What answers (and questions!) might be found behind these methodological doors?
Selected text and imagery from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll (public domain).
Embedded Files
Curiouser and Curiouser: a Reflection on Comparing Ethnography and Phenomenology
Curiouser and Curiouser: a Reflection on Comparing Ethnography and Phenomenology
Creating my video comparing ethnography and phenomenology allowed me to become more familiar with two qualitative methodologies that may initially seem similar but ultimately serve distinct purposes and address different types of research questions. Both approaches seek to understand meaning, but they do so in different ways: ethnography focuses on cultural patterns and shared practices within a group, while phenomenology focuses on the lived experiences of individuals.
As I worked through this comparison, I noticed yet again that I am drawn to qualitative approaches. While quantitative research can identify relationships between variables, I find myself more interested in understanding why those relationships exist. Knowing that two factors are related can be useful, but I am more curious about the underlying experiences, contexts, and meanings that shape those relationships.
Despite this growing understanding, I have also found myself increasingly anxious about the final applied research project in this program. Questions about the future research process have been difficult to set aside. What question will I pursue? How will I conduct my research? What ethical considerations will I need to address? Where will I find the sources necessary to support my inquiry? Perhaps most importantly, how will I sustain my engagement with a research question over an extended period of time? Rather than feeling as though I am steadily building a foundation in this course, there have been moments where the landscape of research methodologies has felt more like shifting sand — full of possibilities, but difficult to navigate with confidence.
However, researching ethnography and phenomenology unexpectedly provided a sense of grounding. I began to realize that the subjects of my research could be my fellow educators. As someone who works within the educational environment, I am situated within the cultural context that ethnographic research seeks to understand. In that sense, immersion in the world of education would not need to be artificially created; it already forms part of my professional experience. At the same time, researching within my own professional community would require careful reflexivity, as my own experiences as an educator would inevitably shape how I approach and interpret the perspectives of my colleagues.
Phenomenology also began to feel accessible. If the focus shifted toward exploring lived experiences, the participants could still be drawn from the same professional community. Conversations with colleagues and peers could become opportunities to explore how educators experience particular challenges within their work. This realization felt like a moment of relief: where I had previously felt somewhat adrift in the possibilities of research, I suddenly felt as though I had found an anchor.
Questions that I already consider in my professional practice could potentially become meaningful avenues of inquiry. For example, I might explore the effects of the loss of educational technology on educators who have come to rely on it, or examine how increasing technological expectations in education contribute to experiences of teacher burnout. These are questions that occupy my thinking as an educator, and they may be further illuminated through the lived experiences of my colleagues. In this sense, the process of comparing ethnography and phenomenology did more than help me understand two research methodologies. It also helped me begin to see how research questions can emerge from the professional worlds we inhabit. While my ideas are still developing, this realization has helped shift my thinking from uncertainty toward curiosity about how these questions might be explored through qualitative inquiry.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse