitudinal semistructured interviews with facility residents. Cross-case analysis of 10 cases that finds youth offenders adapted…

Language Policy and Language Planning in Cyprus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hadjioannou, Xenia; Tsiplakou, Stavroula; Kappler, Matthias

2011-01-01

The aim of this monograph is to provide a detailed account of language policy and language planning in Cyprus. Using both historical and synchronic data and adopting a mixed-methods approach (archival research, ethnographic tools and insights from sociolinguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis), this study attempts to trace the origins and the…

Education, Employment and Household Dynamics: Brazilian Migrants in Japan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Paul

2013-01-01

By treating the household as a primary unit of analysis and social production, this article considers the mutually influential ways in which migrant families shape the educational pathways and experiences of Brazilian children living in Japan. Through an ethnographic exploration of relations between parents, children and their working siblings I…

The Schooling of Texts in the Pedagogy Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

da Silva, Elizabeth Maria; Castanheira, Maria Lúcia

2016-01-01

This article examines how literate actions of reading texts in academic contexts are characterized in semi-structured interviews with first-year and senior students at a Brazilian federal university. Adopting a social perspective of literacy and an ethnographic perspective, the analysis reveals that the literate action of reading texts is…

Deaf Sociality and the Deaf Lutheran Church in Adamorobe, Ghana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kusters, Annelies

2014-01-01

This article provides an ethnographic analysis of "deaf sociality" in Adamorobe, a village in Ghana, where the relatively high prevalence of hereditary deafness has led to dense social and spatial connections. Deaf people are part of their hearing environment particularly through family networks, and produce deaf sociality through many…

The Alignment of Technology and Structure through Roles and Networks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barley, Stephen R.

1990-01-01

Building on Nagel's theory of social structure, this paper argues that the microsocial dynamics occasioned by new technologies systematically reverberate up levels of analysis. This theory is illustrated by ethnographic and sociometric data drawn from a study comparing usage of traditional and computerized imaging devices in two radiology…

Culturally Responsive Caring and Expectations for Academic Achievement in a Catholic School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dallavis, Christian

2014-01-01

This article draws from a larger dissertation study that applied ethnographic and historical research methods to explore the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and Catholic schooling in immigrant communities. In particular, this article presents qualitative data analysis to describe student achievement expectations at a contemporary…

Personalisation and the Education Commodity: A Meta-Ethnographic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Dennis

2017-01-01

This article is based on a meta-ethnography of research about schools, school experiences and learning following the recent (post-market) introduction of personalisation policies in Swedish schools. It pays particular attention to issues of equity. Tensions between personalisation, privatisation and equity are discussed and it is noted that…

The Use of English as Ad Hoc Institutional Standard in the Belgian Asylum Interview

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maryns, Katrijn

2017-01-01

In institutional settings of globalization, labelled languages are generally preferred over multilingual repertoires and mobile language resources. Drawing on linguistic-ethnographic analysis of the way English is treated as an invariable "ad hoc" idiom in the Belgian asylum interview, this article demonstrates how institutional measures…

Street Sex Work: Re/Constructing Discourse from Margin to Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCracken, Jill Linnette

2009-01-01

Newspaper media create interpretations of marginalized groups that require rhetorical analysis so that we can better understand these representations. This article focuses on how newspaper articles create interpretations of sex work that affect both the marginalized and mainstream communities. My ethnographic case study argues that the material…

A Circle of Empowerment: Women, Education, and Leadership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irwin, Rita L.

This book describes two studies, the first of which is a single case study that interprets the practical knowledge of an exemplary fine arts supervisor. An analysis of ethnographic data portrays the supervisor's practical knowledge as constructed around a dialectical orientation between two constructs or landscapes of imagery: the empowerment and…

An Ethnographically Informed Participatory Design of Primary Healthcare Information Technology in a Developing Country Setting.

PubMed

Shidende, Nima Herman; Igira, Faraja Teddy; Mörtberg, Christina Margaret

2017-01-01

Ethnography, with its emphasis on understanding activities where they occur, and its use of qualitative data gathering techniques rich in description, has a long tradition in Participatory Design (PD). Yet there are limited methodological insights in its application in developing countries. This paper proposes an ethnographically informed PD approach, which can be applied when designing Primary Healthcare Information Technology (PHIT). We use findings from a larger multidisciplinary project, Health Information Systems Project (HISP) to elaborate how ethnography can be used to facilitate participation of health practitioners in developing countries settings as well as indicating the importance of ethnographic approach to participatory Health Information Technology (HIT) designers. Furthermore, the paper discusses the pros and cons of using an ethnographic approach in designing HIT.

Listening to community health workers: how ethnographic research can inform positive relationships among community health workers, health institutions, and communities.

PubMed

Maes, Kenneth; Closser, Svea; Kalofonos, Ippolytos

2014-05-01

Many actors in global health are concerned with improving community health worker (CHW) policy and practice to achieve universal health care. Ethnographic research can play an important role in providing information critical to the formation of effective CHW programs, by elucidating the life histories that shape CHWs' desires for alleviation of their own and others' economic and health challenges, and by addressing the working relationships that exist among CHWs, intended beneficiaries, and health officials. We briefly discuss ethnographic research with 3 groups of CHWs: volunteers involved in HIV/AIDS care and treatment support in Ethiopia and Mozambique and Lady Health Workers in Pakistan. We call for a broader application of ethnographic research to inform working relationships among CHWs, communities, and health institutions.

Masculinity and undocumented labor migration: injured latino day laborers in San Francisco

PubMed Central

Walter, Nicholas; Bourgois, Philippe; Loinaz, H. Margarita

2009-01-01

Drawing on data collected through clinical practice and ethnographic fieldwork, this study examines the experience of injury, illness and disability among undocumented Latino day laborers in San Francisco. We demonstrate how constructions of masculine identity organize the experience of embodied social suffering among workers who are rendered vulnerable by the structural conditions of undocumented immigrant status. Theoretical concepts from critical medical anthropology and gender studies extend the scholarly analysis of structural violence beyond the primarily economic to uncover how it is embodied at the intimate level as a gendered experience of personal and familial crisis, involving love, respect, betrayal and patriarchal failure. A clinical ethnographic focus on socially structured patriarchal suffering elucidates the causal relationship between macro-forces and individual action with a fuller appreciation of the impact of culture and everyday lived experience. PMID:15210088

Ethnographic Exploration of Empowerment to Improve Elderly Residents' Quality of Life.

PubMed

Tabatabaei, Seyed Zia; Ebrahimi, Fatemeh; Hamzah, Azimi Bin Hj; Rezaeian, Mohsen; Kamrani, Mahnaz Akbari

2017-01-01

Evidence underscores that empowerment is central to improve the elderly residents' quality of life. In truth, empowerment is a process through which individuals gain better control over their life. The aim of this study was to explore how perceived empowerment influence on the quality of life among elderly Malay residents. A focus ethnographic approach was employed in a Malaysian residential home between May 2011 and January 2012. Data were gathered from participant observations, field notes, in-depth interviews, and exploring related documents. The analysis of the data gathered in the current study resulted in the development of three themes - social life and its requirements, caregivers' skills empowerment, and listening and supporting. Findings of the study provide new insights that are useful in charting new guideline for care providers and policy makers to improve the elderly residents' quality of life.

[Situations related to drug misuse in public schools in the city of São Paulo, Brazil].

PubMed

Moreira, Fernanda Gonçalves; Silveira, Dartiu Xavier da; Andreoli, Sérgio Baxter

2006-10-01

To explore situations, attitudes and behavior of public elementary school education supervisors concerning psychoactive substance misuse. The study was carried out in the city of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, in 2002. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire applied to eight key informants in the administrative area experienced in education supervision. Qualitative content analysis with ethnographic reference was conducted. Most discourses show that knowledge transmission is thought as essential for drug use prevention, though supervisors reported being ill-informed on this subject. The most frequent attitudes toward drug users are impotence and inability to act and sometimes a repressive attitude. These are motivated by misinformation and fear due to mistaken association of drug users and criminals. In situations indirectly related to drug abuse (family and behavior problems) more understanding and inclusive attitudes are reported, following the harm reduction paradigm. Theoretical capacity building of educators for preventive attitudes would support their skills developed through dealing with situations (in)directly related to drug abuse in schools. Thus, educators would feel more confident to make interventions for harm or risk reduction among drug users.

"Heroes' invisible wounds of war:" constructions of posttraumatic stress disorder in the text of US federal legislation.

PubMed

Purtle, Jonathan

2016-01-01

Public policies contribute to the social construction of mental health problems. In this study, I use social constructivist theories of policy design and the methodology of ethnographic content analysis to qualitatively explore how posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been constructed as a problem in US federal legislation. I analyzed the text of 166 bills introduced between 1989 and 2009 and found that PTSD has been constructed as a problem unique to combat exposures and military populations. These constructions were produced through combat-related language and imagery (e.g., wounds, war, heroism), narratives describing PTSD as a military-specific phenomenon, and reinforced by the absence of PTSD in trauma-focused legislation targeting civilians. These constructions do not reflect the epidemiology of PTSD-the vast majority of people who develop the disorder have not experienced combat and many non-combat traumas (e.g., sexual assault) carry higher PTSD risk-and might constrain public and political discourse about the disorder and reify sociocultural barriers to the access of mental health services. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Why don't segregated Roma do more for their health? An explanatory framework from an ethnographic study in Slovakia.

PubMed

Belak, Andrej; Madarasova Geckova, Andrea; van Dijk, Jitse P; Reijneveld, Sijmen A

2018-06-16

The health status of segregated Roma is poor. To understand why segregated Roma engage in health-endangering practices, we explored their nonadherence to clinical and public health recommendations. We examined one segregated Roma settlement of 260 inhabitants in Slovakia. To obtain qualitative data on local-level mechanisms supporting Roma nonadherence, we combined ethnography and systematic interviewing over 10 years. We then performed a qualitative content analysis based on sociological and public health theories. Our explanatory framework summarizes how the nonadherence of local Roma was supported by an interlocked system of seven mechanisms, controlled by and operating through both local Roma and non-Roma. These regard the Roma situation of poverty, segregation and substandard infrastructure; the Roma socialization into their situation; the Roma-perceived value of Roma alternative practices; the exclusionary non-Roma and self-exclusionary Roma ideologies; the discrimination, racism and dysfunctional support towards Roma by non-Roma; and drawbacks in adherence. Non-Roma ideologies, internalized by Roma into a racialized ethnic identity through socialization, and drawbacks in adherence might present powerful, yet neglected, mechanisms supporting segregated Roma nonadherence.

Ethnographic and Experimental Hypotheses in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overholt, George E.; Stallings, William M.

1976-01-01

Attempts to demonstrate that the ethnographic hypothesis is both culturally relevant and empirically grounded. It is noted that any hypothesis which lacks these attributes is inappropriate for cross cultural research. (Author/AM)

Social Properties of Mobile Video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, April Slayden; O'Hara, Kenton; Vorbau, Alex

Mobile video is now an everyday possibility with a wide array of commercially available devices, services, and content. These new technologies have created dramatic shifts in the way video-based media can be produced, consumed, and delivered by people beyond the familiar behaviors associated with fixed TV and video technologies. Such technology revolutions change the way users behave and change their expectations in regards to their mobile video experiences. Building upon earlier studies of mobile video, this paper reports on a study using diary techniques and ethnographic interviews to better understand how people are using commercially available mobile video technologies in their everyday lives. Drawing on reported episodes of mobile video behavior, the study identifies the social motivations and values underpinning these behaviors that help characterize mobile video consumption beyond the simplistic notion of viewing video only to kill time. This paper also discusses the significance of user-generated content and the usage of video in social communities through the description of two mobile video technology services that allow users to create and share content. Implications for adoption and design of mobile video technologies and services are discussed as well.

"Do You Want Me to Translate This in English or in a Better Mandinka Language?": Unequal Literacy Regimes and Grassroots Spelling Practices in Peri-Urban Gambia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juffermans, Kasper

2011-01-01

This paper presents a comparative ethnographic analysis of two versions of a grassroots text in Mandinka language, one written by a non-formally educated man, the other a respelling by a formally educated urbanite. The analysis points at a crucial difference in spelling practices and inequality in literacy regimes, i.e., between established…

Listening to Community Health Workers: How Ethnographic Research Can Inform Positive Relationships Among Community Health Workers, Health Institutions, and Communities

PubMed Central

Closser, Svea; Kalofonos, Ippolytos

2014-01-01

Many actors in global health are concerned with improving community health worker (CHW) policy and practice to achieve universal health care. Ethnographic research can play an important role in providing information critical to the formation of effective CHW programs, by elucidating the life histories that shape CHWs’ desires for alleviation of their own and others’ economic and health challenges, and by addressing the working relationships that exist among CHWs, intended beneficiaries, and health officials. We briefly discuss ethnographic research with 3 groups of CHWs: volunteers involved in HIV/AIDS care and treatment support in Ethiopia and Mozambique and Lady Health Workers in Pakistan. We call for a broader application of ethnographic research to inform working relationships among CHWs, communities, and health institutions. PMID:24625167

[Ethnography for nursing research, a sensible way to understand human behaviors in their context].

PubMed

Bourbonnais, Anne

2015-03-01

Understanding human behaviours is at the heart of the nursing discipline. Knowledge development about behaviours is essential to guide nursing practice in the clinical field, for nursing education or in nursing management. In this context, ethnography is often overlooked as a research method to understand better behaviours in their sociocultural environment This article aims to present the principles guiding this qualitative method and its application to nursing research. First, the ethnographic method and some of its variants will be described. The conduct of an ethnographic study will then be exposed. Finally, examples of ethnographic studies in nursing will be presented. This article provides a foundation for the development of research protocols using ethnography for the advancement of nursing knowledge, as well as better use of ethnographic findings to improve care practices.

A Critique of Koh's (2014) "Doing Class Analysis in Singapore's Elite Education"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kabel, Scott

2017-01-01

Aaron Koh contributed to a collection of multi-site global ethnographic articles published here (2014, Vol. 12, No. 2) that present class reproduction as operationalised in elite education. While the collection adds to the current international critique of meritocracy, a close look at Koh's contribution reveals that critical ethnography can lose…

Developing a Physics Expert Identity in a Biophysics Research Group

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Idaykis; Goertzen, Renee Michelle; Brewe, Eric; Kramer, Laird H.

2015-01-01

We investigate the development of expert identities through the use of the sociocultural perspective of learning as participating in a community of practice. An ethnographic case study of biophysics graduate students focuses on the experiences the students have in their research group meetings. The analysis illustrates how the communities of…

Citizenship, Beneficence, and Informed Consent: The Ethics of Working in Mixed-Status Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mangual Figueroa, Ariana

2016-01-01

This article draws from a 23-month ethnographic study conducted in mixed-status Mexican homes to detail the particular methodological concerns that arise when conducting research within these legally complex and vulnerable families. Specifically, the analysis illustrates when and why undocumented parents in one focal family asked the ethnographer…

Burmese Sociocultural Adjustment to Thai International Programs: An Analysis of the Impact of Historical Revisionism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhein, Douglas

2016-01-01

This research explores the perception and experiences of 15 Burmese international students temporarily studying at two international colleges in suburban Bangkok, Thailand and compares their impressions of and reaction to history with 10 Thai students studying at the same international colleges. This ethnographic exploration of Burmese…

A Qualitative Study of Resident Learning in Ambulatory Clinic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, C. Scott; Morris, Magdalena; Francovich, Chris; Hill, William; Gieselman, Janet

2004-01-01

Qualitative analysis of a large ethnographic database from observations of a resident teaching clinic revealed three important findings. The first finding was that breakdown, a situation where an "actor" (such as a person or the group) is not achieving expected effectiveness, was the most important category because of its frequency and explanatory…

Sharing the Work: Mother-Child Relationships and Household Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romich, Jennifer L.

2007-01-01

This manuscript reports on a study of how low-income employed single mothers and young adolescents manage household daily life. Analysis is based on longitudinal ethnographic data collected from families of 35 young adolescents over 3 years following the 1996 welfare reforms. Although mothers worked, young adolescents spent time unsupervised,…

The Power of Coalition: A Comparative Study of Two School Reform Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stapleford, Thomas A.

This paper chronicles the organizational life of two high schools in the northeastern United States as they responded to the national impetus for change. The study used a methodology employing ethnographic field study methods including field notes, interviews, and artifact collection and analysis. Riverside High pursued a locally initiated change…

Assembling Webs of Support: Child Domestic Workers in India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wasiuzzaman, Shaziah; Wells, Karen

2010-01-01

This paper uses ethnographic and qualitative interview data with Muslim child domestic workers, their families and employers to investigate the social ties between young workers and their employers. Our analysis shows that working-class families use children's domestic work with middle-class families as part of a web of resources to protect them…

An Emic Lens into Online Learning Environments in PPL in Undergraduate Dentistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bridges, Susan

2015-01-01

Whilst face-to-face tutorial group interaction has been the focus of quantitative and qualitative studies in problem-based learning (PBL), little work has explored the independent learning phase of the PBL cycle from an interactionist perspective. An interactional ethnographic logic of inquiry guided collection and analysis of video recordings and…

The Mastersingers: Language and Practice in an Operatic Masterclass

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Paul

2013-01-01

The paper presents a microethnographic examination of an operatic masterclass, based on a transcribed video recording of just one such class. It is a companion piece to a more generalised ethnographic account of such masterclasses as pedagogic events. The detailed analysis demonstrates the close relationship between spoken and unspoken actions in…

The Pedagogy of Controversy in the Field of China Studies: Teaching the Cultural Revolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carrico, Kevin

2014-01-01

How can we as educators address complex and controversial topics in the social sciences without encouraging simplistic responses and self-reproducing binary oppositions? Drawing upon an ethnographic analysis of a first-year writing seminar on the history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, this article proposes novel approaches to overcome…

Beyond "Acting White": Affirming Academic Identities by Establishing Symbolic Boundaries through Talk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olitsky, Stacy

2015-01-01

This article investigates interactional processes by which students from non-dominant groups develop academic identities within schools that privilege the dominant group. It draws on an ethnographic study of an urban magnet school, focusing on a discourse analysis of conversations between 3 eighth-grade girls. Findings include that students…

An Ethnographic Analysis of Adolescent Sexual Minority Website Usage: Exploring Notions of Information Seeking and Sexual Identity Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sulfridge, Rocky M.

2012-01-01

This dissertation explores the website usage of adolescent sexual minorities, examining notions of information seeking and sexual identity development. Sexual information seeking is an important element within human information behavior and is uniquely problematic for young sexual minorities. Utilizing a contemporary gay teen website, this…

Toddlers' Emotional Reactions to Separation from Their Primary Caregivers: Successful Home--School Transition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Yaoying

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine toddlers' emotional reactions to separation from their primary caregivers through the observation on a group of toddlers (18-30 months old) at a university preschool classroom. Interactional ethnography with ethnographic perspective and sociolinguistic discourse analysis was used as the theoretical…

An Alternative Study of Transfer of Learning in Clinical Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Vimla; Cranton, Patricia A.

The use of an alternative methodology to study transfer of learning in clinical instruction during medical school was investigated. The environment in which clinical instruction takes place was examined, after which hypotheses were proposed and tested in a quasi-experimental design. The first phase of the study, an ethnographic analysis of the…

Early Adopters: Playing New Literacies and Pretending New Technologies in Print-Centric Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wohlwend, Karen E.

