National open university of nigeria school of arts and social sciences
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| 3.3 . Conducting Ethnomethodological Research Ethnomethodological research has its own peculiar characteristics. An ethnomethodological research is often referred to as a qualitative research. The goal of a researcher using this approach is to understand local knowledge and practices relating to the daily life of the people being investigated. Therefore, ehnomethodologists do not just conduct their research from a distance. They participate in the life of the people and observe daily interactions among them informal and informal conversations among the groups and individuals. This method of doing research is called participant observation method, and the researcher is called a participant-observer. The traditional method of doing research that distances the researcher from his field has been observed to be characterized by normative descriptions. Scholars working from the perspective of seeing language as asocial phenomenon have emphasized the importance of an interaction between the researcher and the community. This makes the outcome to be that in which the researcher is present in the text. This is more authentic than the traditional research method. Ethnomethodological research demands that the researcher reside in the community he or she is investigating to facilitate his/her interaction with the people. So, it involves months and years of fieldwork. It is usually an in depth study of the historical, 30 demographical and cultural norms of the people alongside with the specific issue being investigated. One can summarize the features of an ethnomethodological research as follows • It involves the study of naturally occurring phenomena in their setting • It involves social interaction with the community within their social context • It involves data collection and analysis that takes place at the micro level • It involves discovery through interaction • It involves the study of the local knowledge, ie: identifying terms, concepts and logic used by individuals and the group to talk about specific subjects Download 0.49 Mb. Share with your friends:
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