Key Concepts in Ethnography

Karen O'Reilly is Professor of Sociology at Loughborough University. She has taught ethnographic and qualitative methods for many years around the world including the Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Collection and Analysis, and the Swiss Summer School in Lugano. She has spent 20 years on and off living among and learning from British people who move abroad in search of a better way of life. Sociologically, this has informed an interest in a broad range of themes, including ethnicity, identity and community; nations and nationalism; home and belonging; social exclusion; the informal economy; tourism-related migration; and friends and networks. Her interests have more recently turned to practice theories and their implications for ethnographic methodology. Karen is author of Ethnographic Methods (Routledge), Key Concepts in Ethnography (SAGE) and International Migration and Social Theory (Palgrave Macmillan), and co-editor of Lifestyle Migration: Expectations, Aspirations and Experiences (Ashgate).

Access Analysis Asking Questions Case Study Chicago School Coding Computer Software Covert Critical Ethnography Ethics Feminist Ethnography Fieldnotes Focus Groups and Group Discussions Generalisation Going 'Native' Grounded Theory Holism Inductive and Deductive Insider Ethnographies Interpretivism Interviews and Conversations Key Informants and Gatekeepers Malinowski Multi-sited and Mobile Ethnographies Participant Observation Participant Observer Oxymoron Positivism Postmodern Ethnographies Rapport Realism Reflexivity Sampling Team Ethnography Time Virtual Ethnography Visual Ethnography Writing Where to find other ethnographic concepts

This is a very attractive and welcoming text that is extremely lucid, engaging and often humorous. The author manages to pack the text with many, many relevant examples from key ethnographies, as well as drawing upon her own research experiences and writings. This book is very student friendly which is a major advantage and has found a niche in tone, approach and content; I will refer to it in my own work and teaching. -- Paul Willis