Book: Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research

Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research: An Introduction
Paperback, 376 pages
AltaMira Press; Second edition
2010
[Amazon link]

The Ethnographer’s Toolkit series begins with this primer, which introduces novice and expert practitioners alike to the process of ethnographic research, including answers to questions like: who should and can do ethnography, when it is used most fruitfully, and how research projects are carried out from conceptualization to the uses of research results. Written in practical, straightforward language, this new edition defines the qualitative research enterprise, links research strategies to theoretical paradigms, and outlines the ways in which an ethnographic study can be designed. Use Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research as a guide to the entire Toolkit or as a stand-alone introduction to ethnographic research.

Margaret D. LeCompte is professor of education and sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Jean J. Schensul, founding director of the Institute for Community Research, continues as full time Senior Scientist. She holds adjunct appointments in the departments of Anthropology and Community Medicine at the University of Connecticut and directs qualitative methods and ethnography in the interdisciplinary research methods core of the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS.