MY426 Half Unit
Doing Ethnography
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Chana Teeger
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Applied Social Data Science, MSc in Gender (Research), MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Human Geography and Urban Studies (Research), MSc in Inequalities and Social Science, MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Research), MSc in Marketing, MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics) and MSc in Social Research Methods. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission.
This course is not controlled access. If you register for a place and meet the prerequisites, if any, you are likely to be given a place.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
There are no prerequisites but some prior training in qualitative research methods is expected. Please contact the course convenor if unsure.
Course content
Doing ethnography enables us to examine how social order is produced as people go about their everyday interactions. Multiple sources of naturally-occurring data are used to understand how communities, organisations and institutions work, informally as well as formally. This interdisciplinary course equips students with a practical understanding of how to do, and to think about, contemporary ethnography. Core conceptual, ethical and methodological debates are introduced through in-depth engagement with exemplar texts, and through students' experience of fieldwork. Fieldwork is a key component of the course, with students collecting data locally. Methodological concerns regarding case selection, establishing rigour, reflexivity, representing others, and ethical issues are addressed in detail. Practical issues addressed include identifying and accessing study sites, writing field notes, and analysing and writing up ethnographic data. Emphasising that ethnography relies on the researcher-as-research-instrument, the course aims to develop students' sensitivity and rigour as ethnographic researchers.
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 20 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
Formative assessment
An excerpt of field-notes from the field visit undertaken as part of the course (up to 2,500 words) in WT. Field-notes should record rich details of observations (the data), researcher reflections, and brief interpretations of the significance of these observations. Written feedback will be provided.
Indicative reading
DeWalt, K. M.,; DeWalt, B. R. (2002). Participant observation: A guide for fieldworkers. AltaMira Press. Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., ; Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press. Hammersley, M ; Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in practice. Taylor ; Francis. Wacquant, L. (2004) Body and Soul: Ethnographic Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer. New York: Oxford University Press. Laureau, Annette. (2011). Unreal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life (2nd Edition). Berkeley: University of California Press
Assessment
Continuous assessment (20%)
Essay (80%, 4000 words)
Key facts
Department: Methodology
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 8
Average class size 2024/25: 4
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills