Questions on Text 12

Text 12: Fetterman, D. M. Finding your way through the forest: Analysis (chapter 5) Ethnography: step by step. Thousand Oaks: Sage. 1998.

1. Ethnography is a process and, therefore, the analysis informs the researcher how the research is developing and how it should continue. Based on this idea, discuss with your partner the following excerpt from page 92 “Ethnographic analysis is iterative, building on ideas throughout the study. Analyzing data in the field enables the ethnographer to know precisely which methods to use and when and how to use them. Analysis tests hypotheses and perceptions to construct an accurate conceptual framework about what is happening in the social group.”

2. What is data triangulation? Give an example of triangulation that you can do with your own research data.

3. Choose two of the following ways of looking at data and discuss them with your partner:
a) look for patterns;
b) analyze key events;
c) draw maps, flowcharts, organizational charts and matrices;
d) do content analysis;
e) do statistical analysis.