Spradley should be read by anyone who wants to gain a true understanding of the process of participant observation. This text is a follow-up to his ethnographic research handbook, The Ethnographic Interview, and guides readers through the technique of participant observation to research ethnography and culture. Spradley shows how to analyze collected data and to write an ethnography. The appendices include research questions and writing tasks. James P. Spradley (1933-1982), a professor of anthropology at Macalester College, wrote or edited twenty books on ethnography and qualitative research in twelve years, including The Cultural Ethnography in Complex Society (with McCurdy; 2/E with Shandy), The Ethnographic Interview, Participant Observation, The Cocktail Woman's Work in a Man's World (with Mann), and You Owe Yourself a An Ethnography of Urban Nomads, all available from Waveland Press. He was among the first cultural anthropologists to study modern U.S. life and to apply distinctly anthropological concepts and methods to address real-world problems like occupational stress, deafness, and homelessness.
There is a difference between Ethnography and Fieldwork. Both are essential techniques for Anthropologists, but should not be confused. Ethnography is a piece of written work describing a culture.
Fieldwork (also called Participant Observation) is the purposeful study of a community and worldview that sees, hears, speaks, thinks, and acts differently to your own.
Doing fieldwork means "participating in activities, asking questions, eating strange foods, learning a new language, watching ceremonies, taking Field Notes, washing clothes, writing letters home, tracing out genealogies, observing play, interviewing informants, and hundreds of other things"
When doing fieldwork, there are three main elements of culture we must pay attention to - cultural behaviour, cultural knowledge, and cultural artefacts. What people do, what they know, and what they make and use.
Behaviours and artefacts point to deep reservoirs of cultural knowledge. The knowledge is hidden from view but guides all our behaviour and interpretations. We always need to seek the meaning beneath the surface.
A great book if you are doing fieldwork for the first time. This manual is especially useful for undergraduates who are just getting into anthropology and want to do their own research project. I would highly recommend this book for use in a fieldwork methods class or if you're interested in doing an independent study.
Intisari isi buku ini akan menuntun setiap etnografer tentang memanfaatkan apa yang dikatakan orang untuk mendeskripsikan budaya mereka. Baik pengetahuan budaya secara eksplisit dan tacit yang bisa terungkap melalui pidato, baik dalam komentar santai atau wawancara panjang.
Etnografi sebagai sarana utama untuk mentransmisikan budaya dari satu generasi ke berikutnya, sebagian besar budaya apa pun dikodekan dalam bentuk linguistik.
Wawancara Etnografi pada tahun 1979, selaku penulis telah berfokus secara eksklusif membuat kesimpulan dari apa yang dikatakan orang.
Dalam buku ini, penulis lebih fokus membuat kesimpulan dari apa yang orang lakukan (perilaku budaya) dan apa yang mereka buat dan gunakan (artefak budaya).
Setiap etnografer yang melakukan observasi partisipasi akan mencatat hal-hal apa yang dikatakan oleh orang, Penulis juga menyertakan beberapa diskusi tentang membuat kesimpulan dari apa yang mereka katakan (seperti pesan pidato).
Buku ini akan sangat membantu ketika sudah memiliki responden, narasumber pada penelitian lapangan.