Ethnography facts for kids

Ethnography is a special way of studying people and their cultures. It's a big part of anthropology, which is the study of humans.

Imagine you want to understand how a certain group of people lives. An ethnographer would go and live with them. They would join in their daily activities. This is called participant observation. The researcher becomes part of the group. They watch, listen, and learn about how people interact. They also try to understand what people think and feel. The goal is to understand a culture from the inside.

Ethnography became popular in the early 1900s. It started in social and cultural anthropology. Later, other fields like sociology also began using it.

Ethnographers mostly use qualitative research. This means they collect information like stories, observations, and interviews. They focus on understanding details and meanings. Sometimes, they also use quantitative data. This means they might collect numbers or statistics.

Ethnographers don't try to find general rules for everyone. Instead, they study cultures in their own unique settings. They want to see how things work in a specific place and time. When they use numbers, it's often to find connections. Then, they use their observations to explain these connections.

The word "ethnography" comes from two Greek words. Ethnos means "folk, people, or nation." Grapho means "I write." So, ethnography is like "writing about people."

Part of the ethnographic collection of the Međimurje County Museum in Croatia

Who Are Important Ethnographers?

Many people have made important contributions to ethnography. Here are some of them:

Images for kids

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  Izmir Ethnography Museum (İzmir Etnografya Müzesi), Izmir, Turkey, from the courtyard

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  Ethnography museum, Budapest, Hungary

See also

In Spanish: Etnografía para niños