2009-01-01

In this article, semiotic analysis of children's practices and designs with video game conventions considers how children use play and drawing as spatializing literacies that make room to import imagined technologies and user identities. Microanalysis of video data of classroom interactions collected during a three year ethnographic study of…

Educational Discipline, Ritual Governing, and Chinese Exemplary Society: Why China's Curriculum Reform Remains a Difficult Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Jinting

2016-01-01

This article explores the exam-oriented, ritualistic, and exemplary Chinese education system through a double-layered historical and ethnographic analysis. Firstly, I examine three aspects of the educational governing complex--exemplarity, ritual, and examination. Historically, education has been a key locus to craft exemplary subjects through…

The Teenage Expertise Network (TEN): An Online Ethnographic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Nicola F.; Humphry, Nicoli

2012-01-01

The take-up of digital technology by young people is a well-known phenomenon and has been subject to socio-cultural analysis in areas such as youth studies and cultural studies. The Teenage Expertise Network (TEN) research project investigates how teenagers develop technological expertise in techno-cultural contexts via the use of a purposefully…

Latino/a Youth Activism in Higher Education: A New Materialist Analysis of the Latino Graduation Ceremony

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gildersleeve, Ryan Evely; Sifuentez, Brenda Jimenez

2017-01-01

In this paper, we entangle Latino/a youth activism with ritual culture in U.S. higher education. Specifically, we analyze ethnographically-generated data from Gildersleeve's (2015; 2016) study of Latino graduation ceremonies, emplacing our analyses within new materialist philosophy. We theorize the Latino graduation ceremony as assemblage…

Same Plans, Different Strategies: The Multiple Faces of Resistance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mendoza Pérez, Karmele; Morgade Salgado, Marta

2016-01-01

This article reports an ethnographic study of resistance in an informal education context: an NGO Day Centre and Hostel for socially excluded adults in Bilbao, Spain. The purpose of this research is to contribute to the field of resistance theory by focusing on a non-school setting. Our analysis uncovered four resistance strategies ("The…

Acts of Negotiation: Governmentality and Medium of Instruction in an Eastern Ukrainian University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Bridget

2018-01-01

This study investigates language policy and language choices at a university in Ukraine, a country of evolving national governance and shifting language policy. Ethnographic data interpreted through the lenses of governmentality, language planning and policy, and conversation analysis show that (1) the institution rather than the national…

Moving from Complaints to Action: Oppositional Consciousness and Collective Action in a Political Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwon, Soo Ah

2008-01-01

This article analyzes the process of youth political activism and development by drawing on ethnographic research on Asian and Pacific Islander youth activists. Young people revealed that collective action begins with a critical analysis of their lived experiences with inequalities. Their actions also involved oppositional consciousness that was…

Extending Traditional Explanations of Illiteracy: Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitescarver, Keith; Kalman, Judith

2009-01-01

Providing a richer understanding of why the populations of economically underdeveloped countries are less literate than those who live in wealthier nations is the goal of this paper. Our analysis relies primarily on insights from our own research: ethnographic studies concerning literacy learning and use among unschooled and under-schooled women…

The Boys Who Would Be Princesses: Playing with Gender Identity Intertexts in Disney Princess Transmedia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wohlwend, Karen E.

2012-01-01

Using data from a 3-year ethnographic study in US early childhood classrooms, I examine two kindergarten boys' classroom play with their favourite Disney Princess transmedia to see how they negotiated gender identity layers clustered in the franchise's commercially given storylines and consumer expectations. This analysis contributes necessarily…

Distributed Leadership with the Aim of "Reculturing": A Departmental Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Melville, Wayne; Jones, Doug; Campbell, Todd

2014-01-01

This article considers a secondary science department that has, since 2000, developed distributed leadership as a form of human capacity building. Using a longitudinal ethnographic case study allowed us to consider how distributed leadership can be nurtured and developed in a department. Our analysis centres on two key issues: the nature and…

Training Social Justice Journalists: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Jacob L.; Lewis, Dan A.

2015-01-01

Journalism schools are in the midst of sorting through what it means to prepare journalists for a rapidly transitioning field. In this article, we describe an effort to train students in "social justice journalism" at an elite school of journalism. In our ethnographic analysis of its first iteration, we found that this effort failed to…

Between Continuity and Change: Identities and Narratives within Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curwood, Jen Scott

2014-01-01

This year-long ethnographic case study examined high school teachers' participation in technology-focused professional development. By pairing a dialogical perspective on teacher identity with a micro-level analysis of narratives, findings indicate that teachers use language and other semiotic resources to express their own identity as well as to…

Smoking among Low-Income Pregnant Women: An Ethnographic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nichter, Mimi; Nichter, Mark; Muramoto, Myra; Adrian, Shelly; Goldade, Kate; Tesler, Laura; Thompson, Jennifer

2007-01-01

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of 53 low-income women who were smokers at the onset of pregnancy. Study participants were interviewed during pregnancy to document smoking trajectories and factors contributing to, or undermining, harm reduction and quit attempts. Thirty percent of women quit smoking completely, 43% engaged…

Sociolinguistic Variation and Acquisition in Two-Way Language Immersion: Negotiating the Standard

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starr, Rebecca Lurie

2016-01-01

This book investigates the acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge in the early elementary school years of a Mandarin-English two-way immersion program in the United States. Using ethnographic observation and quantitative analysis of data, the author explores how input from teachers and classmates shapes students' language acquisition. The book…

Family Involvement in Creative Teaching Practices for All in Small Rural Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vigo Arrazola, Begoña; Soriano Bozalongo, Juana

2015-01-01

Parental involvement is interpreted as a key form of support that can contribute to the establishment of inclusive practices in schools, but this can be difficult in sparsely populated areas. Using ethnographic methods of participant observation, informal conversations and document analysis, this article therefore focuses on family involvement…

How Much Do Young Children Know about HIV/AIDS?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhana, Deevia

2010-01-01

This paper explores the ways in which young South African school children (aged between seven and eight) in a predominantly white primary school give meanings to HIV/AIDS. Using ethnographic methods and interview data, the analysis of young children's responses shows that their accounts of HIV/AIDS draw from their knowledge of disease more…

Portable Tablets in Science Museum Learning: Options and Obstacles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gronemann, Sigurd Trolle

2017-01-01

Despite the increasing use of portable tablets in learning, their impact has received little attention in research. In five different projects, this media-ethnographic and design-based analysis of the use of portable tablets as a learning resource in science museums investigates how young people's learning with portable tablets matches the…

Positioning Sex Educators: A Critical Ethnography of a Professional Development Workshop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Brigitte C.

2013-01-01

In this ethnographic research, I offer an analysis of a state-sponsored professional development workshop for sex educators. Positioning theory is used to understand how the lived space of the workshop -- including texts, talk and silence -- positions sex education teachers as professionals and practitioners with certain (limited) speaking rights…

Knowledge, Experts and Accountability in School Governing Bodies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Helen

2017-01-01

School governing bodies in England have considerable powers and responsibilities with regard to the education of pupils. This article explores how power relations operate, within governing bodies, through struggles over which types of knowledge are claimed and valued. The article draws on the analysis of policy and on ethnographic research in the…

Teachers' Embodied Presence in Online Teaching Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bolldén, Karin

2016-01-01

This study aims to examine teachers' embodiments online. The analysis is based on online ethnographic data from two online courses in higher education settings using different information and communication technologies. The perspective of practice theory and the concepts of being a body, having a body and the instrumental body were used to analyse…

"This Education is Not for Our Students": Responses of Mexican Educators to Globalising Education Policies and Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amanti, Cathy

2017-01-01

This article explores the relationship between travelling education policies and a 2008 Mexican high-school reform from the perspective of Mexican educators. Using an ethnographic approach, consisting of interviews, classroom and community observations, and document analysis, study findings show that the educators participating in this study…

Learning about Workplace Learning and Expertise from Jack: A Discourse Analytic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yew-Jin; Roth, Wolff-Michael

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight some methodological problems concerning the neglect of participants' voices by workplace ethnographers and neglect of the highly interactional and co-constructive nature of research interviewing. The study aims to use discourse analysis, to show the phenomena of workplace learning and expertise to…

An ethnographic study of differentiated practice in an operating room.

PubMed

Graff, C; Roberts, K; Thornton, K

1999-01-01

An ethnographic study was conducted to investigate implementation of the clinical nurse III or team leader (TL) role as part of a newly executed nursing differentiated practice model. The six TLs studied were employed in the operating room (OR). Through participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, the TL role--as well as perceptions of the role by the TLs and OR staff--were studied. Problems related to performance of the role and its evolutionary process were delineated. Data analysis involved identifying categories and subcategories of data and developing a coding system to identify themes. Salient themes were related to the culture of the OR. Because of the OR's highly technical environment, the TLs defined their roles in relation to the organizational and technical needs of their surgical service. Refinement of surgeon "preference cards" and "instrument count sheets" was considered the initial priority for the TLs. Various controllable and uncontrollable factors were identified that affected implementation of the new TL role. Findings suggest that introduction of the role requires insight into setting and an emphasis on staging and orientation of employees to the new role.

Representations of Death Among Italian Vegetarians: An Ethnographic Research on Environment, Disgust and Transcendence.

PubMed

Testoni, Ines; Ghellar, Tommaso; Rodelli, Maddalena; De Cataldo, Loriana; Zamperini, Adriano

2017-08-01

This paper focuses on the motives for vegetarian choices in contemporary Italian food culture, with specific reference to the role of the representations of death. The study adopts a qualitative research design aimed at an in-depth exploration of the reasons for avoiding meat, following an ethnographic method. Twenty-two participants (55% women, 45% men) aged 19-74, all vegetarians or vegans, mainly from Northern and Central Italy, were involved. Data from the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis were examined according to the qualitative thematic analysis: the results show the role of death in the construction of disgust towards meat, running parallel with an emphasis on spirituality, ethical treatment of animals and the environment as reasons for avoiding meat, in particular, the concern-generating disgust and its relationship with the representation of death as a contaminating essence. The basis of disgust lies in this connection, from which the idea that oral consumption of contaminants characterized by corruptive properties, passing through the flesh of dead animals to humans, derives. The role of anti-speciesism is considered as a latent perspective, which may influence the vegetarian and vegan choices.

Stories of change in drug treatment: a narrative analysis of 'whats' and 'hows' in institutional storytelling.

PubMed

Andersen, Ditte

2015-06-01

Addiction research has demonstrated how recovering individuals need narratives that make sense of past drug use and enable constructions of future, non-addict identities. However, there has not been much investigation into how these recovery narratives actually develop moment-to-moment in drug treatment. Building on the sociology of storytelling and ethnographic fieldwork conducted at two drug treatment institutions for young people in Denmark, this article argues that studying stories in the context of their telling brings forth novel insights. Through a narrative analysis of both 'the whats' (story content) and 'the hows' (storying process) the article presents four findings: (1) stories of change function locally as an institutional requirement; (2) professional drug treatment providers edit young people's storytelling through different techniques; (3) the narrative environment of the drug treatment institution shapes how particular stories make sense of the past, present and future; and (4) storytelling in drug treatment is an interactive achievement. A fine-grained analysis illuminates in particular how some stories on gender and drug use are silenced, while others are encouraged. The demonstration of how local narrative environments shape stories contributes to the general understanding of interactive storytelling in encounters between professionals and clients in treatment settings. © 2015 The Author. Sociology of Health & Illness published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. on behalf of Foundation for Sociology of Health & Illness.

Computer templates in chronic disease management: ethnographic case study in general practice.

PubMed

Swinglehurst, Deborah; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Roberts, Celia

2012-01-01

To investigate how electronic templates shape, enable and constrain consultations about chronic diseases. Ethnographic case study, combining field notes, video-recording, screen capture with a microanalysis of talk, body language and data entry-an approach called linguistic ethnography. Two general practices in England. Ethnographic observation of administrative areas and 36 nurse-led consultations was done. Twenty-four consultations were directly observed and 12 consultations were video-recorded alongside computer screen capture. Consultations were transcribed using conversation analysis conventions, with notes on body language and the electronic record. The analysis involved repeated rounds of viewing video, annotating field notes, transcription and microanalysis to identify themes. The data was interpreted using discourse analysis, with attention to the sociotechnical theory. Consultations centred explicitly or implicitly on evidence-based protocols inscribed in templates. Templates did not simply identify tasks for completion, but contributed to defining what chronic diseases were, how care was being delivered and what it meant to be a patient or professional in this context. Patients' stories morphed into data bytes; the particular became generalised; the complex was made discrete, simple and manageable; and uncertainty became categorised and contained. Many consultations resembled bureaucratic encounters, primarily oriented to completing data fields. We identified a tension, sharpened by the template, between different framings of the patient-as 'individual' or as 'one of a population'. Some clinicians overcame this tension, responding creatively to prompts within a dialogue constructed around the patient's narrative. Despite their widespread implementation, little previous research has examined how templates are actually used in practice. Templates do not simply document the tasks of chronic disease management but profoundly change the nature of this work. Designed to assure standards of 'quality' care they contribute to bureaucratisation of care and may marginalise aspects of quality care which lie beyond their focus. Creative work is required to avoid privileging 'institution-centred' care over patient-centred care.

Computer templates in chronic disease management: ethnographic case study in general practice

PubMed Central

Swinglehurst, Deborah; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Roberts, Celia

2012-01-01

Objective To investigate how electronic templates shape, enable and constrain consultations about chronic diseases. Design Ethnographic case study, combining field notes, video-recording, screen capture with a microanalysis of talk, body language and data entry—an approach called linguistic ethnography. Setting Two general practices in England. Participants and methods Ethnographic observation of administrative areas and 36 nurse-led consultations was done. Twenty-four consultations were directly observed and 12 consultations were video-recorded alongside computer screen capture. Consultations were transcribed using conversation analysis conventions, with notes on body language and the electronic record. The analysis involved repeated rounds of viewing video, annotating field notes, transcription and microanalysis to identify themes. The data was interpreted using discourse analysis, with attention to the sociotechnical theory. Results Consultations centred explicitly or implicitly on evidence-based protocols inscribed in templates. Templates did not simply identify tasks for completion, but contributed to defining what chronic diseases were, how care was being delivered and what it meant to be a patient or professional in this context. Patients’ stories morphed into data bytes; the particular became generalised; the complex was made discrete, simple and manageable; and uncertainty became categorised and contained. Many consultations resembled bureaucratic encounters, primarily oriented to completing data fields. We identified a tension, sharpened by the template, between different framings of the patient—as ‘individual’ or as ‘one of a population’. Some clinicians overcame this tension, responding creatively to prompts within a dialogue constructed around the patient's narrative. Conclusions Despite their widespread implementation, little previous research has examined how templates are actually used in practice. Templates do not simply document the tasks of chronic disease management but profoundly change the nature of this work. Designed to assure standards of ‘quality’ care they contribute to bureaucratisation of care and may marginalise aspects of quality care which lie beyond their focus. Creative work is required to avoid privileging ‘institution-centred’ care over patient-centred care. PMID:23192245

Personal Safety in Dangerous Places

PubMed Central

Williams, Terry; Dunlap, Eloise; Johnson, Bruce D.; Hamid, Ansley

2009-01-01

Personal safety during fieldwork is seldom addressed directly in the literature. Drawing from many prior years of ethnographic research and from field experience while studying crack distributors in New York City, the authors provide a variety of strategies by which ethnographic research can be safely conducted in dangerous settings. By projecting an appropriate demeanor, ethnographers can seek others for protector and locator roles, routinely create a safety zone in the field, and establish compatible field roles with potential subjects. The article also provides strategies for avoiding or handling sexual approaches, common law crimes, fights, drive-by shootings, and contacts with the police. When integrated with other standard qualitative methods, ethnographic strategies help to ensure that no physical harm comes to the field-worker and other staff members. Moreover, the presence of researchers may actually reduce (and not increase) potential and actual violence among crack distributors/abusers or others present in the field setting. PMID:19809525

Piercing the veil: ethical issues in ethnographic research.

PubMed

Schrag, Brian

2009-06-01

It is not unusual for researchers in ethnography (and sometimes Institutional Review Boards) to assume that research of "public" behavior is morally unproblematic. I examine an historical case of ethnographic research and the sustained moral outrage to the research expressed by the subjects of that research. I suggest that the moral outrage was legitimate and articulate some of the ethical issues underlying that outrage. I argue that morally problematic Ethnographic research of public behavior can derive from research practice that includes a tendency to collapse the distinction between harm and moral wrong, a failure to take account of recent work on ethical issues in privacy; failure to appreciate the deception involved in ethnographers' failure to reveal their role as researchers to subjects and finally a failure to appropriately weigh the moral significance of issues of invasion of privacy and inflicted insight in both the research process and subsequent publication of research.

Reflections on Native Ethnography by a Nurse Researcher.

PubMed

Abdulrehman, Munib Said

2017-03-01

There are benefits and challenges associated with conducting research in a familiar setting, especially when the researcher is more an insider than an outsider. The aim of this article is to explore the author's experience as a native scholar conducting ethnographic research among the Swahili peoples of Lamu, Kenya. This article focuses on methodological issues related to conducting ethnographic research among the author's own people, including examining the issues of anthropological reflexivity as a native ethnographer and highlighting the author's experiences embodying multiple identities. Native ethnographers must consider the challenges associated with negotiating multiple roles in the research setting, especially in the presence of sociocultural factors such as gender stratification, complex kinship networks, socioeconomic hierarchies, illiteracy, and poverty. Embracing rather than being confused by the multiple levels of understanding native researchers bring to studies of their communities opens up new avenues of research and possibilities.

Material Proximities and Hotspots: Toward an Anthropology of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers

PubMed Central

Brown, Hannah; Kelly, Ann H

2014-01-01

This article outlines a research program for an anthropology of viral hemorrhagic fevers (collectively known as VHFs). It begins by reviewing the social science literature on Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fevers and charting areas for future ethnographic attention. We theoretically elaborate the hotspot as a way of integrating analysis of the two routes of VHF infection: from animal reservoirs to humans and between humans. Drawing together recent anthropological investigations of human–animal entanglements with an ethnographic interest in the social production of space, we seek to enrich conceptualizations of viral movement by elaborating the circumstances through which viruses, humans, objects, and animals come into contact. We suggest that attention to the material proximities—between animals, humans, and objects—that constitute the hotspot opens a frontier site for critical and methodological development in medical anthropology and for future collaborations in VHF management and control. PMID:24752909

The role of locally-designed organizational artifacts in supporting nurses’ work: an ethnographic study on the wards

PubMed

Talamo, Alessandra; Mellini, Barbara; Barbieri, Barbara

2017-01-01

This paper aims to describe how nurses' planning and coordination work is performed through the use of locally designed tools (i.e., diaries, planners, reminders, and organizers). These tools are investigated as the materialization of organizational work, thus offering a complementary perspective on nursing practice to that proposed by the professional mandate and supported by official artifacts in use. Ethnographic study. By analyzing locally designed artifacts, the rationale that enables nurses to make the flow of activities work is highlighted and explained. Evidence is provided by a description of how nurses' tacit knowledge is reified and embedded into objects produced by the nurses themselves. Implications for the design of digital systems supporting nursing practice are discussed. The analysis of these artifacts has allowed an understanding of practices used by the nurses to manage the workflow in the wards.

Producing ethnographies: workplace ethnographies in history.

PubMed

Platt, Jennifer; Crothers, Charles; Horgan, Mervyn

2013-01-01

Data on a large set of workplace ethnographies published from 1940 to 2002, compiled by Randy Hodson, are analyzed to show the trends over time in the production of such ethnographic work, its shifting disciplinary base, the relevance of the personal backgrounds of its authors, the contributions made by academic amateurs, the changing roles of gender and political stances, and the nature of different routes to publication. The definition of what counts as an ethnography is important to the character of the set available and has implications for its potential uses in secondary analysis. It is found that both personal and disciplinary identities and wider social factors have played roles in the production of ethnographic work that need to be understood to account for its history, though it is to be expected that the forms these take will differ for work in different subfields. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Eating fruits and vegetables. An ethnographic study of American and French family dinners.

