What is ethnographic information?
__ Ethnographic information is information about a particular culture or group gathered specifically from members of that culture or group, defining and using their own perspective and world view.
__ Elements of ethnographic information include:
- Community norms
- Health conditions and knowledge
- Power and political realities
- Religion
- Economics
- World view
__ Ethnographic information is obtained directly from those who live it.
__ The gathering of ethnographic information takes place in the environment where members of the culture normally spend their time (natural setting).
__ Ethnographic information is meant to help you understand a culture from the point of view of its members.
__ Ethnographic information is simply descriptive, not judgmental.
Why might ethnographic information be important to evaluation?
__ In many circumstances, ethnographic information explains why approaches work or don’t work in ways that quantitative information can’t.
__ Ethnographic information gives real insight into the ways participants or beneficiaries of programs and initiatives experience them.
__ Ethnographic information helps to clarify what needs to be addressed in order for participants to respond to your approach.
__ Ethnographic information can clarify the issue and its effect on and importance to the population of interest.
__ Ethnographic information can help you gain a clearer and more complex understanding of the culture you’re working with, so you can make better plans and adjustments in the future.
When might you want to collect ethnographic information?
__ When you’re engaged with a population or cultural group that you’re not familiar with or part of.
__ When you’re working with a clearly-defined group that has had a chance to develop its own culture.
__ When an understanding of the context and culture of the community is fundamental to what you’re doing.
__ When you’re addressing, as is often the case in an evaluation, a focused, clearly-defined situation that involves a specific population group.
Who should collect and interpret ethnographic information?
__ That depends on such factors as how much time you have, whether you already have a foothold in the community (or are part of it), the size of the group you’re concerned with, your financial resources, etc.
How do you gather ethnographic information?
__ Decide what kinds of information you need.
__ Determine what you have the resources to do.
__ Gain the trust of the group you’re concerned with
__ Plan your field study
- Decide on your questions.
- Decide on your methods of data collection.
- Decide whom you’ll need to contact and how.
- Work out ethical issues.
__ Carry out your field study, taking careful field notes, including jottings, descriptions, analyses, and personal reflections on what you learned.
How do you interpret ethnographic information?
__ Organize your data.
__ Write as complete a description as possible of the culture or the element(s) of the culture you’re concerned with from the perspective of its members.
__ Reexamine the analyses from your field notes.
__ Try to understand the answer to your original question from the point of view of those you’re concerned with.
__ Translate what you’ve learned about participants into answers to, or supporting information for answers to, your evaluation questions.
__ Continue to gather ethnographic information to guide your work.