In the Field: Ethnographic and Qualitative Methods

This course provides an introduction to ethnographic and qualitative research. Ethnography is the study of culture and social organization primarily through participant observation and interviewing. Ethnographic research provides descriptive and interpretative analyses of the routine practices of everyday life. Ethnographic accounts represent different ways people live and make sense of their experiences; they describe the types of social organization (e.g., gender relations, class systems, racial divisions, cultural contexts) that, in part, serve to structure or pattern social behavior. Students conduct a small-scale qualitative research project; in the process, they gain skills in various qualitative research methods. This course is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students. One purpose of the course is to help students plan for subsequent thesis research, independent study projects, or dissertation research.
Course Attributes: EN S; AS SSC; FA SSC

In the Field: Ethnographic and Qualitative Methods

AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES 441

Section 01