Description
Book SynopsisIntroduction to Cognitive Ethnography and Systematic Field Work by G. Mark Schoepfle provides a guide to the fundamentals of cognitive ethnography for qualitative research. A focus of this technique is collecting data from flexible but rigorous interviews. These interviews are flexible because they are designed to be structured around the semantic knowledge being elicited from the speaker, not around some pre-conceived design that is based on the researcher’s background, and they are rigorous because the basic linguistic and semantic structures are shared among all cultures. Written by one of the founders of this technique, this text provides a wealth of concentrated knowledge developed over years to best suit this collaborative and participant-centric research process.
Eight chapters show how intertwined data collection and analysis are in this method. The first chapter offers a brief history and overview of the cognitive ethnography. Chapter 2 covers planning a research project, from developing a research question to ethics and IRB requirements. The next two chapters cover interview background, techniques, and structures. Chapter 5 addresses analysis while Chapter 6 covers transcription and translation. Chapter 7 covers observation, while a final chapter address writing a report for both consultants and outside audiences.
Trade ReviewThis is an exceptional text that manages to cover topics and materials that many students approach with a degree of trepidation in manner that is student friendly, while at the same time providing them with a solid theoretical foundation to build on. -- Jason R. Jolicoeur
Table of ContentsPreface CHAPTER 1 • Orientation to Ethnography and Cognitive Ethnography Ethnography Material Culture and Cultural Durability Kinds of Ethnography Abductive Reasoning in Cognitive Ethnography How Ethnography Differs From Journalism Everyone Is Biased and Must Cope With the Fact Preparation for an Ethnographer’s Career: Ethnographer as Expert Witness CHAPTER 2 • Planning and Proposing a Research Project The Proposal The Parties Involved: Peer Review and Institutional Review Boards CHAPTER 3 • The Semantic Unity of the Ethnographic Interview The Lexical-Semantic Field Theory and the MTQ Schema Specialized MTQ Interview Techniques CHAPTER 4 • The Natural History of the Ethnographic Interview The Natural History of the Interview Grand-Tour and Mini-Tour Questions About People Through Personal Networks: The Crystalized Structure of a “Snowball Sample” CHAPTER 5 • Ethnographic Analysis With Complex Logical-Semantic Relationships Enhancing MTQ Analyses Analysis of Complex Semantic Relationships Ethnographic Decision Models: Entering Choice Into VAPs Applying Decision Models in Cognitive Ethnography CHAPTER 6 • Language Transcription and Translation Interview Transcription Interview Translation CHAPTER 7 • Observation Proposed Justifications for Sole Reliance on Observation Kinds of Observation The Application of Photography to Interview and Observation Observation and Evidence CHAPTER 8 • Writing the Ethnographic Report Four Major Report-Writing Styles: Descriptive, Analytical, Synthetic, and Case Study When Schema Are Not Available or Have Not Been Generated Organizing the Report A Final Word on Native Coresearchers References