PubMed

Kremer-Sadlik, Tamar; Morgenstern, Aliyah; Peters, Chloe; Beaupoil, Pauline; Caët, Stéphanie; Debras, Camille; le Mené, Marine

2015-06-01

The French eat more fruits and vegetables than Americans and have lower rates of childhood obesity. This ethnographic study compares various aspects of meal environment in sixteen households in LA, California and Paris, France, and offers insights on the relationship between local practices and preferences and children's consumption of fruits and vegetables. Our analysis of video-recorded naturalist data reveals that the consumption of fruits and vegetables is linked to the cultural organization of dinner--what, when and how food is served--and to local beliefs about children's eating practices. We also found that the French model for dinnertime prioritizes the eating of fruits and vegetables more than the American model does. We propose that local eating models should be taken into account in research on childhood obesity and in prevention programs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Sexuality, bodily experiences, and gender: an ethnographic study of persons living with HIV in Greater Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina].

PubMed

Grimberg, Mabel

2009-01-01

Based on the results of an ethnographic study on daily experience with HIV in Greater Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina, the article discusses behavioral approaches that reduce the sexuality of persons living with HIV to an issue of safety and protection. By articulating a social construction perspective and the notion of hegemony, the author proposes that sexuality can be understood as a process of individual and social construction shaped by power relations and social regulations. The analysis of the experiences of living with HIV in marginalized populations shows how chronic social inequality, violence, discrimination, and stigmatization generate particular characteristics of sexual issues. These social processes become driving forces that shape sexual experience as a field of danger, repression, and restriction rather than pleasure and exploration. Finally, daily confrontation with social metaphors places strain on gender relations, practices, and identities.

Sociocultural contexts and worker safety and health: findings of a study with Chinese immigrant restaurant workers.

PubMed

Tsai, Jenny; Bruck, Annie

2009-02-01

More immigrants are seeking employment in restaurants. Drawing data from an ethnographic study, this article discusses what and how sociocultural contexts shape the safety and health of immigrant restaurant workers. Eighteen Chinese immigrants from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan participated in the study. Data generation methods included a questionnaire, individual and focus group interviews, and participant observations. Ethnographic analysis revealed that immigration mechanisms, demands of English proficiency for employment, and existence of networks and ethnic communities shaped the participants' employment choices. Working hours and schedules, interpersonal relationships at work, job design and training, occupational safety and health training, and national events and economy further influenced the participants' occupational experiences and well-being. Issues were noted with job security, mental health, family relationships, and risks for occupational injuries and illnesses. Implications for occupational health nursing research and practice to reduce immigrant workers' vulnerability to poor safety and health outcomes conclude this article.

Ethnographic analysis: a study of classroom environments.

PubMed

Griswold, L A

1994-05-01

Occupational therapists assess and adapt an environment to enhance clients' abilities to function. Therapists working in schools may assess several classroom environments in a week. Identifying relevant information in an efficient manner is essential yet presents a challenge for school therapists. In this study, ethnographic research methodology was used to analyze the plethora of data gained from observations in eight classrooms. Three major categories were identified to structure observations: activities, people, and communication. These categories were used to compile a Classroom Observation Guide that gives therapists relevant questions to ask in each category. Using the Classroom Observation Guide, occupational therapists can recommend classroom activities that suit a particular teacher's style. For example, working with a teacher who prefers structural activities with clear time and space boundaries for one specific purpose, a therapist might suggest organized sensorimotor games with a distinct purpose to be carried out for a given time period.

Material proximities and hotspots: toward an anthropology of viral hemorrhagic fevers.

PubMed

Brown, Hannah; Kelly, Ann H

2014-06-01

This article outlines a research program for an anthropology of viral hemorrhagic fevers (collectively known as VHFs). It begins by reviewing the social science literature on Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fevers and charting areas for future ethnographic attention. We theoretically elaborate the hotspot as a way of integrating analysis of the two routes of VHF infection: from animal reservoirs to humans and between humans. Drawing together recent anthropological investigations of human-animal entanglements with an ethnographic interest in the social production of space, we seek to enrich conceptualizations of viral movement by elaborating the circumstances through which viruses, humans, objects, and animals come into contact. We suggest that attention to the material proximities-between animals, humans, and objects-that constitute the hotspot opens a frontier site for critical and methodological development in medical anthropology and for future collaborations in VHF management and control. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.

The conceptions of care among family caregivers of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

PubMed

Aga, Fekadu; Kylmä, Jari; Nikkonen, Merja

2009-01-01

This focused ethnographic study explores and describes the conceptions of care among family caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leininger's theory of culture care diversity and universality is the conceptual anchor of this ethnographic study. Using semistructured interviews and participant observation, 6 key informants and 12 general informants were interviewed in their home in Amharic language. Data were analyzed in Amharic using Leininger's phases of ethnonursing analysis for qualitative data and then translated to English. Four major themes representing family caregivers' conceptions of care were identified: nourishing the PLWA while struggling with poverty, maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene of the person and surroundings, comforting the PLWA, and sacrificing self to sustain the PLWA. Valuable data were gathered about the family caregivers' conceptions of care. Nurses can use this knowledge to design and provide culturally congruent care to family caregivers and PLWAs in the community.

Employing an ethnographic approach: key characteristics.

PubMed

Lambert, Veronica; Glacken, Michele; McCarron, Mary

2011-01-01

Nurses are increasingly embracing ethnography as a useful research methodology. This paper presents an overview of some of the main characteristics we considered and the challenges encountered when using ethnography to explore the nature of communication between children and health professionals in a children's hospital. There is no consensual definition or single procedure to follow when using ethnography. This is largely attributable to the re-contextualisation of ethnography over time through diversification in and across many disciplines. Thus, it is imperative to consider some of ethnography's trademark features. To identify core trademark features of ethnography, we collated data following a scoping review of pertinent ethnographic textbooks, journal articles, attendance at ethnographic workshops and discussions with principle ethnographers. This is a methodological paper. Essentially, ethnography is a field-orientated activity that has cultural interpretations at its core, although the levels of those interpretations vary. We identified six trademark features to be considered when embracing an ethnographic approach: naturalism; context; multiple data sources; small case numbers; 'emic' and 'etic' perspectives, and ethical considerations. Ethnography has an assortment of meanings, so it is not often used in a wholly orthodox way and does not fall under the auspices of one epistemological belief. Yet, there are core criteria and trademark features that researchers should take into account alongside their particular epistemological beliefs when embracing an ethnographic inquiry. We hope this paper promotes a clearer vision of the methodological processes to consider when embarking on ethnography and creates an avenue for others to disseminate their experiences of and challenges encountered when applying ethnography's trademark features in different healthcare contexts.

Ethnographic Techniques in Educational Evaluation: An Illustration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David

1980-01-01

Describes the ethnographic component of a multidisciplinary evaluation, conducted by the RMC Research Corporation, of the Career Intern Program for dropouts. Includes discussion of participant observations, interviewing techniques, triangulation, unobtrusive measures, data recording, and equipment. (Part of a theme issue entitled…

Ethnographic Auditing: A New Approach to Evaluating Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David M.

1990-01-01

Ethnographic auditing combines concepts of ethnography, evaluation, and traditional auditing to evaluate university management. It is another tool in the institutional researcher's repertoire that enables the researcher to interpret cultural aspects of the organization to facilitate its academic mission. (MSE)

Institutional Ethical Review and Ethnographic Research Involving Injection Drug Users: A Case Study

PubMed Central

Small, Will; Maher, Lisa; Kerr, Thomas

2014-01-01

Ethnographic research among people who inject drugs (PWID) involves complex ethical issues. While ethical review frameworks have been critiqued by social scientists, there is a lack of social science research examining institutional ethical review processes, particularly in relation to ethnographic work. This case study describes the institutional ethical review of an ethnographic research project using observational fieldwork and in-depth interviews to examine injection drug use. The review process and the salient concerns of the review committee are recounted, and the investigators’ responses to the committee’s concerns and requests are described to illustrate how key issues were resolved. The review committee expressed concerns regarding researcher safety when conducting fieldwork and the investigators were asked to liaise with the police regarding the proposed research. An ongoing dialogue with the institutional review committee regarding researcher safety and autonomy from police involvement, as well as formal consultation with a local drug user group and solicitation of opinions from external experts, helped to resolve these issues. This case study suggests that ethical review processes can be particularly challenging for ethnographic projects focused on illegal behaviours, and that while some challenges could be mediated by modifying existing ethical review procedures, there is a need for legislation that provides legal protection of research data and participant confidentiality. PMID:24581074

Assessing Language Needs Within an Institutional Context: An Ethnographic Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holliday, Adrian

1995-01-01

This article describes an analysis of English-language needs of an oil company in the Middle East, exploring the role of ethnography in carrying out the holistic research necessary to obtain a clear picture of the company's needs. It includes a discussion of the project's findings and recommendations for language training. (11 references) (MDM)

Anthropology, Participation, and the Democratization of Knowledge: Participatory Research Using Video with Youth Living in Extreme Poverty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batallan, Graciela; Dente, Liliana; Ritta, Loreley

2017-01-01

This article aims to open up a debate on methodological aspects of ethnographic research, arguing for the legitimacy of the information produced in a research "taller" or workshop using a participatory methodology and video production as a methodological tool. Based on the theoretical foundations and analysis of a "taller"…

Realities, Rewards, and Risks of Heritage-Language Education: Perspectives from Japanese Immigrant Parents in a Midwestern Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Endo, R.

2013-01-01

This ethnographic case study describes how three Japanese immigrant parents in a midsize urban community in the Midwest viewed heritage-language education in relation to their children's socioemotional development as bicultural Americans. The literature review offers a comparative and historical analysis of Japanese schools in the diaspora to…

Gentleness and Violence in the Pacific: A View from the Marquesas Islands.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martini, Mary

This research reports on an ethnographic study of Marquesas Islanders and their concepts of violent and aggressive behavior. The study interviewed six mothers about their children's behavior at three stages of early life: (1) infants and toddlers; (2) school-aged children; and (3) adolescents. Analysis of the research suggests that violence is…

"Will This Hell Never End?": Substantiating and Resisting "Race-Language" Policies in a Multilingual High School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malsbary, Christine

2014-01-01

This article presents a critical race theory analysis of teachers' and students' language policy negotiation. It draws on an ethnographic study in a high-school English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Results demonstrate how race-language processes create conditions that traumatize immigrant and bilingual youth of color through…

Social and Emotional Pedagogies: Critiquing the New Orthodoxy of Emotion in Classroom Behaviour Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillies, Val

2011-01-01

This paper examines new structured attempts to address and manage emotions in the classroom. Critical analysis focuses on the broad emotional literacy agenda operating within schools, and more specifically the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) programme. Data are drawn on from an ethnographic study located in Behaviour Support Units…

Dominicanas entre La Gran Manzana y Quisqueya: Family, Schooling, and Language Learning in a Transnational Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Tracy

2009-01-01

Drawing from a one-year qualitative research study, this article explores the transnational lives and experiences of three young women and their little sisters in New York with close ties to the Dominican Republic. Using ethnographic research methods--life history interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and document analysis, I examine…

Valuable Knowledge: Students as Consumers of Critical Thinking in the Community College Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Jane McEldowney; Worth, Benjamin

2014-01-01

This ethnographic study examines the negotiation of the value of critical thinking by a group of community college students and their instructor in a required general education literature course. Using a sociological analysis, the authors explore how the students situated themselves as both learners and consumers in the classroom, a social field…

Using Videos and Multimodal Discourse Analysis to Study How Students Learn a Trade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Selena

2013-01-01

The use of video to assist with ethnographical-based research is not a new phenomenon. Recent advances in technology have reduced the costs and technical expertise required to use videos for gathering research data. Audio-visual records of learning activities as they take place, allow for many non-vocal and inter-personal communication…

Damsels in Discourse: Girls Consuming and Producing Identity Texts through Disney Princess Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wohlwend, Karen E.

2009-01-01

Drawing upon theories that reconceptualize toys and artifacts as identity texts, this study employs mediated discourse analysis to examine children's videotaped writing and play interactions with princess dolls and stories in one kindergarten classroom. The study reported here is part of a three-year ethnographic study of literacy play in U.S.…

Fabricating "Pacific Islander": Pedagogies of Expropriation, Return and Resistance and Other Lessons from a "Multicultural Day"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Youdell, Deborah

2012-01-01

This paper is concerned with the potential for pedagogic practices that unsettle race hierarchies and open up possibilities for young people who are minoritised and excluded through these race hierarchies to be recognised as legitimate students and learners. It explores these possibilities through an analysis of an ethnographic account of the…

The Role of Aesthetic Artifacts in Creative Writing Research: Casting Student Identity Narratives as Cultural Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Christine I.

2014-01-01

Drawing upon a postmodern ethnographic approach, the modes of inquiry into this qualitative study included observation and data analysis in order to represent a particular community of students: first year college freshmen from a mid-size, religiously-affiliated university in the southern United States. The methods included artifact…

Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fiano, Darcy A.

2014-01-01

This seven-month ethnographic case study elucidated a kindergarten student's navigation through her first formal schooling experience with relation to expressive oral language. Gee's theory of Discourses and methodology of discourse analysis were used to examine expressive oral language in use. Two discursive contexts germane to…

Quick Attachments to the Workforce: An Ethnographic Analysis of a Transition from Welfare to Low-Wage Jobs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riemer, Frances J.

1997-01-01

Examines a work initiative that moved welfare recipients into jobs as nurse assistants at a geriatric facility. The women's stories describe a welfare-to-work program in practice and illustrate how and why earnest efforts to mediate poverty resulted instead in the continued marginalization and stigmatization of poor people. (RJM)

Towards a Political Ecology of Education: The Educational Politics of Scale in Southern Pará, Brazil

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meek, David

2015-01-01

Social movements have initiated both academic programs and disciplines. I present ethnographic data that I gathered during 17 months of fieldwork with the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in southeastern Pará, Brazil, to explore the MST's role in creating agroecological education opportunities. My analysis highlights three factors in…

Making Visible the Behaviors that Influence Learning Environment: A Qualitative Exploration of Computer Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barker, Lecia J.; Garvin-Doxas, Kathy

2004-01-01

The authors conducted ethnographic research to provide deep understanding of the learning environment of a selection of computer science classrooms at a large, research university in the United States. Categories emerging from data analysis included (1) impersonal environment and guarded behavior; and (2) the creation and maintenance of informal…

An Anthropologist among the Psychometricians: Assessment Events, Ethnography, and Differential Item Functioning in the Mongolian Gobi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maddox, Bryan; Zumbo, Bruno D.; Tay-Lim, Brenda; Qu, Demin

2015-01-01

This article explores the potential for ethnographic observations to inform the analysis of test item performance. In 2010, a standardized, large-scale adult literacy assessment took place in Mongolia as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP). In a novel form…

Understanding the evidence for historical fire across eastern forests

Treesearch

Charles M. Ruffner

2006-01-01

Evidence for historical fire across the eastern deciduous biome spans several fields, including paleoecology, fire scar analysis, witness tree studies, historical documents and ethnographic sources. In this paper I provide an overview of many of these methods as well as the limitations and examples of each. While the use of any single approach has its cautions and...

Types and Dynamics of Gendered Space: A Case of Emirati Female Learners in a Single-Gender Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alzeer, Gergana

2018-01-01

This article is concerned with gendered spaces as they emerge from exploring Emirati female learners' spatiality in a single-gender context. By conducting ethnographic research and utilising Lefebvre's triad of perceived, conceived and lived space for the analysis and categorisation of students' spaces, three types of gendered spaces emerged:…

Supporting Child Participation in the Early Years of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sturges, Marion

2015-01-01

This paper aims to contribute to conversations around child participation within early childhood settings in Australia. Ethnographic approach was used for this study to explore child participatory workshops in Early Childhood Centers. The center in which this study took place was chosen as one of the sites of analysis for a broader PhD research…

"Doing Gender," Ensuring Survival: Mexican Migration and Economic Crisis in the Rural Mountain West

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmalzbauer, Leah

2011-01-01

This article draws on ethnographic research to explore the impacts of the current economic crisis on Mexican migrant families in rural Montana. It looks specifically at the ways rural families negotiate gender roles and expectations as they devise survival strategies in response to major economic shifts. My analysis suggests that traditional…

Examining the Inclusion of Quantitative Research in a Meta-Ethnographic Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Booker, Rhae-Ann Richardson

2010-01-01

This study explored how one might extend meta-ethnography to quantitative research for the advancement of interpretive review methods. Using the same population of 139 studies on racial-ethnic matching as data, my investigation entailed an extended meta-ethnography (EME) and comparison of its results to a published meta-analysis (PMA). Adhering to…

Reentry of Emerging Adults: Adolescent Inmates' Transition Back into the Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inderbitzin, Michelle

2009-01-01

This article is based on the sociological analysis of the experiences and perspectives of five young men making the transition out of one state's end-of-the-line maximum security juvenile correctional facility and attempting to reenter the community as emerging adults. As part of a larger ethnographic study of violent offenders in a cottage, these…

Polish Hip Hop as a Form of Multiliteracies and Situated Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torrence, Michael L.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine Hip Hop in Poland through the lens of multiliteracies and situated learning. This analysis is concerned with the transmission of Hip Hop to and within Wroclaw, Poland, and its acculturation and assimilation in Wroclaw, Poland. Further, this study seeks to illustrate how professional Polish Hip…

From Witnessing to Recording--Material Objects and the Epistemic Configuration of Science Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roehl, Tobias

2012-01-01

Drawing on concepts developed in actor-network theory and postphenomenology this article shows how material objects in the science classroom become part of epistemic configurations and thus co-shape science education. An ethnographic study on epistemic objects in science education is the basis for the analysis of two of these objects: experimental…

Playing Aggression: The Social Construction of the "Sassy Girl" in a Peer Culture Play Routine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2013

2013-01-01

The ethnographic analysis presented here examines a play routine that centered on two four-year-old female children constructing and being "sassy girls". Data was gathered over the course of six months in one preschool classroom by acting as a participant observer, videotaping, audiotaping, and conducting formal and informal interviews…

Higher Education and Urban Migration for Community Resilience: Indigenous Amazonian Youth Promoting Place-Based Livelihoods and Identities in Peru

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Diana

2018-01-01

This paper offers an ethnographic analysis of indigenous Peruvian Amazonian youth pursuing higher education through urban migration to contribute to the resilience of their communities, place-based livelihoods, and indigenous Amazonian identities. Youth and their communities promoted education and migration as powerful tools in the context of…

Making Differences and Reflecting on Diversities: Embodied Nationality among Preschool Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lappalainen, Sirpa

2009-01-01

This paper focuses on embodied practices in processes of nationalization among preschool children at the age of 6. It analyses how children define themselves and others, how they characterize and frame Finnishness through embodiment. The analysis is based on an ethnographic study in two preschool classes. It is argued that nationality works in a…

The Politics of Mourning in Cyprus and Israel: Educational Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zembylas, Michalinos; Bekerman, Zvi; Haj-Yahia, Muhammad M.; Schaade, Nader

2010-01-01

This paper suggests the need for a critical analysis of the nationalization of mourning and its educational implications, especially in conflict-ridden areas. Our thoughts are grounded in a comparative study on mourning that has been conducted as part of our long-standing ethnographic research in schools in Cyprus and Israel during the last 10…

Policy Fuzz and Fuzzy Logic: Researching Contemporary Indigenous Education and Parent-School Engagement in North Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lea, Tess; Thompson, Helen; McRae-Williams, Eva; Wegner, Aggie

2011-01-01

"Engagement" is the second of six top priorities in Australia's most recent Indigenous education strategy to "close the gap" in schooling outcomes. Drawing on findings from a three-year ethnographic analysis of school engagement issues in the north of Australia, this article situates engagement within the history of Indigenous…

"The Pen is the Spear of Today": (Re)producing Gender in the Maasai Schooling Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archambault, Caroline S.

