What ethnographic research.

 The word ethnography comes from Greek words ethnos meaning people and graphe in meaning writing. That is why ethnography is also known as “culture writing”. In 1871, an anthropological definition of culture, for the first time, was given by Taylor in his famous book Primitive Culture which said, “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Through this definition one can assume culture to be:

• · a complex whole of everything
• · everything to every people
• · a way of life.

Culture can be either material or non-material. This means culture adds meaning to everyone, and different meaning to different people according to time and space in which they live.

Ethnographic research is discussed in detail in the field of anthropology, where it originated. Ethnographic study too has its own place in anthropology, in depicting a culture holistically, providing a descriptive account on a particular community.

In ethnographic research the researcher lives among the inhabitants with the purpose of understanding the culture that the people share. Sometimes ethnographic research takes years to be completed, to understand the culture of the community under study. In order to do so, ethnographers have to learn the local language for socializing with the inhabitants and understanding their daily habits, rituals, norms and actions.

Thus, ethnographic research is a qualitative research on a group of people and their behaviours and social interactions within their own, native environment. It involves studying people in context, mainly making observations rather than focusing on hard data and numbers. Ethnography is an analysis and systematic interpretation of a culture in the dimension of time and space.

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