Key Concepts in Ethnography

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.