Ethnography as a Way of Knowing

Throughout this week, I had the opportunity to read about a methodology that truly speaks to me. I get the positivist paradigm--trust me, I do--but I know that I personally need to believe in something in order to go the long haul.  I believe that I can learn about the organization and structure of an educational system through listening to people's stories.  I believe that I can be a better educator and a better leader in the field of education if I incorporate empirical evidence (using reason, language, and emotion) into my decision making.  AND....I believe that the methodology employed in the use of ethnography will afford me these afore mentioned propositions.

So...the following ethnographic propositions excite me.

• Culture is a shared, active process of making meaning.
• Ethnography explains the real-world complexity of human behavior.
• Ethnography focuses on identity.
• Ethnography gives us the opportunity to observe and understand processes as they happen.

As an educator, I believe that each environment is specific to a time and place and that there are no coincidences.  Life is a chain reaction of events, and in order to understand outcomes, whether they are intended or not, we need to understand the events that lead to them.

However, even ethnography has its weaknesses.  For example, we can use induction to make a hypothesis, but ethnography cannot test it for accuracy.  I'm thinking that I can use ethnography to make a hypothesis about the paradox of teacher leadership or even students' perception of academic success, but someone else would have to create the experiment to test my hypothesis.  Additionally, ethnography tends to include long lists of "stuff" to complete:  interviews, focus groups, and observations that all include field notes.  Eventually, those field notes will need to be coded and then officially recorded, and, to some, this process can seem daunting.  However, I think that it sounds exciting and not unlike other tasks that I've already completed in my professional career.   As a National Board Certified Teacher, I've had to record my own teaching, observe my own teaching, code specific events in field notes, and then write reflections on my observations.  I've also had to evaluate mentees and other Initially Licensed Teachers using a similar processes.  I'm already comfortable with this methodology (unlike those methodologies under the positivistic umbrella).

What I love most about ethnography is that it is designed to make meaning of everyday events.  Moreover, the results can be recorded in the form of not only the full-length monograph but also a photo essay, fiction, and even poetry.  (No worries--I would not dare write poetry in a dissertation.)