Ethnography

The term Ethnography was derived from a Greek word which means description of people (Holloway & Wheeler, 2010).

• Ethnography is a research method that uses a qualitative approach to interpret society as well as culture. Researcher participation is very important in ethnography, not just observation (Fienup-Riordan, Brown, & Braem, 2013).
• Ethnography is regarded as the oldest form of qualitative research method. Ethnography is becoming increasingly used in health-care research to understand behaviours as well as social interactions (Roberts, 2008).
• Ethnography research allows researchers to make sense of people’s behaviours and activities by studying them in their environmental setting, such as a labor and delivery units. Ethnography does not isolate individual but studies individual in relation to their environment and culture (Reeves, Peller, Goldman, & Kitto, 2013).
• Ethnography is study of social interaction, activities, as well as views that happen within societies, establishments, and communities.
• Ethnography collects data in the natural environment (Reeves et al.2013)
• The researcher is the most important part of ethnography research due to the fact that the researcher collects information, and if the researcher does not understand what he or she is observing, the information is not accurate (Reeves et al.2013)
• Ethnography qualitative research is usually inductive, that is, defining groups of people in a particular location. Data collected are organized according to key subjects, types, similar circumstances, and their analysis involves continuous comparison of the essentials that develop in the different interviews (Andrea, Lucyla Paes, & Philip Sidney Pacheco, 2008).