You are here

Doing Ethnographies
Share
Share

Doing Ethnographies



April 2007 | 256 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
"Crang and Cook provide a well-written practical guide to doing ethnographic research in the broadest sense of the term. They begin with a useful discussion of what ethnographic research entails, especially in human geography, and how it fits in the broader realm of social research in a postmodern context. Their discussion of validating truth claims in qualitative research is especially valuable."

CHOICE


Doing Ethnographies is an introductory and applied guide to ethnographic methods. It focuses on those methods - participant observation, interviewing, focus groups, and video/photographic work - that allow us to understand the lived, everyday world 'out there.'

In five chapters it presents a systematic overview of: first principles, preparing for fieldwork, constructing ethnographic information, analyzing field materials, and writing.

This is a guide to the issues and methods which have to be considered when doing an ethnography. Informed by the authors fieldwork experience, it demonstrates how methods work in the field and prepares the first-time ethnographer for the loss of control and direction often experienced. This is a practical guide to methods in the field, to the relation between theory, practice, and writing.

 
Introduction
 
PART ONE: GETTING READY
 
Conceptualizing the Subject
 
Preparing for Fieldwork
 
PART TWO: CONSTRUCTING ETHNOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
 
Participant Observation
 
Interviewing
 
Focus Groups
 
Filmic Approaches
 
PART THREE: PULLING IT TOGETHER
 
Analysing Field Materials
 
Writing Through Materials
 
Go Forth and Do...?

'a casual, easy-to-read style that will appeal to...the many undergraduate and postgraduate students across a wide range of disciplines engaging in some form of ethnographic research... [It] will provide some comfort for the perplexed and should also perplex the comfortable'
Qualitative Research


'Crang and Cook provide a well-written practical guide to doing ethnographic research in the broadest sense of the term...They begin with a useful discussion of what ethnographic research entails... and how it fits in the broader realm of social research in a post-modern context... This book would be a useful resource for students and faculty embarking on an ethnographic research project.'
Choice



'a casual, easy-to-read style that will appeal to...the many undergraduate and postgraduate students across a wide range of disciplines engaging in some form of ethnographic research... [It] will provide some comfort for the perplexed and should also perplex the comfortable'
Qualitative Research


'Crang and Cook provide a well-written practical guide to doing ethnographic research in the broadest sense of the term...They begin with a useful discussion of what ethnographic research entails... and how it fits in the broader realm of social research in a post-modern context... This book would be a useful resource for students and faculty embarking on an ethnographic research project.'
Choice


W. Kotter
Weber State University
CHOICE

I really like to informal tone of this book which, along with the applied nature of it, makes it entirely credible. I will recommend it to nursing colleagues and students interested in understanding and creating ethnographic research, and have used it myself to help shape a grant application.

Dr Jackie Buck
Nursing , University of East Anglia
July 4, 2016

Simply essential for courses of qualitative methods in human geography. It doesn't work without ethnography, and that's the book for geographers to gain the insights.

Dr Marcus Werner
Institute of Geography, University of Wurzburg
April 23, 2016

An excellent introduction into the strenghts and challenges of ethnographic research

Mr Gerhard Rainer
Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck
April 14, 2015

Crang and Cook have produced an excellent text for anyone interested in or undertaking ethnographic study. The book does well to balance an awareness of theory and its relationship to practice. The work is particularly relevant for researchers or postgraduates, as it offers an alternative process orientated model to traditional linear ways of researching.

Mr John Aitken
JOMEC, UClan
January 26, 2014

This is a very good text book focussing on the ethnographic method in geography.

Dr Kerry Holden
Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London
November 13, 2012

Sage College Publishing

You can purchase or sample this product on our Sage College Publishing site:

Go To College Site

This title is also available on SAGE Research Methods, the ultimate digital methods library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.