2017-01-01

An essentialist, "traditional", Maasai gender ideology that poorly reflects the day-to-day gender realities of residents is being reproduced and dominating in the modern schooling setting of a Maasai community in Southern Kenya. Through an ethnographic analysis based on long-term fieldwork and mixed-method approaches, this paper explores…

How Do People Make Continence Care Happen? An Analysis of Organizational Culture in Two Nursing Homes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Stacie Salsbury

2010-01-01

Purpose: Although nursing homes (NHs) are criticized for offering poor quality continence care, little is known about the organizational processes that underlie this care. This study investigated the influence of organizational culture on continence care practices in two NHs. Design and Methods: This ethnographic study explored continence care…

Writing Material in Chemical Physics Research: The Laboratory Notebook as Locus of Technical and Textual Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wickman, Chad

2010-01-01

This article, drawing on ethnographic study in a chemical physics research facility, explores how notebooks are used and produced in the conduct of laboratory science. Data include written field notes of laboratory activity; visual documentation of "in situ" writing processes; analysis of inscriptions, texts, and material artifacts produced in the…

Towards a Repertoire-Building Approach: Multilingualism in Language Classes for Refugees in Luxembourg

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalocsányiová, Erika

2017-01-01

This contribution examines how the diverse language resources that teachers and learners bring to the classroom can support the process of language learning. It draws on a range of linguistic ethnographic data collected at a French language course that was attended mostly by Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Luxembourg. Drawing on the analysis of…

Imagined Ethnicity and Rites of Institution: An Ethnographic Analysis of Transnational Schooling of "Nikkeis" from Brazil

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takato, Michiyo

2006-01-01

Much has been said about the difficulties that Latin American children of foreign Japanese descent (Nikkei) face in the Japanese school system since the implementation of Japan's new immigration law in 1990. The underlying monolingualism and cultural exclusion of the school system are often blamed for these difficulties. However, little detailed…

Identifying interventions to help rural Kenyan mothers cope with food insecurity: results of a focused ethnographic study.

PubMed

Pelto, Gretel H; Armar-Klemesu, Margaret

2015-12-01

An ethnographic study was conducted in two areas in southern and western Kenya to identify potential interventions to improve the quality, availability and affordability of foods consumed by infants and young children. A cultural-ecological model of determinants of nutrition identified the sectors of information for data collection related to infant and young child (IYC) diet and feeding-related behaviours, and the focused ethnographic study manual was used to guide the research. The results provide qualitative evidence about facilitators and constraints to IYC nutrition in the two geographical areas and document their inter-connections. We conclude with suggestions to consider 13 potential nutrition-sensitive interventions. The studies provide empirical ethnographic support for arguments concerning the importance of combining nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions through a multi-sectoral, integrated approach to improve the nutrition of infants and young children in low-income, resource-constrained populations. They also document the value of ethnography as a component of landscape analysis in nutrition programme and policy planning. Key messages In addition to constraints on infant and young child diet that originate in environmental and technological conditions in both agro-ecological zones, other factors that affect feeding practices include features of social organisation, household access to social support, caregivers income-earning activities and their own health. The results of the ethnographies, which highlight the importance of obtaining the knowledge and perspectives of caregivers of infants and young children, reveal the interactions of the multiple factors that affect child nutrition and the need for simultaneous nutrition-sensitive interventions to complement nutrition-specific intervention actions. Most caregivers in both areas not only understood the importance of diet and food quality for child survival, they also regarded it as essential for child growth and development. This indicates that caregivers in these rural Kenyan communities have adopted the basic biomedical interpretation of the importance of child nutrition as an integral part of their 'knowledge frameworks'. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The strong poetry of place: a co/auto/ethnographic journey of connoisseurship, criticality and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kress, Tricia M.; Lake, Robert

2017-10-01

Through a co/auto/ethnographic approach informed by a theoretical bricolage of critical pedagogy, place-based education, science education, human geography, feminism, and indigenous ways of knowing, the authors demonstrate the power of place in and as pedagogy. Using rich personal narratives, they reclaim their stories as an urban island-dweller and nomadic music-dweller, and they illuminate place as an epistemological, ontological and axiological anchor for the Self in the neoliberal wasteland. Specifically, the authors attend to their familial lineages and reasons for migrating from Southern Europe to the USA's Northeast section, the Northern Mid-Western and to the Southeast. They examine their and their families' connections with place in relation to the ideological fictions embedded within their shared narrative of "for a better life," which is the story that was told to them about their families' migrations. They probe under the surface by asking, "better than what," "according to whom," and "why?" In doing so, they peel back the veil of hegemony and expose the ways that economic disadvantage impacted their families' relationships with their homelands. The article concludes by conceptualizing critical connoisseurship as a means for guiding students to tap into the embodied knowledge of place in order to notice, question, appreciate and critically reflect upon curricular content and subject matter and resist neoliberalism's removal of person from place and local knowledge.

Nurse middle managers contributions to patient-centred care: A 'managerial work' analysis.

PubMed

Lalleman, Pcb; Smid, Gac; Dikken, J; Lagerwey, M D; Schuurmans, M J

2017-10-01

Nurse middle managers are in an ideal position to facilitate patient-centred care. However, their contribution is underexposed in literature due to difficulties to articulate this in practice. This paper explores how nurse middle managers contribute to patient-centred care in hospitals. A combination of time-use analysis and ethnographic work was used to disclose their contribution to patient-centred care at a micro level. Sixteen nurse managers were shadowed for over 560 hours in four hospitals. Some nurse middle managers seldom contribute to patient-centred care. Others are involved in direct patient care, but this does not result in patient-centred practices. At one hospital, the nurse middle managers did contribute to patient-centred care. Here balancing between "organizing work" and "caring work" is seen as a precondition for their patient-centeredness. Other important themes are feedback mechanisms; place matters; with whom to talk and how to frame the issues at stake; and behavioral style. Both "hands-on" and "heads-on" caring work of nurse middle managers enhances their patient-centeredness. This study is the first of its kind to obtain insight in the often difficult to articulate "doings" of nurse middle managers with regard to patient-centred care through combining time-use analysis with ethnographic work. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Short-Term Intercultural Psychotherapy: Ethnographic Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seeley, Karen M.

2004-01-01

This article examines the challenges specific to short-term intercultural treatments and recently developed approaches to intercultural treatments based on notions of cultural knowledge and cultural competence. The article introduces alternative approaches to short-term intercultural treatments based on ethnographic inquiry adapted for clinical…

Ethnographic/Qualitative Research: Theoretical Perspectives and Methodological Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, E. Dean

This paper examines the metatheoretical concepts associated with ethnographic/qualitative educational inquiry and overviews the more commonly utilized research designs, data collection methods, and analytical approaches. The epistemological and ontological assumptions of this newer approach differ greatly from those of the traditional educational…

Informant-Ethnographers in the Study of Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feer, Michael

1975-01-01

In the context of an anthropology curriculum, public high school students performed as informant-ethnographers of their own social milieu. Using the film and fieldwork techniques, students demonstrated that with training and sensitivity such studies could be more than simple academic exercises. (AUTHOR/NQ)

Teaching Qualitative Methods: A Face-to-Face Encounter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keen, Mike F.

1996-01-01

Considers the complete ethnographic project as a strategy for teaching qualitative methods. Describes an undergraduate class where students chose an ethnographic setting, gathered and analyzed data, and wrote a final report. Settings included Laundromats, bingo halls, auctions, karaoke clubs, and bowling leagues. (MJP)

Educational Evaluation: Ethnography in Theory, Practice, and Politics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David M., Ed.; Pitman, Mary Anne, Ed.

Ten essays on the use of ethnography in educational assessment are presented. Overview essays include: (1) "Beyond the Status Quo in Ethnographic Educational Evaluation" (David M. Fetterman) and (2) "The Ethnographic Evaluator" (David M. Fetterman). Theoretical papers include: (3) "Theory in Education Evaluation: Or,…

Ethnography of Communication: Cultural Codes and Norms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carbaugh, Donal

The primary tasks of the ethnographic researcher are to discover, describe, and comparatively analyze different speech communities' ways of speaking. Two general abstractions occurring in ethnographic analyses are normative and cultural. Communicative norms are formulated in analyzing and explaining the "patterned use of speech."…

Dilemmas and Deliberations in Reflexive Ethnographic Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robinson, Janean Valerie

2014-01-01

This paper traces insights into the challenges and dilemmas experienced whilst researching students' interpretations and understandings of the Behaviour Management in Schools policy in Western Australia. Journal records, supported by student transcripts, are woven together in a reflexive ethnographic journey--from the beginning phase of searching…

A beginner's guide to ethnographic observation in nursing research.

PubMed

Conroy, Tiffany

2017-03-22

Background Observation is mentioned in most ethnographic textbooks, but specific details about how it should be conducted and the practicalities to be considered in ethnographic nursing research are not always explicit. This paper explores the experiences of and challenges faced by a novice nurse researcher who used observation to collect data. Aim To provide a novice researcher's perspective of observation in ethnographic nursing research and to highlight the associated challenges. Discussion Challenges that arose in observation began with determining which perspective to take, followed by rehearsing observation, developing and maintaining a constructive relationship with the observation site, being aware of the influence of the observer, managing interactions between the observed and the observer, and responding to ethical issues. Conclusion Novice nurse researchers considering using observation to collect data should be aware of the potential challenges they might encounter. Implications for practice The information presented in this paper will enable novice researchers to anticipate these issues and develop strategies to prevent or address them.

Ethnographic research in immigrant-specific drug abuse recovery houses.

PubMed

Pagano, Anna; Lee, Juliet P; García, Victor; Recarte, Carlos

2018-01-01

Access to study populations is a major concern for drug use and treatment researchers. Spaces related to drug use and treatment have varying levels of researcher accessibility based on several issues, including legality, public versus private settings, and insider/outsider status. Ethnographic research methods are indispensable for gaining and maintaining access to hidden or "hard-to-reach" populations. Here, we discuss our long-term ethnographic research on drug abuse recovery houses created by and for Latino migrants and immigrants in Northern California. We take our field work experiences as a case study to examine the problem of researcher access and how ethnographic strategies can be successfully applied to address it, focusing especially on issues of entrée, building rapport, and navigating field-specific challenges related to legality, public/private settings, and insider/outsider status. We conclude that continued funding support for ethnography is essential for promoting health disparities research focused on diverse populations in recovery from substance use disorders.

Benefits of “Observer Effects”: Lessons from the Field

PubMed Central

Monahan, Torin; Fisher, Jill A.

2011-01-01

This paper responds to the criticism that “observer effects” in ethnographic research necessarily bias and therefore invalidate research findings. Instead of aspiring to distance and detachment, some of the greatest strengths of ethnographic research lie in cultivating close ties with others and collaboratively shaping discourses and practices in the field. Informants’ performances – however staged for or influenced by the observer – often reveal profound truths about social and/or cultural phenomena. To make this case, first we mobilize methodological insights from the field of science studies to illustrate the contingency and partiality of all knowledge and to challenge the notion that ethnography is less objective than other research methods. Second, we draw upon our ethnographic projects to illustrate the rich data that can be obtained from “staged performances” by informants. Finally, by detailing a few examples of questionable behavior on the part of informants, we challenge the fallacy that the presence of ethnographers will cause informants to self-censor. PMID:21297880

The Clinical Ethnographic Interview: A user-friendly guide to the cultural formulation of distress and help seeking

PubMed Central

Arnault, Denise Saint; Shimabukuro, Shizuka

2013-01-01

Transcultural nursing, psychiatry, and medical anthropology have theorized that practitioners and researchers need more flexible instruments to gather culturally relevant illness experience, meaning, and help seeking. The state of the science is sufficiently developed to allow standardized yet ethnographically sound protocols for assessment. However, vigorous calls for culturally adapted assessment models have yielded little real change in routine practice. This paper describes the conversion of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV, Appendix I Outline for Cultural Formulation into a user-friendly Clinical Ethnographic Interview (CEI), and provides clinical examples of its use in a sample of highly distressed Japanese women. PMID:22194348

The neglected role of distress in pain management: qualitative research on a gastrointestinal ward.

PubMed

Drake, Gareth; Williams, Amanda C de C

2018-05-09

Pain management for hospital inpatients remains suboptimal. Previously identified barriers to optimal pain management include staff communication difficulties, confusion around pain management roles and a lack of suitable resources for clinical staff. The emotional, relational and contextual complexities of gastrointestinal (GI) pain create particular challenges for frontline clinical staff attempting to implement a biopsychosocial approach to its management. The current study took place over 2 years, comprised an ethnographic and a feedback phase, and aimed to examine pain management processes with clinical staff in order to generate hypotheses and initiatives for improvement. This paper focuses on two overarching themes identified in the ethnographic phase of the study, centred on the neglected role of both staff and patient distress in GI pain management. Grounded theory and thematic analysis methods were used as part of action research, which involves collaborative working with clinical staff. The study took place on a 60 bed GI ward in a university hospital in London. Participants were clinical staff who were either ward-based or involved in the care of particular patients. This latter group included doctors, nurses, psychologists and physiotherapists from the Acute and Complex Pain Teams. Qualitative data on pain management processes was gathered from staff interviews, consultation groups, and observations of patient-staff interactions. Recruitment was purposive and collaborative in that early participants suggested targets and staff groups for subsequent enquiry. Following the identification of initial ethnographic themes, further analysis and the use of existing literature led to the identification of two overarching pain management processes. As such the results are divided into three sections: (i) illustration of initial ethnographic themes, (ii) summary of relevant theory used, (iii) exploration of hypothesised overarching processes. Initially, two consultation groups, five nursing staff and five junior doctors, provided key issues that were included in subsequent interviews (n=18) and observations (n=5). Initial ethnographic themes were divided into challenges and resources, reflecting the emergent structure of interviews and observations. Drawing on attachment, psychodynamic and evolutionary theories, themes were then regrouped around two overarching processes, centred on the neglected role of distress in pain management. The first process elucidates the lack of recognition during pain assessment of the emotional impact of patient distress on staff decision-making and pain management practice. The second process demonstrates that, as a consequence of resultant staff distress, communication between staff groups was fraught and resources, such as expert team referral and pharmacotherapy, appeared to function, at times, to protect staff rather than to help patients. Interpersonal skills used by staff to relieve patient distress were largely outside systems for pain care. Findings suggest that identified "barriers" to optimal pain management likely serve an important defensive function for staff and organisations. Unless the impact of patient distress on staff is recognised and addressed within the system, these barriers will persist.

On Teaching Ethnographic Film

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarfield, Geoffrey

2013-01-01

The author of this article, a developmental anthropologist, illustrates how the instructor can use ethnographic films to enhance the study of anthropology and override notions about the scope and efficacy of Western intervention in the Third World, provided the instructor places such films in their proper historical and cultural context. He…

Constructing the Historical Ethnography of Childhood through Oral History.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barman, Jean

The intersection of the ethnographer's method of participant observation and the historian's central concern with chronology provides a potentially useful approach for construction of a historical ethnography of childhood through oral history. The first stage of ethnographic activity, fieldwork centered in participant observation, is not unlike…

A Role for Soft Systems Methodology in ELT Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holliday, Adrian

1990-01-01

Discusses the uses for soft systems methodology (SSM) in English language training (ELT) projects. It is suggested that ethnographic techniques may help in achieving the understanding needed to start an ELT project while SSM may provide a useful means for structuring ethnographic findings. (Author/VWL)

An Ethnographic Diary Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Graham

2008-01-01

This article examines a small-scale ethnographic survey of a single classroom. Drawing on the collected data, the discussion focuses on some of the problems encountered whilst collecting and interpreting data through self-report diaries. Amongst the issues considered are the perceptions of teachers and learners and their ability to articulate…

An Ethnographic Investigation of Chauncey Elementary School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheerer, Marilyn A.

An ethnographic investigation of interrelationships between teacher efficacy attitudes, teacher behavior, students' performance, and organizational climate in a total school setting was conducted at Chauncey Elementary School in Athens, Ohio. Chauncey was studied because its teachers had begun to implement an open classroom model which promoted a…

Interpreting Assessment Scores of Nonliterate Learners with Ethnographic Data.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Suzanne M.

Research findings are reported that suggest that valid interpretation of assessment scores on illiterate and preliterate learners requires the use of ethnographic data. Data from observation notes, photos, and audiotapes indicated that learners' understanding of their tasks affected their performance in assessment situations. Previous findings…

''I Don't Want to Become a China Buff'': Temporal Dimensions of the Discoursal Construction of Writer Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burgess, Amy

2012-01-01

This paper offers detailed analysis of ethnographic data concerning an adult literacy student producing and discussing a text about China, using the framework for investigating the discoursal construction of writer identity developed by Burgess and Ivanic (2010). It sheds light on how writer identity changes and develops over time by showing how…

Reclaiming the Disengaged? A Bourdieuian Analysis of Work-Based Learning for Young People in England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Ron

2011-01-01

This paper uses Bourdieu's concept of field to analyse findings from an ethnographic study of Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in England. Entry to Employment is a work-based learning programme which aims to re-engage young people with "barriers to learning" inhibiting access to further education, training or employment. The paper…

The Complex Relationship between Home and School Literacy: A Blurred Boundary between Formal and Informal English Literacy Practices of Greek Teenagers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothoni, Anastasia

2018-01-01

This article reports on findings of an ethnographically oriented multiple case study research study on teenagers' everyday literacy practices in English as a foreign language in contemporary Greece. Drawing on new literacy studies, discourse analysis, and ethnography, the study extended over a period of 18 months and employed multiple data…

The Process of Integration of Newcomers at School: Students and Gender Networking during School Recess

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez-Navarro, Henar; García-Monge, Alfonso; Rubio-Campos, Maria del Carmen

2014-01-01

This article examines the data obtained through a year-long ethnographic study of students from a Spanish primary school, and sheds light on their use of gender code networks during school recess. The results of this analysis confirm the conclusions on student interaction drawn by other studies (group segregation regarding age and gender and,…

Personalised Learning as Repressive Tolerance: A Comparative Ethnographic Analysis from Research in Three Swedish Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dovemark, Marianne; Johansson, Monica

2016-01-01

The idea of personalised learning is built upon a liberal tradition that values tolerance in enabling the process of human autonomy. In this article, we elaborate on this notion, its theoretical base and effects on the learning conditions of upper secondary school students. We draw upon data from three different studies of the Swedish upper…

Strategies for Building Social Connection through English: Challenges for Immigrants and Implications for Teaching English as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor-Leech, Kerry; Yates, Lynda

2012-01-01

This article draws on ethnographic data from a longitudinal study of newly-arrived immigrants of non English-speaking background in the Australian Adult Migrant English Program to investigate their opportunities for using English and the language learning strategies (LLS) they used to make the most of these opportunities. Analysis of their reports…

The Textualization of Problem Handling: Lean Discourses Meet Professional Competence in Eldercare and the Manufacturing Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karlsson, Anna-Malin; Nikolaidou, Zoe

2016-01-01

This article reports on research addressing the role of incident reporting at the workplace as a textual representation of lean management techniques. It draws on text and discourse analysis as well as on ethnographic data, including interviews, recorded interaction, and observations, from two projects on workplace literacy in Sweden: a study in…

Race, Class, and Schooling: Multicultural Families Doing the Hard Work of Home Literacy in America's Inner City

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Guofang

2010-01-01

Drawing on a larger ethnographic study, this article documents (a) how and for what purposes literacy is used in 3 culturally diverse families of low socioeconomic status and (b) what various cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors shape the families' literacy practices in their home milieus in an urban context. Data analysis revealed…

A Very Historical Mode of Understanding: Examining Editorial and Ethnographic Relations in "The Primary" (2008)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warmington, Paul; Grosvenor, Ian

2011-01-01

This article offers an analysis of "The Primary," a television documentary broadcast in the UK in 2008 as part of a BBC series exploring multicultural Britain. The film documents a term at an inner-city primary school. It depicts school leadership, cultural diversity, relationships between the school and the local community, pupils'…

Teachers' Silences about Racist Attitudes and Students' Desires to Address These Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosvall, Per-Åke; Öhrn, Elisabet

