Ethnography

Abstract

Ethnography is the investigation and description of cultures and societies through fieldwork. Ethnographers conduct empirical research by immersing in local settings, establishing good rapport, and using qualitative methods such as participant observation and open interviews. This intersubjective construction of ethnographic knowledge requires close attention to forms of textual representation. The twentieth-century standard of long-term, face-to-face fieldwork has in the twenty-first century been broadened by multisited fieldwork and computer-mediated research.