Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research
Doing participating observation in the "field" is an indispensable characteristic of ethnography. Yet, the problems of constructing a field for ethnographic research attract surprisingly little attention in textbooks and research reports. Sociological ethnography does hardly ever aim at...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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FQS
2005-09-01
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| Series: | Forum: Qualitative Social Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/22 |
| _version_ | 1818491379991445504 |
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| author | Eva Nadai Christoph Maeder |
| author_facet | Eva Nadai Christoph Maeder |
| author_sort | Eva Nadai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Doing participating observation in the "field" is an indispensable characteristic of ethnography. Yet, the problems of constructing a field for ethnographic research attract surprisingly little attention in textbooks and research reports. Sociological ethnography does hardly ever aim at giving holistic representations of clearly bounded (small) groups. It rather focuses on certain theoretically defined aspects of a given culture. Therefore, defining and delineating a field becomes a crucial step in an empirical study. In our article we propose a concept of the field as social world(s) constituted by a set of actors focused on a common concern. With the example of our ongoing research project on exclusion and integration in welfare and economy we argue for a multi-sited approach, which traces its inherently fragmented and multiply situated research object across social worlds. We discuss the problems arising from such a strategy and discuss the function of the field in theory driven sociological ethnography. We contend that multi-sited ethnography is particularly suited for building empirically grounded sociological theories.
URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0503288 |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:30:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cc3b327ed1494fc88feae53ccdfda2a3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1438-5627 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:30:04Z |
| publishDate | 2005-09-01 |
| publisher | FQS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forum: Qualitative Social Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-cc3b327ed1494fc88feae53ccdfda2a32022-12-22T01:39:43ZdeuFQSForum: Qualitative Social Research1438-56272005-09-016321Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological ResearchEva Nadai0Christoph Maeder1University of Applied Sciences Northwestern SwitzerlandUniversity of Teacher Education ThurgauDoing participating observation in the "field" is an indispensable characteristic of ethnography. Yet, the problems of constructing a field for ethnographic research attract surprisingly little attention in textbooks and research reports. Sociological ethnography does hardly ever aim at giving holistic representations of clearly bounded (small) groups. It rather focuses on certain theoretically defined aspects of a given culture. Therefore, defining and delineating a field becomes a crucial step in an empirical study. In our article we propose a concept of the field as social world(s) constituted by a set of actors focused on a common concern. With the example of our ongoing research project on exclusion and integration in welfare and economy we argue for a multi-sited approach, which traces its inherently fragmented and multiply situated research object across social worlds. We discuss the problems arising from such a strategy and discuss the function of the field in theory driven sociological ethnography. We contend that multi-sited ethnography is particularly suited for building empirically grounded sociological theories. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0503288http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/22methodologysociological ethnographyfieldwork |
| spellingShingle | Eva Nadai Christoph Maeder Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research Forum: Qualitative Social Research methodology sociological ethnography fieldwork |
| title | Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research |
| title_full | Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research |
| title_fullStr | Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research |
| title_short | Fuzzy Fields. Multi-Sited Ethnography in Sociological Research |
| title_sort | fuzzy fields multi sited ethnography in sociological research |
| topic | methodology sociological ethnography fieldwork |
| url | http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/22 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT evanadai fuzzyfieldsmultisitedethnographyinsociologicalresearch AT christophmaeder fuzzyfieldsmultisitedethnographyinsociologicalresearch |