2014-01-01

In this article, we use ethnographic data to explore school-based perceptions of racism. We draw on the findings of a one-year study conducted in two upper secondary classes in a Swedish school. The starting point of the analysis was student discussions of racism in the school and the surrounding neighbourhood, which prompted an examination of…

Temporal, Spatial and Embodied Relations in the Teacher's Day at School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holland, Janet; Gordon, Tuula; Lahelma, Elina

2007-01-01

In this paper, we draw on a cross-cultural ethnographic study conducted in two secondary schools in Helsinki (Finland), and two in London (UK). In our analysis of everyday life in schools, space is not merely a backdrop to activities that take place, it also shapes processes and activities, and spatial relations are simultaneously temporal. Here,…

(Re)Counting Meaningful Learning Experiences: Using Student-Created Reflective Videos to Make Invisible Learning Visible during PjBL Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Shaunna

2016-01-01

This ethnographic case study investigated how the process of learning during a yearlong after-school, project-based learning (PjBL) experience could be documented by student-created reflective videos. Guided by social constructivism, constant comparative analysis was used to explore the meaningful learning that took place in addition to the…

What's a Charter School? How the Charter School Debate and Misinformation Mediate the Local Production of School Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Convertino, Christina

2017-01-01

In this article, based on an ethnographic study in Sundale City, Arizona, I use an interpretive and anthropological approach to policy analysis to highlight how social actors interpreted the national charter school debate to enact local school choice policy development in their everyday lives. Specifically, findings from this study provide a…

Dark Play as a Misrecognized Need for Redistributing (Digital) Goods: An Example from an Egalitarian Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadownik, Alicja R

2017-01-01

This article contextualizes the dark sides of play from a cultural-historical perspective using Fraser's theory of social justice based on the concepts of recognition and redistribution. Through a micro-ethnographic analysis of a kindergarten's daily life and play situations between 2 five-year-old girls, the article describes the dark play from a…

Teachers' Emotional Experiences of Growing Diversity and Multiculturalism in Schools and the Prospects of an "Ethic of Discomfort"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zembylas, Michalinos

2010-01-01

This article analyzes the ways in which emotions are constituted and mobilized by teachers to respond to growing diversity and multiculturalism in schools. The analysis is based on a two-year ethnographic study conducted in three Greek-Cypriot primary schools that are "multicultural". The following focus questions are addressed: (1) How…

Political Possibilities: Lessons from the Undocumented Youth Movement for Resistance to the Trump Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Negrón-Gonzales, Genevieve

2017-01-01

Part-reflection, part-qualitative analysis, the author draws on ten years of qualitative and ethnographic research on undocumented young people in order to make sense of the political possibilities in this moment. I posit there is much to be learned from these undocumented young activists and their struggle as we consider how to respond to the…

Mapping the Ethnographic Journey: A "Road Map" for Novice Researchers Wanting to Engage in Ethnography, Critical Theory and Policy Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naidu, Sham

2012-01-01

In this article, the "researcher" narrates the issues faced by novice researchers in choosing the correct lenses to conduct research when searching for the truth via the use of qualitative methodology. It is argued that choosing an appropriate research approach and methodology can be described as an "arduous" journey. For the…

Writing Ourselves In: Researcher Reflexivity in Ethnographic and Multimodal Methods for Understanding What Counts, to Whom, and How We Know

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Kate T.; Stewart, Olivia G.; Abdul Aziz, Masturah Binte

2016-01-01

Researcher reflexivity shapes what and how we know, because the background against which something becomes a site for analysis, and through which we position knowledge about it, result from our researcher gaze. We examine here an adolescent-produced multimodal story according to three different researcher gazes across space and time. By…

"The Grapes of Wrath": Scrapbooks and Artifacts. Ethnographic Field Studies in Fiction. Learning Page Lesson Plan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Specht, Linda; Lackey, David

This three-week high school American Literature lesson plan guides students to show how cultural artifacts from "The Grapes of Wrath" support one of the book's many themes. The teacher's guide describes the five lessons that constitute this lesson plan: (1) ethnography; (2) photo analysis; (3) oral history; (4) material artifacts and…

Enacting Identity and Transition: Public Events and Rituals in the University (Mexico and South Africa)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pansters, Wil G.; van Rinsum, Henk J.

2016-01-01

On the basis of ethnographic and historical material this article makes a comparative analysis of the relationship between public events, ceremonies and academic rituals, institutional identity, and processes of transition and power at two universities, one in Mexico and the other in South Africa. The public events examined here play a major role…

Digital Literacy Integration in Educational Practice: Creating a Learning Community, through a Geographic Project in Mytilene Senior High School, Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Exarchou, Evi; Klonari, Aikaterini; Lambrinos, Nikos; Vaitis, Michalis

2017-01-01

This study focused on the analysis of Grade-12 (Senior) students' sociocultural constructivist interactions using Web 2.0 applications during a geographical research process. In the study methodology context, a transdisciplinary case study (TdCS) with ethnographic and research action data was designed, implemented and analyzed in real teaching…

"I've Never Done a Dissertation before Please Help Me": Accommodating L2 Students through Course Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salter-Dvorak, Hania

2014-01-01

This article considers how course design accommodates the adaptation of L2 students into the early stages of the master's dissertation (Social Sciences and Humanities) at a UK university. I present a contrastive process-oriented analysis of two students' experiences on different courses, extracted from a 13-month ethnographic study in which…

What Does Motivated Mean? Re-Presenting Learning, Technology, and Motivation in Middle Schools via New Ethnographic Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olmanson, Justin

2016-01-01

This article offers a critique of the way middle schoolers are often positioned as generalizable objects that can be acted upon to produce measurable increases in motivation and learning. The critique invites a reconsideration and cultural analysis of some of the dominant discourses and perceptions of technology, young adolescence, and the study…

Ways of Knowing Beyond Facts and Laws of Science: An Ethnographic Investigation of Student Engagement in Scientific Practices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Teresa; Kelly, Gregory J.; Brown, Candice

This study brings an anthropological perspective informed by sociolinguistic discourse analysis to examine how teachers, students, and scientists constructed ways of investigating and knowing science. The teaching and learning processes for a group of third grade students and how, in the following academic year, these same students drew upon their…

Institutional ethical review and ethnographic research involving injection drug users: a case study.

PubMed

Small, Will; Maher, Lisa; Kerr, Thomas

2014-03-01

Ethnographic research among people who inject drugs (PWID) involves complex ethical issues. While ethical review frameworks have been critiqued by social scientists, there is a lack of social science research examining institutional ethical review processes, particularly in relation to ethnographic work. This case study describes the institutional ethical review of an ethnographic research project using observational fieldwork and in-depth interviews to examine injection drug use. The review process and the salient concerns of the review committee are recounted, and the investigators' responses to the committee's concerns and requests are described to illustrate how key issues were resolved. The review committee expressed concerns regarding researcher safety when conducting fieldwork, and the investigators were asked to liaise with the police regarding the proposed research. An ongoing dialogue with the institutional review committee regarding researcher safety and autonomy from police involvement, as well as formal consultation with a local drug user group and solicitation of opinions from external experts, helped to resolve these issues. This case study suggests that ethical review processes can be particularly challenging for ethnographic projects focused on illegal behaviours, and that while some challenges could be mediated by modifying existing ethical review procedures, there is a need for legislation that provides legal protection of research data and participant confidentiality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An ethnographic object-oriented analysis of explorer presence in a volcanic terrain environment: Claims and evidence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcgreevy, Michael W.

1994-01-01

An ethnographic field study was conducted to investigate the nature of presence in field geology, and to develop specifications for domain-based planetary exploration systems utilizing virtual presence. Two planetary geologists were accompanied on a multi-day geologic field trip that they had arranged for their own scientific purposes, which centered on an investigation of the extraordinary xenolith/nodule deposits in the Kaupulehu lava flow of Hualalai Volcano, on the island of Hawaii. The geologists were observed during the course of their field investigations and interviewed regarding their activities and ideas. Analysis of the interview resulted in the identification of key domain entities and their attributes, relations among the entities, and explorer interactions with the environment. The results support and extend the author's previously reported continuity theory of presence, indicating that presence in field geology is characterized by persistent engagement with objects associated by metonymic relations. The results also provide design specifications for virtual planetary exploration systems, including an integrating structure for disparate data integration. Finally, the results suggest that unobtrusive participant observation coupled with field interviews is an effective research methodology for engineering ethnography.

Representations of Death Among Italian Vegetarians: An Ethnographic Research on Environment, Disgust and Transcendence

PubMed Central

Testoni, Ines; Ghellar, Tommaso; Rodelli, Maddalena; De Cataldo, Loriana; Zamperini, Adriano

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on the motives for vegetarian choices in contemporary Italian food culture, with specific reference to the role of the representations of death. The study adopts a qualitative research design aimed at an in-depth exploration of the reasons for avoiding meat, following an ethnographic method. Twenty-two participants (55% women, 45% men) aged 19-74, all vegetarians or vegans, mainly from Northern and Central Italy, were involved. Data from the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis were examined according to the qualitative thematic analysis: the results show the role of death in the construction of disgust towards meat, running parallel with an emphasis on spirituality, ethical treatment of animals and the environment as reasons for avoiding meat, in particular, the concern-generating disgust and its relationship with the representation of death as a contaminating essence. The basis of disgust lies in this connection, from which the idea that oral consumption of contaminants characterized by corruptive properties, passing through the flesh of dead animals to humans, derives. The role of anti-speciesism is considered as a latent perspective, which may influence the vegetarian and vegan choices. PMID:28904591

Shared worlds: multi-sited ethnography and nursing research.

PubMed

Molloy, Luke; Walker, Kim; Lakeman, Richard

2017-03-22

Background Ethnography, originally developed for the study of supposedly small-scale societies, is now faced with an increasingly mobile, changing and globalised world. Cultural identities can exist without reference to a specific location and extend beyond regional and national boundaries. It is therefore no longer imperative that the sole object of the ethnographer's practice should be a geographically bounded site. Aim To present a critical methodological review of multi-sited ethnography. Discussion Understanding that it can no longer be taken with any certainty that location alone determines culture, multi-sited ethnography provides a method of contextualising multi-sited social phenomena. The method enables researchers to examine social phenomena that are simultaneously produced in different locations. It has been used to undertake cultural analysis of diverse areas such as organ trafficking, global organisations, technologies and anorexia. Conclusion The authors contend that multi-sited ethnography is particularly suited to nursing research as it provides researchers with an ethnographic method that is more relevant to the interconnected world of health and healthcare services. Implications for practice Multi-sited ethnography provides nurse researchers with an approach to cultural analysis in areas such as the social determinants of health, healthcare services and the effects of health policies across multiple locations.

Exploring the desires and sexual culture of men who have sex with male-to-female transgender women.

PubMed

Mauk, Daniel; Perry, Ashley; Muñoz-Laboy, Miguel

2013-07-01

Men who have sex with transgender women (MSTW) currently constitute a gap in the research community's understanding of male sexuality and sexual desire. In an effort to address this lack of knowledge, an ethnographic study of MSTW in New York City was conducted between December 2005 and May 2007, including in-depth interviews with MSTW (n = 15), key informant interviews (n = 13), and ethnographic observation of semi-private "tranny" parties held at various venues throughout New York City. The specific objectives were to: (1) describe the sex marketplaces and the sexual experiences of an ethnographic sample of MSTW in New York City and (2) describe the ways MSTW construct their sexual partnering practices and the meanings attributed to those practices in relation to varying social contexts (in and outside the sex marketplace). In this analysis, we described the MSTW sex market landscape in New York and identified three major recurrent themes in the ways that MSTW organized their sexual desire for TW transitioning from sex marketplaces to social spaces in their lives: (1) phallus-centric trade sex market focus; (2) relational-companionship market focus; and (3) specialized market focus. Although the findings from the study are not representative of the broader MSTW population, they represent an important step in amassing a body of knowledge about an understudied and underserved sex market upon which future research is needed.

The ethics of data collection: unintended consequences?

PubMed

Wainwright, Delia; Sambrook, Sally

2010-01-01

The aims is to consider the political and ethical challenges involved in conducting ethnographic managerial/organisational behaviour research within the highly regulated health and social care context, in light of the emergence of more stringent "ethical approval" policies and requirements set by Local Research Ethics Committees in the United Kingdom. In the attempt and requirement to protect "vulnerable" employees, this paper aims to present an unintended paradox of consequences when participants voluntarily revealed themselves. The authors briefly review literature on research ethics and present an understanding of the ethical regulations currently existing within the British National Health Service. Within an ethnographic case study exploring the psychological contract, the authors consider the issues that arose during one stage of data collection: a qualitative questionnaire survey with 13 participants, including members of the lead author's team. Incorporating excerpts from the researcher's reflexive journal, the paper exposes the struggles of being an "insider" researcher and the tensions this raises for data analysis when participants voluntarily revealed themselves. Ethnography is at "risk" within health and social care and ethnographic "managerial" research is likely to be unduly restricted and potentially threatened. The evidence suggests that some employees either did not wish to be protected or, conversely, felt compelled to reveal their identities, raising questions of their motivation and creating a paradox of unintended consequences. This paper offers an insight into the challenges of conducting nurse-managerial ethnography in compliance with ethical guidelines, yet disrupted by participants. The findings will be useful to other nurse-researchers attempting to conduct insider research.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AMONG INTENSIVE CARE NURSES: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY.

PubMed

Heydari, Abbas; Najar, Ali Vafaee; Bakhshi, Mahmoud

2015-12-01

Nurses are the main users of supplies and equipment applied in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) which are high-priced and costly. Therefore, understanding ICU nurses' experiences about resource management contributes to the better control of the costs. This study aimed to investigate the culture of nurses' working environment regarding the resource management in the ICUs in Iran. In this study, a focused ethnographic method was used. Twenty-eight informants among ICU nurses and other professional individuals were purposively selected and interviewed. As well, 400 hours of ethnographic observations as a participant observer was used for data gathering. Data analysis was performed using the methods described by Miles and Huberman (1994). Two main themes describing the culture of ICU nurses regarding resource management included (a) consumption monitoring and auditing, and (b) prudent use. The results revealed that the efforts for resource management are conducted in the conditions of scarcity and uncertainty in supply. ICU nurses had a sense of futurism in the supply and use of resources in the unit and do the planning through taking the rules and guidelines as well as the available resources and their values into account. Improper storage of some supplies and equipment was a reaction to this uncertain condition among nurses. To manage the resources effectively, improvement of supply chain management in hospital seems essential. It is also necessary to hold educational classes in order to enhance the nurses' awareness on effective supply chain and storage of the items in the unit stock.

Exploring multiple trajectories of causality: collaboration between Anthropology and Epidemiology in the 1982 birth cohort, Pelotas, Southern Brazil

PubMed Central

Béhague, Dominique P; Gonçalves, Helen

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Although the relationship between epidemiology and anthropology has a long history, it has generally been comprised of the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods. Only recently have the two fields begun to converge along theoretical lines, leading to a growing mutual interest in explaining rather than simply describing phenomena. This paper aimed to illustrate how ethnographic analyses can be used to assist with the in-depth and theoretically-imbued interpretation of epidemiological results. METHODS: The anthropological analysis presented in this paper used ethnographic data collected as part of the ongoing 1982 birth cohort study, between 1997 and 2007 in Pelotas, Southern Brazil. Analyses were framed according to the results presented in two of the epidemiological articles published in this series on the determinants of mental morbidity and age of sexual initiation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The ethnographic results show that statistical associations consist of multiple pathways of influence and causality that generally correspond to the unique experiences of specific subgroups. In exploring these pathways, the paper highlights the importance of an additional set of mediating factors that account for epidemiological results; these include the awareness and experience of inequities, the role of violence in everyday life, traumatic life events, increasing social isolation and emotional introversion as a response to life's difficulties, and differing approaches towards socio-psychological maturation. Theoretical and methodological collaboration between anthropology and epidemiology is important for public health, as it has positively modified both fields. PMID:19142353

[Exploring multiple trajectories of causality: collaboration between Anthropology and Epidemiology in the 1982 birth cohort, Pelotas, Southern Brazil].

PubMed

Béhague, Dominique P; Gonçalves, Helen

2008-12-01

Although the relationship between epidemiology and anthropology has a long history, it has generally been comprised of the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods. Only recently have the two fields begun to converge along theoretical lines, leading to a growing mutual interest in explaining rather than simply describing phenomena. This paper aimed to illustrate how ethnographic analyses can be used to assist with the in-depth and theoretically-imbued interpretation of epidemiological results. The anthropological analysis presented in this paper used ethnographic data collected as part of the ongoing 1982 birth cohort study, between 1997 and 2007 in Pelotas, Southern Brazil. Analyses were framed according to the results presented in two of the epidemiological articles published in this series on the determinants of mental morbidity and age of sexual initiation. The ethnographic results show that statistical associations consist of multiple pathways of influence and causality that generally correspond to the unique experiences of specific subgroups. In exploring these pathways, the paper highlights the importance of an additional set of mediating factors that account for epidemiological results; these include the awareness and experience of inequities, the role of violence in everyday life, traumatic life events, increasing social isolation and emotional introversion as a response to life's difficulties, and differing approaches towards socio-psychological maturation. Theoretical and methodological collaboration between anthropology and epidemiology is important for public health, as it has positively modified both fields.

WWOOF Ecopedagogy: Linking "Doing" to "Learning"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakagawa, Yoshifumi

2017-01-01

WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) is an increasingly popular form of ecotourism in Australia. An ethnographic study of 10 young adult international tourists was conducted at five rural Victorian WWOOF sites. The objective was to examine the participants' nature experience. As part of the ethnographic study, this article selectively reports…

An Outsider's Ethnographic Thoughts about Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agar, Michael

2014-01-01

This article gives Michael Agar's email responses to two questions put by Gavin Melles: "What are your thoughts on the advantages and dangers of developments in applied anthropology for ethnographic and anthropology practice?" and "What are your impressions of the potential and actual use of ethnography in design?" The…

Dream Interpretation as a Component of Researcher's Reflexivity within an Ethnographic Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miškolci, Jozef

2015-01-01

Researchers' "reflexivity" about how they shape the phenomena that they study within the data collection process is often presented as a crucial component of ethnographic research methodology. Nevertheless, academic literature about ethnography is mostly silent around whether researchers' dreams are relevant to the research process and…

Use of Ethnographic Fiction in Social Justice Graduate Counselor Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Rita Chi-Ying; Bemak, Fred

2013-01-01

Ethnographic fiction is a technique for educating counseling students about the relationship of social justice to counseling practice. Preliminary data indicate it is an effective tool, with counseling students (N = 48) reporting an increased understanding and appreciation of clients' life experiences from a holistic perspective. Furthermore,…

Vignettes of Interviews to Enhance an Ethnographic Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobsen, Alice Juel

2014-01-01

This article explores challenges of applying an ethnographic approach, combining participant observation and interviews, to a study of organizational change. The exploration is connected to reform changes, as they are constructed in the interaction between managers and teachers, in a Danish Upper Secondary High School. The data material is…

The Effects of Migration on Children: An Ethnographic Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prewitt Diaz, Joseph O.; And Others

This report re-examines previously gathered ethnographic data derived from approximately 3,000 hours of interviews with migrants across the United States to determine what factors associated with migration affect children's educational outcomes. The data suggest the existence of a "culture of migrancy," which is manifested in similar…

Ethnographic Eyes: A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Observation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Carolyn

This book extends ethnography beyond the work of university researchers to include classroom teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators. It provides ways for student teachers and others to develop lenses for seeing the patterns and practices of life within classrooms. The book describes how developing "ethnographic eyes" can help student…

Ethnography 2.0: Writing with Digital Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, M. L.

