Chapter 21: Ethnographic Research

Activity 21.1: Ethnographic Research Questions

Activity 21.2: True or False?
Activity 21.3: Do Some Ethnographic Research

Activity 21.1:
Ethnographic Research Questions
Which of the following questions would lend themselves well to ethnographic research?
1. Which do students like better, filmstrips or movies about the same topic?
2. What is the social structure of children attending nursery school?
3. How do beginning counselors interact with teachers?
4. Is client-centered therapy more effective than traditional therapy with teenagers?
5. How do middle school teachers plan their daily routine?
6. What is the status of social studies supervision in our state?
7. How are women portrayed in popular television shows?
8. In what ways do the questions parents and teachers ask children differ?

Activity 21.2:
True or False?
Write T in the space provided in front of each of the statements listed below that are
true. Write F in front of each statement that is false.
1. ______ There is no experimental treatment in ethnographic research.
2. ______ Participant observation is not used in ethnographic research.
3. ______ Ethnographic researchers usually begin their research with precise
hypotheses.
4. ______ A particular strength of ethnographic research is that it can reveal nuances
and subtleties that other methodologies may miss.
5. ______ Ethnographic research is particularly suitable for topics that defy simple
quantification.
6. ______ Most ethnographic studies are done in laboratory settings.
7. ______ The samples studied by ethnographers are usually quite small.
8. ______ A major advantage of ethnographic research is that it provides the
researcher with a much more comprehensive perspective than do other forms of
educational research.
9. ______ Ethnographic research is highly dependent on the particular researchers
observations.
10. ______ A major check on the accuracy of an ethnographers observations lies in
the quality of his or her field notes.
11. ______ Ethnographic data are usually collected in the form of numbers.

Activity 21.3:
Do Some Ethnographic Research
In this activity, you are to observe a class session or other group meeting of one kind or
another. Take careful field notes in which you try to record everything important that
occurs. Immediately afterwards, write up a field diary of your observations. Describe
your conclusions below. What problems, if any, did you encounter?
Conclusions:
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Problems:
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