Product Description

Thoroughly updated and substantially rewritten, the third edition of this popular textbook is now even more relevant and useful for students and researchers. New material includes new chapters on the use of visual research methods, recent advances in feminist theory, new regimes of research regulation and a new conclusion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195697 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 266 pages

From the Back Cover

Now in its third edition, this leading introduction to ethnography has been throroughly updated and substantially rewritten. It offers a systematic introduction to ethnographic principles and practice. New material covers the use of visual and virtual research methods, hypermedia software, and the issue of ethical regulation. There is also a new prologue and epilogue.

The authors argue that ethnography is best understood as a reflexive process. What this means is that we must recognise that social research is part of the world that it studies. From an outline of the principle of reflexivity in Chapter One, the authors go on to discuss and exemplify the main features of ethnographic work:

• the selection and sampling of cases
• the problems of access
• observation and interviewing
• recording and filing data
• the process of data analysis and writing research reports

There is also consideration of the ethical issues surrounding ethnographic research. Throughout, the discussion draws on a wide range of illustrative material from classic and more recent studies within a global context. The new edition of this popular textbook will be an indispensable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers utilising social research methods in the social sciences and cultural studies.

About the Author

Martyn Hammersley is Professor of Educational and Social Research at the Open University. His early research was in the sociology of education, focusing in particular on teachers' perspectives, patterns of classroom interaction, and assessment regimes. More recently he has investigated the representation of social research findings in the mass media. His most recent books are Taking Sides in Social Research (2000), Educational Research: Policy Making and Practice (2002), and Media Bias in Reporting Social Research? (2006).

Paul Atkinson is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at Cardiff University, where he is Associate Director of the ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics. His main research interests include the sociology of cultural production, the sociology of medical knowleddge, with particular emphasis on the social consequences of new genetic technologies and the development of qualitative research methods, including applications of information technology. His most recent books have been Everyday Arias: An Operatic Ethnography (2005) and Interactionism with William Housley (2003). Together with Sara Delamont he edits the journal Qualitative Research.

Customer Reviews

It does what it says on the cover...
I read this as the set book for the OU module on ethnography, D844. I found ethnography difficult to grasp completely, as it seems at times a somewhat wooly and subjective approach. This book covers all the required information, but didn't really "fire me up" about the subject. I found Agar's 'professional stranger' a much more accessible and enthusiastic read.

The best textbook I've ever read & studied from
This book is the course text for the Open University ethnography module, D844, and it's one of the few textbooks which I've found truly enjoyable to read. It's a great introduction to ethnography (which I've never studied before), and is very thorough, deep and detailed, without at any point becoming too dry. Hammersley and Atkinson really explain the concepts tackled, and never fall into the trap of merely scratching the surface and then moving on (a textbook trait which I find infuriating!).

There are many illustrative examples taken from a diverse range of previous ethnographic studies, so that theory and practice are linked. This book is clear, the authors' enthusiasm comes across by the bucketful, and most importantly this gives an excellent grounding in the nature, practicalities and possibilities of ethnographic research. If only all textbooks could be like this!