2009-01-01

This article investigates how digital video technology can be used in ethnographic research and considers the implications of digital production, presentation and dissemination of ethnographic educational research knowledge. In this article, I introduce the term Ethnography 2.0 and address some of the issues that emerged from my decision to use…

Implementing a Critically Quasi-Ethnographic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murtagh, Lisa

2007-01-01

This paper provides an account of the methodological approach of a study designed to address some fundamental questions relating to formative assessment. The paper reports on the use of a critically quasi-ethnographic approach and describes the practicalities of adopting such an approach. The validity of the study is also considered, reflecting on…

Teacher Educators and the Production of Bricoleurs: An Ethnographic Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatton, Elizabeth

1997-01-01

Reports and discusses data from an ethnographic study of teacher educators in which a metaphor for teachers' work as bricolage generates a hypothesis about teacher education as a conservative determinant of teachers' work. Discusses the results and reasons why the theoretical adequacy of the bricolage explanation needs improvement. (DSK)

Ethnographic Households and Archaeological Interpretations: A Case from Iranian Kurdistan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kramer, Carol

1982-01-01

Shows how archaeological interpretation based strictly on the evidence of architectural remains may lead to inaccurate conclusions about social patterns in extinct societies. An ethnographic study of an Iranian Kurdish village is used to illustrate the possible variations of residential social relationships within buildings with similar…

"Just Go in Looking Good": The Resilience, Resistance, and Kinship-Building of Trans* College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicolazzo, Z.

2016-01-01

This article explores the strategies transgender college students use to navigate gender-dichotomous collegiate environments. Using a critical collaborative ethnographic methodology (Bhattacharya, 2008), this 18-month ethnographic study alongside 9 transgender students elucidated how gender operates as a discourse to regulate the collegiate life…

An Ethnographic Study of a Developing Virtual Organization in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Couch, Stephanie R.

2012-01-01

This ethnographic study answers calls for research into the ways that virtual organizations (or innovation-driven collaborative teams) form and develop, what supports and constraints their development, and the leadership models that support the organizations' work. The study examines how a virtual organization emerged from an intersegmental…

Social Representations of Inclusion and Stratification: Ethnographic Research within Two Israeli Elementary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuval, Smadar; Orr, Emda

2009-01-01

Based on "Social representations theory", this ethnographic research examines the processes by which two Israeli elementary schools represented some children, but not others, as "weak" students and in need of remedial teaching. This approach differs from most current research regarding children with disabilities, which mainly…

An Ethnographic Study of Elementary Teachers', Paraprofessionals', and Students' Language Exchanges during Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aaron-Stanton, Desiree

2014-01-01

This ethnographic study of language shows the importance of educators' appropriate use of linguistic, nonlinguistic, and paralinguistic communication techniques when working with elementary students within two classrooms who have behavioral and emotional disorders. This study focused on communication techniques used by teachers and…

Further Education Sector Governors as Ethnographers: Five Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clapham, Andrew; Vickers, Rob

2018-01-01

This paper considers how governors in the English "Further Education and Skills" (FE) sector examined their practice as ethnographers. The paper locates both FE governance and ethnography within the challenges of the performative and Panoptic environments facing English education. In doing so, the paper explores how the informants'…

Reading Shop Windows in Globalized Neighborhoods: Multilingual Literacy Practices and Indexicality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, James; Slembrouck, Stef

2007-01-01

Shop and cafe signs in multiple languages are familiar features of polyglot immigrant neighborhoods. This paper examines such signs, presenting photographic, observational, and interview data from a multisited ethnographic study of language contact in Ghent, an urban Belgian city. Drawing upon diverse ethnographic sources, especially the…

Histories and Horoscopes: The Ethnographer as Fortune-Teller.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton, Mary

1998-01-01

Focuses on different ways participants in a research project may understand the research and use it themselves by describing how 20 adult students and 14 community members, participants in a recent ethnographic study of adult literacy in England, responded to the invitation to collaborate with researchers in interpreting interview data. (SLD)

Power and Agency in Language Policy Appropriation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, David Cassels; Johnson, Eric J.

2015-01-01

In this article we proffer a theoretical model for analyzing power in language policy processes and incorporate ethnographic data to illustrate the usefulness of the model. Grounded in an ethnographic project in the US state of Washington, we examine how nominally identical school district-level programs, which are funded under the same…

Crossing the Threshold Mindfully: Exploring Rites of Passage Models in Adventure Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Julian

2011-01-01

Rites of passage models, drawing from ethnographic descriptions of ritualized transition, are widespread in adventure therapy programmes. However, critical literature suggests that: (a) contemporary rites of passage models derive from a selective and sometimes misleading use of ethnographic materials, and (b) the appropriation of initiatory…

Preconstructing Suspicion and Recasting Masculinity in Preschool Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruit, John C.

2014-01-01

Although there is literature explaining how female ethnographers negotiate male-dominated research settings, there is a lack of literature explaining how male ethnographers negotiate female-dominated settings. It is, more or less, taken for granted the research settings males choose will be suitable for them. The field of early childhood…

Instructional Leadership: Four Ethnographic Studies on Junior High School Principals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newberg, Norman A.; Glatthorn, Allan A.

This study explores the principal's role as instructional leader in four urban schools showing improvement in test scores. Data gathering procedures included ethnographic observations and interviews of principals; principals' logs of time use; interviews with teachers, school administrators, and students; and faculty surveys. The findings were…

Evolution Education in Policy and Practice: An Ethnographic Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Long, David E.

2012-01-01

Evolution education in the US is conducted unevenly, or in cases is absent. Showing the strength of ethnography as a means of deeper explication in science education, this article explores the interactions of policy and practice in evolution education. Discussing vignettes from a larger ethnographic study, Creationist rationales and practices…

Flauto: An Ethnographic Study of a Highly Successful Private Studio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montemayor, Mark

2008-01-01

This study examined the instructional settings, pedagogical techniques, interpersonal dynamics and personal characteristics of a teacher and her adolescent students in a renowned private flute studio. Using ethnographic techniques including observations and interviews, four main themes emerged that seem to contribute to the satisfaction of the…

Personal Library Curation: An Ethnographic Study of Scholars' Information Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Antonijevic, Smiljana; Cahoy, Ellysa Stern

2014-01-01

This paper presents findings of a Mellon Foundation-funded study conducted at Penn State University in University Park during Fall 2012 that explored scholars' information practices across disciplines encompassing the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Drawing on results of the Web-based survey and ethnographic interviews, we present…

Reliable and Valid Stories?--Turning Ethnographic Data into Narratives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bishop, Wendy

Ethnographic research projects have surged in recent years and are well represented in Research in the Teaching of English (RTE) bibliographies. However, methods texts were written for social scientists and anthropologists, not for writing researchers. Methods texts and rhetoric programs' general grounding in positivistic research imply that…

An Ethnographic Account of the Composing Behaviors of Five Young Bilingual Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halsall, Sharen Weber

A study examined bilingual children's composing behaviors during classroom writing and their perceptions of writing. Students' descriptions of what occurred in their day-to-day environment were analyzed using ethnographic methods. The researcher observed five subjects--bilingual students in kindergarten through third grade--for 145 hours, and…

Nature's Classroom: An Ethnographic Case Study of Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Dorothea Jody

2012-01-01

This ethnographic case study examines the dynamic relationship between culture and environmental education within the context of a specific Florida-based public education program. The School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC) offers the program through a three-day field trip to the study site, Nature's Classroom, and accompanying classroom…

Development of Deaf Identity: An Ethnographic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIlroy, Guy; Storbeck, Claudine

2011-01-01

This ethnographic study explores the identity development of 9 deaf participants through the narratives of their educational experiences in either mainstream or special schools for the Deaf. This exploration goes beyond a binary conceptualization of deaf identity that allows for only the medical and social models and proposes a bicultural…

An Ethnographic Case Study on the Phenomena of Blended Learning Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tiell, Lauren Renae

2017-01-01

This study determined the teacher-perceived experiences within the blended learning environment to fill a void in previous data. The three research questions defined blended learning, explained strengths and challenges, and provided feedback on teaching programs. This qualitative case study used an ethnographic framework through interviews,…

Why Baby Why: Howard Broomfield's Documentation of the Dunne-za Soundscape.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ridington, Robin

1988-01-01

Examines the acoustic environment and aural culture of the Dunne-za of northeastern British Columbia. Discusses the changing soundscape of a northern hunting people, techniques for recording and cataloging an ethnographic soundscape archive, and the use of audio actualities in producing ethnographic audio documentaries. (Author/SV)

Hypermedia Ethnography in Educational Settings: Possibilities and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coffey, Amanda; Renold, Emma; Dicks, Bella; Soyinka, Bambo; Mason, Bruce

2006-01-01

This paper considers some of the methodological implications of undertaking and representing multimedia and digital, ethnographic work. It explores some of the challenges and opportunities of working with and across a range of media, and explores some of the consequences of bringing hypermedia applications to ethnographic work. The paper draws on…

An interdisciplinary team communication framework and its application to healthcare 'e-teams' systems design

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background There are few studies that examine the processes that interdisciplinary teams engage in and how we can design health information systems (HIS) to support those team processes. This was an exploratory study with two purposes: (1) To develop a framework for interdisciplinary team communication based on structures, processes and outcomes that were identified as having occurred during weekly team meetings. (2) To use the framework to guide 'e-teams' HIS design to support interdisciplinary team meeting communication. Methods An ethnographic approach was used to collect data on two interdisciplinary teams. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data according to structures, processes and outcomes. Results We present details for team meta-concepts of structures, processes and outcomes and the concepts and sub concepts within each meta-concept. We also provide an exploratory framework for interdisciplinary team communication and describe how the framework can guide HIS design to support 'e-teams'. Conclusion The structures, processes and outcomes that describe interdisciplinary teams are complex and often occur in a non-linear fashion. Electronic data support, process facilitation and team video conferencing are three HIS tools that can enhance team function. PMID:19754966

An interdisciplinary team communication framework and its application to healthcare 'e-teams' systems design.

PubMed

Kuziemsky, Craig E; Borycki, Elizabeth M; Purkis, Mary Ellen; Black, Fraser; Boyle, Michael; Cloutier-Fisher, Denise; Fox, Lee Ann; MacKenzie, Patricia; Syme, Ann; Tschanz, Coby; Wainwright, Wendy; Wong, Helen

2009-09-15

There are few studies that examine the processes that interdisciplinary teams engage in and how we can design health information systems (HIS) to support those team processes. This was an exploratory study with two purposes: (1) To develop a framework for interdisciplinary team communication based on structures, processes and outcomes that were identified as having occurred during weekly team meetings. (2) To use the framework to guide 'e-teams' HIS design to support interdisciplinary team meeting communication. An ethnographic approach was used to collect data on two interdisciplinary teams. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data according to structures, processes and outcomes. We present details for team meta-concepts of structures, processes and outcomes and the concepts and sub concepts within each meta-concept. We also provide an exploratory framework for interdisciplinary team communication and describe how the framework can guide HIS design to support 'e-teams'. The structures, processes and outcomes that describe interdisciplinary teams are complex and often occur in a non-linear fashion. Electronic data support, process facilitation and team video conferencing are three HIS tools that can enhance team function.

Moving Beyond "Health Education": Participatory Filmmaking for Cross-Cultural Health Communication.

PubMed

Zemits, Birut; Maypilama, Lawurrpa; Wild, Kayli; Mitchell, Alice; Rumbold, Alice

2015-01-01

In the process of developing short films with women in Australian Aboriginal (Yolŋu) communities in northeast Arnhem Land, questions arose about how the content and the process of production were defined and adjusted to suit both parties. This research examines how filmmakers take roles as health educators and how Yolŋu women as the "actors" define and direct the film. It explores ways that the filmmakers tried to ensure that Yolŋu identity was maintained in a biomedical agenda through the use of storytelling in language. An important dialogue develops regarding ownership and negotiation of health information and knowledge, addressing this intersection in a way that truly characterizes the spirit of community-based participatory research. Although the filmmaking processes were initially analyzed in the context of feminist and educational empowerment theories, we conclude that Latour's (2005) theory of actor networks leads to a more coherent way to explore participatory filmmaking as a health education tool. The analysis in this work provides a framework to integrate health communication, Indigenous women's issues, and filmmaking practices. In contrasting participatory filmmaking with health promotion and ethnographic film, the importance of negotiating the agenda is revealed.

Being screened for prostate cancer: a simple blood test or a commitment to treatment?

PubMed

Oliffe, John

2006-01-01

The virtues of screening men for prostate cancer continue to be debated in political and public health, as well as clinical forums. Science has been unable to accurately predict screening benefits, yet many men are required to make informed decisions about prostate cancer screening. Clinicians' screening practices have been reported, but little research attention has been given to patients' experiences. The purpose of this study was to describe patients' perspectives of being screened and subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Thirty-five Anglo-Australian men were interviewed, and the data were analyzed using ethnographic content analysis. The findings indicated that most participants experienced screening as a continuum of 3 tests, rather than the simple prostate-specific antigen blood test they had often anticipated. Commitment to a definitive diagnosis when abnormality was detected through screening and uptake of active treatment(s) when prostate cancer was confirmed were strongly represented in this study. The findings offer insight to the complex and often rapid sequence of events that can accompany prostate cancer screening. This has implications for the information that needs to be discussed with men before, rather than after prostate cancer screening has commenced.

Nurse students learning acute care by simulation - Focus on observation and debriefing.

PubMed

Abelsson, Anna; Bisholt, Birgitta

2017-05-01

Simulation creates the possibility to experience acute situations during nursing education which cannot easily be achieved in clinical settings. To describe how nursing students learn acute care of patients through simulation exercises, based on observation and debriefing. The study was designed as an observational study inspired by an ethnographic approach. Data was collected through observations and interviews. Data was analyzed using an interpretive qualitative content analysis. Nursing students created space for reflection when needed. There was a positive learning situation when suitable patient scenarios were presented. Observations and discussions with peers gave the students opportunities to identify their own need for knowledge, while also identifying existing knowledge. Reflections could confirm or reject their preparedness for clinical practice. The importance of working in a structured manner in acute care situations became apparent. However, negative feedback to peers was avoided, which led to a loss of learning opportunity. High fidelity simulation training as a method plays an important part in the nursing students' learning. The teacher also plays a key role by asking difficult questions and guiding students towards accurate knowledge. This makes it possible for the students to close knowledge gaps, leading to improved patient safety. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Promoting health: media advocacy opportunities in English- and Spanish-language masthead editorials.

PubMed

Lingas, Elena O

2013-01-01

This study examines two newspapers' editorial coverage of issues related to the Healthy People 2010 focus areas and compares the two newspapers. A qualitative study. Two Los Angeles, California, newspapers. The masthead editorials of the Los Angeles Times and La Opinión in the year following the release of Healthy People 2010. A structured data abstraction instrument was used for descriptive coding. Correspondence to 1 of the 28 Healthy People 2010 focus areas determined whether domestic editorials were about health. An ethnographic content analysis. There were 1075 editorials from the Los Angeles Times and 361 from La Opinión; 17% were focused on domestic health issues. Three Healthy People 2010 focus areas dominated: Environmental Health, Injury and Violence Prevention, and Access to Quality Health Services. Ten focus areas did not receive a single mention in the Los Angeles Times, and 19 focus areas lacked editorials in La Opinión. Editorial writers regularly tackled issues related to a Healthy People 2010 focus area. Public health practitioners can meet with their local newspaper editorial board and discuss the nation's health objectives as manifested by Healthy People 2020 and the National Prevention Strategy, thereby promoting policies that support individual and population health.

An ethnographic study for understanding children's oral health in a multicultural community.

PubMed

Riedy, C A; Weinstein, P; Milgrom, P; Bruss, M

2001-08-01

To provide guidance for a public health intervention in a high caries rate multicultural population by understanding cultural issues surrounding children's oral health. Seven community focus groups were conducted with five ethnic populations (Chamorro, Filipino, Carolinian, Pohnpean, and Chuukese) living on the island of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, USA. Participants were asked questions about their beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, and care practices regarding issues around children's oral health. Analysis consisted of a content review of participants' responses within two targeted areas: past and current attitudes and health beliefs, and behaviours impacting risk of developing disease. Both the lack of value of baby teeth and negative parental experiences are factors underlying health beliefs and behaviours. Although some differences in beliefs and practices existed across cultural groups, most women were interested in learning about new preventive strategies to reduce dental disease. Several new mothers reported that they actively sought out parenting information during their initial pregnancy. Aversive parental experience and disregard for primary dentition were identified as serious obstacles to be addressed in order for any new programme to be effective. Despite these obstacles, new mothers were open to information and strategies to reduce the prevalence of early childhood caries.

Selling medical travel to US patient-consumers: the cultural appeal of website marketing messages.

PubMed

Sobo, Elisa J; Herlihy, Elizabeth; Bicker, Mary

2011-04-01

More US-based patients than ever are travelling abroad for medical or dental services. Beyond financial incentives, what cultural factors have supported this trend? Because of their interest in selling medical travel, medical travel agencies (MTAs) have vested interests in this question. To find out how they are answering it, an ethnographic content analysis of MTA websites was undertaken. Beyond themes promoting a 'worry-free experience' of 'legitimate services', themes linking healthcare consumerism to culturally specific identity ideals and self-creation/representation processes predominated. Themes relating to the demonstration of social position, savvy expression of good consumer judgment, and achievement of libertarian ideals figured highly. However, various inconsistencies (including an appeal to tourism in some but not other situations) suggested that medical travel involves, for the US-based consumer, a complex act of juggling context-specific self-identity desires and expectations in relation to healthcare. The potential impact of prevailing discourses on 'self-construction-in-practice' was explored. Findings enhance understanding of the care seeking process as experienced within the context of globalized, mass-mediated healthcare consumerism. They also point to the need for finer-grained distinctions than the global gloss 'medical travel' offers.

Impact of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation: patients' perspectives.

PubMed

Isla Pera, P; Moncho Vasallo, J; Guasch Andreu, O; Ricart Brulles, Mj; Torras Rabasa, A

2012-01-01

Few qualitative studies of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPK Tx) have been published. The aims of this study were to explore from the perspective of patients, the experience of living with diabetes mellitus type 1 (T1DM), suffering from complications, and undergoing SPK Tx with good outcome; and to determine the impact of SPK Tx on patients and their social and cultural environment. We performed a focused ethnographic study. Twenty patients were interviewed. Data were analyzed using content analysis and constant comparison following the method proposed by Miles and Huberman. A functioning SPK Tx allowed renal replacement therapy and insulin to be discontinued. To describe their new situation, patients used words and phrases such as "miracle", "being reborn" or "coming back to life". Although the complications of T1DM, its surgery and treatment, and associated psychological problems did not disappear after SPK Tx, these were minimized when compared with the pretransplantation situation. For patients, SPK Tx represents a recovery of their health and autonomy despite remaining problems associated with the complications of T1DM and SPK Tx. The understanding of patients' existential framework and their experience of disease are key factors for planning new intervention and improvement strategies.

Deceased loved ones in the dreams of mentally retarded adults.

PubMed

Turner, J L; Graffam, J H

1987-11-01

Dream reports were collected over a 10-year period as part of an ethnographic study of mentally retarded employees in a sheltered workshop. Deceased loved ones, usually parents or other family members, figured prominently as characters in many of these dreams. Dreams about the dead were often recurring and elicited salient emotional reactions from the dreamers. The various forms that these dreams take and their characteristic thematic content were described for 154 dreams by 60 dreamers. Some of the percepts and feelings that reflect the dreamers' understanding of their dreams were also noted. Findings reveal that the dream life of retarded adults is much more rich and diverse than previous studies suggest. Clinical implications and the occurrence of similar dreams among nonretarded persons were discussed.

"The Poison That Ruined the Nation": Native American Men-Alcohol, Identity, and Traditional Healing.

