Key Concepts in Ethnography

by Karen O'Reilly

Published 13 November 2008
"An accessible and entertaining read, useful to anybody interested in the ethnographic method."
- Paul Miller
, University of Cumbria

"A very good introduction to ethnographic research, particularly useful for first time researchers."
- Heather Macdonald
, Chester University

"The perfect introductory guide for students embarking on qualitative research for the first time... This should be of aid to the ethnographic novice in their navigating what is a theoretically complex and changing methodological field."
- Patrick Turner
, London Metropolitan University

An accessible, authoritative, non-nonsense guide to the key concepts in one of the most widely used methodologies in social science: Ethnography, this book:
  • Explores and summarises the basic and related issues in ethnography that are covered nowhere else in a single text.
  • Examines key topics like sampling, generalising, participant observation and rapport, as well as embracing new fields such as virtual, visual and multi-sighted ethnography and issues such as reflexivity, writing and ethics.
  • Presents each concept comprehensively yet critically, alongside relevant examples.

This is not quite an encyclopaedia but far more than a dictionary. It is comprehensive yet brief. It is small and neat, easy to hold and flick through. It is what students and researchers have been waiting for.