PubMed

Matamonasa-Bennett, Arieahn

2017-07-01

Alcoholism and destructive drinking patterns are serious social problems in many Native American reservation and urban communities. This qualitative study of men from a single Great Lakes reservation community examined the social, cultural, and psychological aspects of their alcohol problems through their life stories. The men were in various stages of recovery and sobriety, and data collection consisted of open-ended interviews and analysis utilizing principles and techniques from grounded theory and ethnographic content analysis. Alcoholism and other serious social problems facing Native American communities need to be understood in the sociocultural and historical contexts of colonization and historical grief and trauma. This study suggests that for Native American men, there are culturally specific perspectives on alcohol that have important implications for prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse. The participants' narratives provided insight into the ways reconnecting with traditional cultural values (retraditionalization) helped them achieve sobriety. For these men, alcohol was highly symbolic of colonization as well as a protest to it. Alcohol was a means for affirming "Indian" identity and sobriety a means for reaffirming traditional tribal identity. Their narratives suggested the ways in which elements of traditional cultural values and practices facilitate healing in syncretic models and Nativized treatment. Understanding the ways in which specific Native cultural groups perceive their problems with drinking and sobriety can create more culturally congruent, culturally sensitive, and effective treatment approaches and inform future research.

Widowers' accounts of maternal mortality among women of low socioeconomic status in Nigeria.

PubMed

Nwokocha, Ezebunwa Ethelbert

2012-09-01

The research is based on information collected on 50 deceased Nigerian women of low socioeconomic status in different locations of the country including Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Zaria, Minna, Enugu, and Port-Harcourt among others. They had some common characteristics such as low levels of education, involvement in petty trading and were clients of a microfinance bank as small loan receivers. Primary data were generated mainly through verbal autopsy with widowers employing in-depth interviews and key informant interviews. In addition, unobtrusive observation was carried out in these locations to ascertain in some instances the distance between the deceased homes and health facilities patronised by the women. Secondary data were specific to death certificates of the deceased supplied by the widowers. Both ethnographic summaries and content analysis were employed in data analysis to account for contextual differences, especially in a multicultural society like Nigeria. The findings implicated several issues that are taken for granted at the micro-family and macro-society levels. It specifically revealed that small loans alone are not sufficient to empower poor women to make meaningful contributions to their own reproductive health in a patriarchal society like Nigeria. Results also indicated that cultural differences as well as rural-urban dichotomy were not proximate determinants of maternal behaviour; the latter rather finds expression in low socioeconomic status. Consequently, policy relevant recommendations that could contribute to significant maternal mortality reduction were proffered.

Young people living with parental bereavement: Insights from an ethnographic study of a UK childhood bereavement service.

PubMed

Brewer, Joanne D; Sparkes, Andrew C

2011-01-01

The purpose of this two-year ethnographic study was to explore the experiences of parentally bereaved young people who sought support from the Rocky Centre (a pseudonym), a childhood bereavement service in the United Kingdom. Data were generated from extended periods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with both staff and service users. In this article we focus specifically on the interviews with 13 young people to elucidate the factors that helped them to live with parental bereavement. Of these participants, four had been recently bereaved and nine had experienced the death of a parent over ten years ago. Seven key themes emerged from the analysis of the interview data: expressing emotion, physical activity, positive adult relationship(s), area of competence, friendships/social support, having fun/humour and transcendence. These themes are discussed in turn, and implications for research and practice are addressed. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Navigating and circumventing a fragmented health system: the patient's pathway in the Sierra Madre Region of Chiapas, Mexico.

PubMed

Molina, Rose Leonard; Palazuelos, Daniel

2014-03-01

Mexico has implemented several important reforms in how health care for its poorest is financed and delivered. Seguro Popular, in particular, a recently implemented social insurance program, aims to provide new funds for a previously underfunded state-based safety net system. Through in-depth ethnographic structured interviews with impoverished farmers in the state of Chiapas, this article presents an analysis of Seguro Popular from the perspective of a highly underserved beneficiary group. Specific points of tension among the various stakeholders--the government system (including public clinics, hospitals, and vertical programs), community members, private doctors, and pharmacies--are highlighted and discussed. Ethnographic data presented in this article expose distinct gaps between national health policy rhetoric and the reality of access to health services at the community level in a highly marginalized municipality in one of Mexico's poorest states. These insights have important implications for the structure and implementation of on-going reforms. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.

Astronomical Context of Georgian Folklore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jijelava1, Badri; Holbrook, Jarita; Simonia, Irakli

2016-10-01

Objectives: The religious Ancient megalithic monuments are accordingly o/riente to the ancient Gods - The Sun, Moon, luminaries. The aim of this work to research the ethnographic data, current folklore and based on the results, harmonize the ancient Gods and the orientations of the religious megalithic complexes. Methods/Statistical Analysis: We harmonized the ethnographical, folklore and historical information and restoration of ancient celestial sphere (using special astronomy application) and identified the correlations between the some acronychal or helical rising/set of luminaries and orientations of megalithic objects. Such connections are stored in a folklore. Findings: This technique of investigations gives us more clear understanding of ancient universe. Using this method, we can receive additional information about the ancient Gods - Luminaries, clarify current mythology, date the megalithic complex. Application/Improvements: This method of investigation - Harmonization cultural astronomy and archae or astronomy with the archeological investigations will be more fruitful, because it gives us reliable information concerning the ancient culture, ancient religion and ancient people.

'Western Union daddies' and their quest for authenticity: an ethnographic study of the Dominican gay sex tourism industry.

PubMed

Padilla, Mark B

2007-01-01

This article draws on ethnographic research among two categories of male sex workers in the Dominican Republic in order to describe the relationships between gay male tourists and the Dominican men they hire on their trips to the Caribbean. Drawing on both qualitative interview data and quantitative surveys, the discussion examines the usefulness of theories of 'authenticity,' as they have been applied in the analysis of tourist practices more generally, in accounting for the behaviors and practices of male sex workers and their foreign gay clients. While the flow of international remittances from 'Western Union daddies' to their Dominican 'boys' creates a continuous reminder of the utilitarian nature of the exchange, both sex workers and clients are motivated to camouflage this instrumentality in their construction of a more 'authentic,' fulfilling relationship. The article examines the consequences of this ambivalent negotiation for the emotional and economic organization of gay male sex tourism in the Caribbean.

Anthropology, brokerage, and collaboration in the development of a Tongan public psychiatry: Local lessons for global mental health.

PubMed

Poltorak, Mike

2016-12-01

The Global Mental Health (GMH) movement has raised questions of the translatability of psychiatric concepts and the challenges of community engagement. In Tonga, the local psychiatrist Dr Puloka successfully established a publicly accessible psychiatry that has improved admission rates for serious mental illnesses and addressed some of the stigma attached to diagnosis. On the basis of historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork with healers, doctors, and patients since 1998, this article offers an ethnographic contextualization of the development and reception of Puloka's three key interventions during the 1990s: (a) collaboration with traditional healers; (b) translation of psychiatric diagnoses into local cultural concepts; and (c) encouraging freedom of movement and legal appeal to involuntary admission. Dr Puloka's use of medical anthropological and transcultural psychiatry research informed a community-engaged brokerage between the implications of psychiatric nosologies and local needs that can address some of the challenges of the Global Mental Health movement.

Advocating for Ethnographic Work in Early Childhood Federal Policy: Problems and Possibilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adair, Jennifer Keys

2011-01-01

Initiated as part of the Council on Anthropology and Education's Policy Engagement Working Group, the policy brief "Ethnographic Knowledge For Early Childhood" focused on making the case for ethnography as evidence within early childhood federal policy. This article describes the creation and distribution of the policy brief as well as the…

Becoming a Networked Public: Digital Ethnography, Youth and Global Research Collectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, Kathleen; Wessels, Anne; Ntelioglou, Burcu Yaman

2013-01-01

The following article describes a research context that has privileged both virtual and placed-based ethnographic fieldwork, using a hybrid methodology of live and digital communications across school sites in Toronto, Canada; Lucknow, India; Taipei, Taiwan; and Boston, USA. The multi-site ethnographic study is concerned with questions of school…

Critical Bifocality and Circuits of Privilege: Expanding Critical Ethnographic Theory and Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weis, Lois; Fine, Michelle

2012-01-01

In this article, Lois Weis and Michelle Fine introduce critical bifocality as a way to render visible the relations between groups to structures of power, to social policies, to history, and to large sociopolitical formations. In this collaboration, the authors draw upon ethnographic examples highlighting the macro-level structural dynamics…

Language and Anxiety: An Ethnographic Study of International Postgraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Lorraine

2008-01-01

This paper presents some findings from an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a 12-month academic year. One of the major themes that emerged from this research was students' anxiety over their level of English language.…

From Ethnography to Items: A Mixed Methods Approach to Developing a Survey to Examine Graduate Engineering Student Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crede, Erin; Borrego, Maura

2013-01-01

As part of a sequential exploratory mixed methods study, 9 months of ethnographically guided observations and interviews were used to develop a survey examining graduate engineering student retention. Findings from the ethnographic fieldwork yielded several themes, including international diversity, research group organization and climate,…

Language and Cultural Immersion: An Ethnographic Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Jane

2004-01-01

This paper focuses on an evaluative, ethnographic case study of an English language and cultural immersion programme for Hong Kong university students. Prior to a five-week sojourn in England, the 15 English majors completed a survey and interview to determine their expectations and concerns. While in Oxford, they took courses in an English…

Parent-Research as a Process of Inquiry: An Ethnographic Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kabuto, Bobbie

2008-01-01

This article illustrates how an ethnographic perspective can provide a descriptive methodological approach to parent-research as a process of inquiry within the field of education. By juxtaposing data and illuminating reflexive accounts from a longitudinal parent-research study, I suggest that such a perspective provides critical insights into the…

Ethnographic Approach to Second Life in Education: A Focus on Technological Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sponsiello, Marta; Gallego-Arrufat, María-Jesús

2016-01-01

This paper moves from the data collected during an ethnographic research conducted in Second Life, which focuses on the observation of different technological difficulties in educational experiences. The main research interests focused on the social dynamics of educational experiences in Second Life and the opportunity to develop a proper research…

Competition between Public Supervision and Professional Management: An Ethnographic Study of School Governance Reforms in Switzerland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hangartner, Judith; Svaton, Carla Jana

2014-01-01

This article discusses insights from an ethnographic study of local governance practices in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, under changing policy conditions. Recent reforms introduced and strengthened the position of head teachers, enhanced the responsibility of the municipalities and introduced new quality management procedures in local…

"Everyone Has Their Own Qualities": Tracking and Academic Self-Appraisal in Flemish Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Praag, Lore; Demanet, Jannick; Stevens, Peter A. J.; Van Houtte, Mieke

2017-01-01

Track position has an impact on students' perceptions of educational success. These perceptions matter as they relate to educational and professional aspirations and choices. In this ethnographic study, based on ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews in three secondary schools in Flanders (northern part of Belgium), we want to…

Patterns of Indigenous Learning: An Ethnographic Study on How Kindergartners Learn in Mana, Fiji

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chih-Yih; Sparks, Paul

2015-01-01

Technology has greatly impacted educational systems around the world, even in the most geographically isolated places. This study utilizes an ethnographic approach to examine the patterns of learning in a kindergarten in Mana, Fiji. Data comprised of interviews, observations and examination of related artifacts. The results provide baseline data…

"Sis Cat" as Ethnographer: Self-Presentation and Self-Inscription in Zora Neale Hurston's "Mules and Men."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boxwell, D. A.

1992-01-01

Examines Zora Neale Hurston's work, particularly her collection of folklore and ethnography of the American South, "Mules and Men." Looks at the author's role, the ways the ethnographer inscribes herself into the text, and speculates about Hurston's understanding of the limits of the impersonal researcher. (JB)

Culturally Specific Texts, Culturally Bound Audiences: Ethnography in the Place of Its Reception.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arora, Poonam; Irving, Katrina

1991-01-01

Continues questioning the position of the ethnographer as filmmaker in relation to those of whom the filmmaker speaks, while arguing that attention be given to the position of those to whom the filmmaker speaks. Refocuses attention on the effects of the ethnographic film in the place of its reception. (PRA)

The Cultural Ecology of Scholar-Practitioner Leaders: An Ethnographic Study of Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenlink, Patrick M.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this critical ethnographic study was to examine the nature and meaning of cultural ecology in relation to preparing scholar-practitioner leaders. The ethnography focused on how the discourses and practices within the disciplinary setting of leadership preparation shape the identity of social scholar-practitioner leaders. The…

Researching My Own Backyard: Inquiries into an Ethnographic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zulfikar, Teuku

2014-01-01

Ethnography is a prominent research methodology in the recent times. It is popular not only in the field of Anthropology but also in many other social sciences. My doctorate thesis was also conducted through an ethnographic study examining the ways in which young Muslims of Indonesian background living in Australia construct their identity. In…

How Older Adults Make Decisions regarding Smart Technology: An Ethnographic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davenport, Rick D.; Mann, William; Lutz, Barbara

2012-01-01

Comparatively little research has been conducted regarding the smart technology needs of the older adult population despite the proliferation of smart technology prototypes. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived smart technology needs of older adults with mobility impairments while using an ethnographic research approach to…

Ethical Issues of Ethnography Method: A Comparative Approach to Subaltern, Self, and the Others

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odeyemi, Christo

2013-01-01

Using urban and rural community settings, this review article focuses on ethical issues associated with ethnographer-participant interaction and draws from the ethnographic accounts of Bronislaw Malinowski and Susan Krieger. As such, the following sections intend to illuminate the issue of ethics in ethnography research. As case studies, the…

Latino Trajectories in Barcelona: A Longitudinal Ethnographic Study of Latin American Adolescents in Catalonia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corona, Víctor

2016-01-01

The ethnographic research presented in this paper consists of two parts developed chronologically. The first part is based on a study (Corona, V., Nussbaum, L., & Unamuno, V. [2012]. The emergence of new linguistic repertoires among Barcelona's youth of Latin American origin. "International Journal of Bilingual Education and…

Emerging Voices: Resituating Expertise--An Activity Theory Perspective on Representation in Critical Ethnography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stinnett, Jerry

2012-01-01

Ethnography has consistently faced ethical questions since the earliest postmodern critiques of the ethnographer's claims to objectivity in descriptive research. Concerns of how to represent ethically the ethnographic Other, to engage in activist research, and to foster collaboration among researchers and participants persist even in the age of…

Moving Pictures: From Ethnographic to Autoethnographic Documentary in the Internationalization of the Geography Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hay, Iain

2017-01-01

Documentary films have often taken a pivotal role in strategies to internationalize (geography) curricula and classrooms, being used as a method of bringing the world to the classroom. These documentaries overwhelmingly take ethnographic form. Problematically, the documentary gaze is characteristically that of an outside film crew and narrator…

Korean-American Student Perceptions on Literacy and Identity: Perspectives from an Ethnographic Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Jeonghee; Godina, Heriberto; Ro, Yeon Sun

2014-01-01

This ethnographic case study examines perceptions of literacy and identity for a Korean-American student in a third-grade classroom. The researchers examine how teachers can misinterpret Asian identity in the classroom due to perceptions related to the "Model Minority Myth" and other stereotypical representations of Asian culture. By…

Ethnographic Decision Tree Modeling: A Research Method for Counseling Psychology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beck, Kirk A.

2005-01-01

This article describes ethnographic decision tree modeling (EDTM; C. H. Gladwin, 1989) as a mixed method design appropriate for counseling psychology research. EDTM is introduced and located within a postpositivist research paradigm. Decision theory that informs EDTM is reviewed, and the 2 phases of EDTM are highlighted. The 1st phase, model…

The Rhythms of Pedagogy: An Ethnographic Study of Parenting Education Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopwood, Nick

2014-01-01

Educational research is increasingly turning to conceptual frameworks from a range of disciplines in order to enrich understandings of education, pedagogy and learning. This paper draws on the work of Henri Lefebvre, specifically rhythmanalysis, to explore the nature and the function of pedagogy. The context is an ethnographic study of parenting…

Exploring Some Ethical Dilemmas and Obligations of the Ethnographer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbour, Andrew

2010-01-01

This paper focuses on the ethical position of the ethnographer when encountering unethical activities. Ethnography affords a rich insight into cultures, often behind previously secure doors but it is also a demanding science. Our gatekeepers control our access and our relationships with them can determine our destiny. This paper offers an exchange…

Teaching as a Social Practice: The Experiences of Two Moroccan Adult Literacy Tutors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erguig, Reddard

2012-01-01

This article offers an ethnographic case study of two Adult Basic Education (ABE) teachers' characteristics and their literacy instruction. It draws on the New Literacy Studies tradition and used ethnographic tools (in-depth interviews, classroom observation and the think-aloud protocol) to explore the characteristics of two ABE teachers and…

A Self-Ethnographic Investigation of Continuing Education Program in Engineering Arising from Economic Structural Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaihlavirta, Auri; Isomöttönen, Ville; Kärkkäinen, Tommi

2015-01-01

This paper provides a self-ethnographic investigation of a continuing education program in engineering in Central Finland. The program was initiated as a response to local economic structural change, in order to offer re-education possibilities for a higher educated workforce currently under unemployment threat. We encountered considerable…

Framing Hip Hop: New Methodologies for New Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimitriadis, Greg

2015-01-01

This article revisits the central impulse behind early advocacy for ethnographic approaches to hip hop--that critics should try as much as possible to limit their own certainties around what hip hop can and might mean. While ethnographic approaches can engender the kinds of personal dislocations that allow for this negotiation, they do not…

Elementary Administrators' Perceptions of the Blended Coaching Model on Their Development as Transformational Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noche, Alma

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this ethnographic research was to study the culture and experiences of elementary administrators who were coached in the blended coaching model. This study used a qualitative ethnographic design to explore the context and processes of the coaching experience of elementary administrators that enhanced transformational…

Reforming the Japanese Preschool System: An Ethnographic Case Study of Policy Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayashi, Akiko; Tobin, Joseph

2017-01-01

This is an ethnographic study of how two Japanese kindergartens are implementing the "yohoichigenka" policy aimed at reforming the Japanese early childhood education system. The cases of these two kindergartens demonstrate what happens when a top-down mandate reaches the level of individual programs. The programs creatively find ways of…

Proxy-Produced Ethnographic Work: What Are the Problems, Issues, and Dilemmas Arising from Proxy-Ethnography?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinussen, Marie; Højbjerg, Karin; Tamborg, Andreas Lindenskov

2018-01-01

This article addresses the implications of researcher-student cooperation in the production of empirical material. For the student to replace the experienced researcher and work under the researcher's supervision, we call such work proxy-produced ethnographic work. Although there are clear advantages, the specific relations and positions arising…

Disassembling the Classroom--An Ethnographic Approach to the Materiality of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roehl, Tobias

2012-01-01

The ethnography of education is challenged by the materiality of the classroom. Ethnographic accounts of school lessons mostly highlight language and interaction and offer no suitable methodology for researching objects and their role in the classroom. Moreover, objects are part of complex and interwoven assemblages involving human actors,…

77 FR 15799 - Notice of Intent To Repatriate a Cultural Item: San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-16

... no records at the Treganza Museum concerning acquisition of this item. Based on ethnographic research... rattlesnake dance during both Yokut and Tubatulabal spring ceremonies. Based on consultation, ethnographic research, and museum records, the basket is culturally affiliated with the Santa Rosa Indian Community of...

Potentials of Physical Activity Promotion in Preschools--An Overview of Results of an Ethnographic Observation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pape, Natalie; Sterdt, Elena; Azouagh, Karima; Kramer, Silke; Walter, Ulla; Urban, Michael; Werning, Rolf

2016-01-01

This article addresses exemplary differences between preschools with systematic physical activity (PA) programmes and preschools without PA programmes in Germany. Two preschools from each group were visited in the context of a focused ethnographic observation to examine the educational practice, PA and social behaviour of preschool children. The…

Differentiation through Individualisation--An Ethnographic Investigation of How One Swedish School Creates Inequality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gustafsson, Jan

2018-01-01

The present article examines the general debate on curriculum differentiation and individualisation. Based on a policy ethnographic case study of class 9a at Forest School, it critically analyses how curriculum differentiation and individualisation are enacted in and interfere with classroom practice. The results show how Forest School's…

Trading Spaces: An Educator's Ethnographic Exploration of Adolescents' Digital Role-Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haynes-Moore, Stacy

2015-01-01

In this work, the author examines a digital role-play in which participants composed an alternate version of "The Hunger Games" (Collins, 2008). Participants imagined characters and posted more than 400 scenes in the online collaboration. The author draws upon ethnographic methods (Merriam, 2009) to describe her participant-observer…

Landscapes of Literacy: An Ethnographic Study of Functional Literacy in Marginal Philippine Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canieso-Doronila, Maria Luisa

Thirteen marginal Philippine communities were examined in an ethnographic study of the meaning of functional literacy and whether literacy invariably promotes development. The 13 sites were purposely selected to provide a broad sampling from three standpoints: (1) major livelihood and form of economic activity (farming, fishing, urban poor,…

"Rocking the Boat": Developing a Shared Discourse of Resistance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Sara Lewis-Bernstein

2010-01-01

The purpose of this critical ethnographic study is to provide an account from within a public school of some of the ways that heterosexist discourses and silences are reproduced and challenged. As a classroom teacher and critical ethnographer, I conducted this research with straight-identified high school students as they came to understand,…

Cultural, Ethnographical and Religious Context of Georgian Folklore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jijelava, Badri; Holbrook, Jarita; Simonia, Irakli

2017-05-01

The culture of Georgia is rooted in the ancient religions which is traceable in the ethnographic data of the present day. The people who inhabited this area worshipped the star Arcturus in the Bootes constellation. This connection to Arcturus is reflected in the local folklore about the ploughman, oxen, dog and wolf.

Insights into freshman weight issues: An ethnographic study of how first-year college students make decisions about eating

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The transition from high school to college represents a life turning point during which health behavior trajectories may be influenced. This study addresses the internal and external factors that guide students’ eating decisions as they are understood and relayed by students through ethnographic, qu...

Patients "Embodied" and "As-a-Body" within Bedside Teaching Encounters: A Video Ethnographic Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elsey, Christopher; Challinor, Alexander; Monrouxe, Lynn V.

2017-01-01

Bedside teaching encounters (BTEs) involve doctor-patient-student interactions, providing opportunities for students to learn with, from and about patients. How the differing concerns of patient care and student education are balanced in situ remains largely unknown and undefined. This video ethnographic study explores "patient…

Ethnography as a Tool for Research in Student Activities at Small Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, James V.

During the 1979-80 academic year, a study was conducted to determine the beliefs and attitudes held by individuals in four groups (students, parents, teachers, and administrators) directly associated with the student activity program in a small Mississippi high school using ethnographic techniques. Ethnographic techniques involve the direct…

Developmental, Ethnographic, and Demographic Perspectives on Fatherhood: Summary Report of the Conference (Bethesda, Maryland, June 11-12, 1996).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Angela Dungee; Hearn, Gesine; Emig, Carol

This report summarizes presentations and findings from a 1996 conference on "Developmental, Ethnographic, and Demographic Perspectives on Fathers." Part 1 of the report describes the characteristics of the developmental psychology, the ethnography, and the family demography aspects of fatherhood. Part 2 examines the multiple dimensions…

"Who Are You, and What Are You Doing Here": Methodological Considerations in Ethnographic Health and Physical Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jachyra, Patrick; Atkinson, Michael; Washiya, Yosuke

2015-01-01

In the pursuit of understanding declining levels of participation from scholastic Health and Physical Education (HPE), ethnographic research has been increasingly utilised as a tool to explore the intersubjective and intrasubjective meaning-making processes that concurrently invite or dissuade participation. Despite the ostensible epistemological…

Latina/o Parent Organizing for Educational Justice: An Ethnographic Account of Community Building and Radical Healing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nygreen, Kysa

2017-01-01

This article describes a parent organizing effort with Latina/o immigrant parents in a large, high-poverty, racially and linguistically diverse urban school district. Drawing from ethnographic research and the theoretical framework of "mujerismo," it examines the relational processes of community building and radical healing that…

The Viability of Ethnographic Research for Hispanic Consumer Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asahina, Roberta R.

A study explored whether ethnographic research is appropriate and feasible for Hispanic consumer research. Subjects, 41 Hispanic advertising executives (out of an original group of 80) in advertising agencies listed in the Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and San Antonio, answered a 23-item…

Whose Justice Is This! Capitalism, Class and Education Justice and Inclusion in the Nordic Countries: Race, Space and Class History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beach, Dennis

2017-01-01

Based on a meta-ethnographic analysis this article discusses education justice, equity and inclusion in education systems that have often been claimed to be more just, equal, inclusive than most, specifically those of the Nordic countries. It finds these claims to be questionable and describes the education systems as ones that have promised…

Applied Utility and the Auto-Ethnographic Short Story: Persuasions for, and Illustrations of, Writing Critical Social Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbourne, David; Jones, Robyn; Jordan, Spencer

2014-01-01

In some quarters it is argued that, narrative researchers might be classified as being either story-analysts or storytellers. They go on to suggest that one feature of storytellers is that they undertake a form of analysis as the process of writing unfolds. With these sentiments in mind, in the present paper, we consider how auto-ethnographical…

"I Have Papers so I Can Go Anywhere!": Everyday Talk about Citizenship in a Mixed-Status Mexican Family

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mangual Figueroa, Ariana

2012-01-01

This article draws from ethnographic data collected during a 23-month--language socialization study of mixed-status Mexican families living in the New Latino Diaspora. The analysis focuses on the ways in which siblings in one family talk about citizenship during a discursive event that I call the Planning for the Future Routine. The findings show…

"Mi Historia Familiar Es Sencilla" ("My Family History Is Simple"): Testimonio in the New Latino Diaspora

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClure, Greg; Fitts, Shanan

2018-01-01

In this paper, we share the testimonio of Santana, an immigrant from rural México, who explained the ways that she navigates her life and raises her children as a Latina immigrant woman here in the southeastern United States. Our inquiry is guided by analysis of ethnographic interviews conducted with Santana over a period of three years. We argue…

Children's Responses to the Interactivity of Storybook Apps in Family Shared Reading Events Involving the iPad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aliagas, Cristina; Margallo, Ana María

2017-01-01

This paper reports on some data on the effects of screen-based interactivity on children's engagement with storybook apps during family shared book reading that were gathered in a 2-year, small-scale ethnographic case study in Spain. Data analysis focuses on the complex interplay between the storybook app's interactive features and the children's…

Choices of Students, Parents, and Teachers and Their Effects on Schools and Communities: A Case Study of a New Enriched High School Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiGiorgio, Carla

2010-01-01

This study is an ethnographic case study of two schools as they implemented an enrichment program. The sample included students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and board and government personnel. Data was drawn from interviews and observations of participants, curriculum analysis, and communication between school, home, and the public.…

Recognizing the Role of Community in Civic Education: Lessons from Hull House, Highlander Folk School, and the Neighborhood Learning Community. Circle Working Paper 30

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longo, Nicholas V.

2005-01-01

This study unearths and examines rich models of learning in which multiple institutions collaboratively play a role in promoting civic education. Using historical and ethnographic case study analysis, this paper addresses the research question: What is the role of community in civic education? Specifically, the author examines Hull House and the…

Cyber Culture and Personnel Security: Report 2 - Ethnographic Analysis of Second Life

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

respondents reported experiencing highly stressful events during their early childhood , albeit to varying degrees. These events included divorce ...adjudication, and continuous evaluation phases. Moreover, personnel’s activities in the cyber world may negatively affect their judgment, day-to-day...described below: Behaviors That Can be Used to Negatively Influence Personnel A core concern for personnel security is that individuals might become

Coordinating the Chain of Utterances: An Analysis of Communicative Flow and Turn Taking in an Interpreted Group Dialogue for Deaf-Blind Persons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berge, Sigrid Slettebakk; Raanes, Eli

2013-01-01

This article explains how interpreters for deaf-blind people coordinate and express turn-taking signals in an interpreted dialogue. Empirical materials are derived from a video-ethnographic study of an interpreted-mediated board meeting with five deaf-blind participants. The results show that the interpreters provide access to visual and auditory…

"What I Feel in My Heart": Literacy Practices of and for the Self among Adults with Limited or No Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perry, Kristen H.; Homan, Annie

2014-01-01

Through this international cross-case analysis of ethnographic literacy practices data, we investigated two questions: (1) In what literacy practices do adults with limited or no schooling engage for personal fulfillment? and (2) What do these practices reveal about the nature of literacy for individuals who are often characterized as illiterate?…

Deaf Culture and Competing Discourses in a Residential School for the Deaf: "Can Do" versus "Can't Do"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Catherine A.; Placier, Peggy

2015-01-01

From an ethnographic case study of a state-funded residential school for the Deaf, the authors employed Critical Discourse Analysis to identify competing discourses in the talk of educators. These discourses are embedded in the historical oppression and labeling of deaf people as disabled and the development of Deaf culture as a counter-discourse.…

Steps Leading to an Ethnographic Analysis of Mothers Preparing Children for a Memory Test.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogoff, Barbara; Gardner, William P.

In this study four research strategies used in previous studies of the socialization of cognitive skills were first contrasted and then assessed in terms of five criteria. (The data base for this study was 32 videotapes of mothers preparing their 7- or 9-year-old children to take a memory test.) The four strategies (frequency coding, fine-grained…

Cooperative Learning and Embodied Accountability: An Ethnographic Analysis of Classroom Participation in an English School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luna, Laura

2015-01-01

Based on a school ethnography carried out in an English primary school in the last years of New Labour Government, this paper examines the processes and dynamics involved in the introduction of a cooperative learning method as part of the Success for All Literacy Program, which was being implemented in the school for the first time. It discusses…

The state of Danish nursing ethnographic research: flowering, nurtured or malnurtured - a critical review.

PubMed

Uhrenfeldt, Lisbeth; Martinsen, Bente; Jørgensen, Lene Bastrup; Sørensen, Erik Elgaard

2018-03-01

Nursing was established in Denmark as a scholarly tradition in the late nineteen eighties, and ethnography was a preferred method. No critical review has yet summarised accomplishments and gaps and pointing at directions for the future methodological development and research herein. This review critically examines the current state of the use of ethnographic methodology in the body of knowledge from Danish nursing scholars. We performed a systematic literature search in relevant databases from 2003 to 2016. The studies included were critically appraised by all authors for methodological robustness using the ten-item instrument QARI from Joanna Briggs Institute. Two hundred and eight studies met our inclusion criteria and 45 papers were included; the critical appraisal gave evidence of studies with certain robustness, except for the first question concerning the congruity between the papers philosophical perspective and methodology and the seventh question concerning reflections about the influence of the researcher on the study and vice versa. In most studies (n = 34), study aims and arguments for selecting ethnographic research are presented. Additionally, method sections in many studies illustrated that ethnographical methodology is nurtured by references such as Hammersley and Atkinson or Spradley. Evidence exists that Danish nursing scholars' body of knowledge nurtures the ethnographic methodology mainly by the same few authors; however, whether this is an expression of a deliberate strategy or malnutrition in the form of lack of knowledge of other methodological options appears yet unanswered. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Ethnographic research into nursing in acute adult mental health units: a review.

PubMed

Cleary, Michelle; Hunt, Glenn E; Horsfall, Jan; Deacon, Maureen

2011-01-01

Acute inpatient mental health units are busy and sometimes chaotic settings, with high bed occupancy rates. These settings include acutely unwell patients, busy staff, and a milieu characterised by unpredictable interactions and events. This paper is a report of a literature review conducted to identify, analyse, and synthesize ethnographic research in adult acute inpatient mental health units. Several electronic databases were searched using relevant keywords to identify studies published from 1990-present. Additional searches were conducted using reference lists. Ethnographic studies published in English were included if they investigated acute inpatient care in adult settings. Papers were excluded if the unit under study was not exclusively for patients in the acute phase of their mental illness, or where the original study was not fully ethnographic. Ten research studies meeting our criteria were found (21 papers). Findings were grouped into the following overarching categories: (1) Micro-skills; (2) Collectivity; (3) Pragmatism; and (4) Reframing of nursing activities. The results of this ethnographic review reveal the complexity, patient-orientation, and productivity of some nursing interventions that may not have been observed or understood without the use of this research method. Additional quality research should focus on redefining clinical priorities and philosophies to ensure everyday care is aligned constructively with the expectations of stakeholders and is consistent with policy and the realities of the organisational setting. We have more to learn from each other with regard to the effective nursing care of inpatients who are acutely disturbed.

An ethnographic study of communication challenges in maternity care for immigrant women in rural Alberta.

PubMed

Higginbottom, Gina M A; Safipour, Jalal; Yohani, Sophie; O'Brien, Beverley; Mumtaz, Zubia; Paton, Patricia

2015-02-01

many immigrant and ethno-cultural groups in Canada face substantial barriers to accessing health care including language barriers. The negative consequences of miscommunication in health care settings are well documented although there has been little research on communication barriers facing immigrant women seeking maternity care in Canada. This study identified the nature of communication difficulties in maternity services from the perspectives of immigrant women, health care providers and social service providers in a small city in southern Alberta, Canada. a focused ethnography was undertaken incorporating interviews with 31 participants recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. A community liaison and several gatekeepers within the community assisted with recruitment and interpretation where needed (n=1). All interviews were recorded and audio files were transcribed verbatim by a professional transcriptionist. The data was analysed drawing upon principles expounded by Roper and Shapira (2000) for the analysis of ethnographic data, because of (1) the relevance to ethnographic data, (2) the clarity and transparency of the approach, (3) the systematic approach to analysis, and (4) the compatibility of the approach with computer-assisted qualitative analysis software programs such as Atlas.ti (ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH, Germany). This process included (1) coding for descriptive labels, (2) sorting for patterns, (3) identification of outliers, (4) generation of themes, (5) generalising to generate constructs and theories, and (6) memoing including researcher reflections. four main themes were identified including verbal communication, unshared meaning, non-verbal communication to build relationships, and trauma, culture and open communication. Communication difficulties extended beyond matters of language competency to those encompassing non-verbal communication and its relation to shared meaning as well as the interplay of underlying pre-migration history and cultural factors which affect open communication, accessible health care and perhaps also maternal outcomes. this study provided insights regarding maternity health care communication. Communication challenges may be experienced by all parties, yet the onus remains for health care providers and for those within health care management and professional bodies to ensure that providers are equipped with the skills necessary to facilitate culturally appropriate care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The development of participatory health research among incarcerated women in a Canadian prison

PubMed Central

Murphy, K.; Hanson, D.; Hemingway, C.; Ramsden, V.; Buxton, J.; Granger-Brown, A.; Condello, L-L.; Buchanan, M.; Espinoza-Magana, N.; Edworthy, G.; Hislop, T. G.

2009-01-01

This paper describes the development of a unique prison participatory research project, in which incarcerated women formed a research team, the research activities and the lessons learned. The participatory action research project was conducted in the main short sentence minimum/medium security women's prison located in a Western Canadian province. An ethnographic multi-method approach was used for data collection and analysis. Quantitative data was collected by surveys and analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data was collected from orientation package entries, audio recordings, and written archives of research team discussions, forums and debriefings, and presentations. These data and ethnographic observations were transcribed and analysed using iterative and interpretative qualitative methods and NVivo 7 software. Up to 15 women worked each day as prison research team members; a total of 190 women participated at some time in the project between November 2005 and August 2007. Incarcerated women peer researchers developed the research processes including opportunities for them to develop leadership and technical skills. Through these processes, including data collection and analysis, nine health goals emerged. Lessons learned from the research processes were confirmed by the common themes that emerged from thematic analysis of the research activity data. Incarceration provides a unique opportunity for engagement of women as expert partners alongside academic researchers and primary care workers in participatory research processes to improve their health. PMID:25759141

The Role of Ethnographic Interviewing in Climate Change Evaluation Research: Investigating Intended and Unintended program effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lloro-Bidart, T.

2012-12-01

Ethnographic interviewing is an under-utilized tool in climate change evaluation research, even though it has the potential to serve as a powerful method of data collection. The utility of the ethnographic interview lies in its ability to elicit responses from program participants describing what a program is in practice, shedding light on both intended and unintended program impacts. Drawing on evaluation work involving a federally-funded climate change grant at the University of California, Riverside, I will discuss how to design an ethnographic interview protocol in an effort to share "best practices" with other climate change evaluators. Particular attention will be given to applying ethnographic approaches to various program types, even those differing from the one discussed. I will share some of the concrete findings from my work on this grant, to serve as examples of the kinds of data evaluators can collect when employing an ethnographic approach to interviewing. UC Riverside's climate change grant is multi-faceted, however the component studied ethnographically was a science fair mentoring program. About twenty K-12 students from high poverty, ethnically diverse schools who expressed an interest in participating in science fair were paired up with graduate student mentors to simultaneously research climate change and design authentic science fair projects to compete at various levels. Since one of the stated goals of the grant is to "stimulate…students to consider climate science as a career track through experiential education activities" I was particularly interested in how student experiences with the project might differ from school science which has historically "pushed out" ethnically diverse students like those in many of Riverside's schools. (In the program students are able to interact one-on-one with a mentor and in school settings there is typically one teacher for more than thirty students). I also sought to understand student perceptions of the project design and implementation and how these perceptions might influence their thinking about science as a career. Further, I aimed to explore how mentor pedagogical philosophies might impact student experiences with the projects, since the scholarly literature supports the idea that teaching practices are linked to student success and interest in science. The key to ethnographic interviewing, which sets it apart from survey research and other interviewing styles is that the evaluator or researcher designs guided, yet open-ended questions, allowing informants to discuss what is important to them. This type of questioning affords the researcher the opportunity to ascertain whether or not the grant met some of its intended goals and impacts, while simultaneously granting participants the freedom to discuss unintended impacts not anticipated by the principal investigator and evaluator.

Advocating Commodification: An Ethnographic Look at the Policing of Irish as a Commercial Asset

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brennan, Sara C.

2018-01-01

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two towns in the Republic of Ireland, this article explores the local negotiation, endorsement, and contestation of two community-level Irish language advocacy organizations' attempts to regulate the use of Irish in business by mobilizing discourses of language commodification to position Irish as a commercial…

From the Form to the Face to Face: IRBs, Ethnographic Researchers, and Human Subjects Translate Consent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metro, Rosalie

2014-01-01

Based on my fieldwork with Burmese teachers in Thailand, I describe the drawbacks of using IRB-mandated written consent procedures in my cross-cultural collaborative ethnographic research on education. Drawing on theories of intersubjectivity (Mikhail Bakhtin), ethics (Emmanuel Levinas), and translation (Naoki Sakai), I describe face-to-face…

Using Unfamiliar People in Witness and Jury Pools: An Ethnographic Study of Interpersonal Skill Demands in Trial Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bintz, William P.

An ethnographic study explored the hypothesis that the use of "familiar" people in mock trial simulations contributes to student inattention to interpersonal skill demands necessary for proficient trial lawyering. Participants in the study included 12 third-year law school students, 1 adjunct instructor, 1 researcher, 12 local high…

Profiling Adult Literacy Facilitators in Development Contexts: An Ethnographic Study in Ethiopia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warkineh, Turuwark Zalalam; Rogers, Alan; Danki, Tolera Negassa

2018-01-01

Teachers/facilitators in adult literacy learning programmes are recognised as being vital to successful learning outcomes. But little is known about them as a group. This small-scale research project comprising ethnographic-style case studies of five adult literacy facilitators (ALFs) in Ethiopia seeks to throw some light on these teachers, their…

When Does the Action Start and Finish? Making the Case for an Ethnographic Action Research in Educational Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bath, Caroline

2009-01-01

This paper explores how ethnographic and action research methodologies can be justifiably combined to create a new methodological approach in educational research. It draws on existing examples in both educational research and development studies that have discussed the use of ethnography and action research in specific projects. Interpretations…