1.

Origin of educational research

2. Purpose of research in education
3. Types of research
4. Main lines or paradigms of educational research
5. Phenomenology
6. Structural stage
7. Literature

Unit No. I: Generalities and contexts of educational research and practice

The need for research in Education. Contributions to diagnosis, evaluation
and educational intervention
That is why Berkowitz (1999) states that:
The need to do research in Education and in educational centers and
institutions arises from curiosity, from the moment we ask ourselves
questions about how things work, about the behavior of people and
educational institutions, about the effects produced by our educational
practice or about how we can innovate and improve the results of our
actionshttp://www.monografias.com/trabajos4/acciones/acciones.shtml.
Research helps us to increase knowledge and to draw conclusions about
reality, the phenomena and facts that we observe; it helps us to analyze the
relationship established between the elements that make up a certain
educational situation and, often, to make decisions about how to intervene in
said situation to improve it. (p. 67)
Therefore, the need to research in Education arises from the moment we
seek to better understand the functioning of a given educational situation -
be it a subject, a group of subjects, a program, a methodology, a resource,
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos2/mercambiario/mercambiario.shtmlan
observed change, an institution or an environmental context - or to respond
to the many questions we ask ourselves about how to improve our
educational actions.
Likewise Byram, M. (2000) explains that: The combination of the genesis of
knowledge about the functioning of reality that makes research possible,
together with its potential to transform said reality through innovation and the
improvement of daily practices, means that, on occasions, we refer to it with
the expression Research + Development (R+D).
This expression is also often used to designate research actions linked to
work institutions (teaching centres, companies, etc.) and to economic
investment in research, whether with public or private funds, to finance and
promote improvements in work practices, in the products derived from them
and, ultimately, in innovation. For this reason, it is also common to talk about
initiatives that promote Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+I).
This is intended to highlight the importance of research to better understand
how things work (diagnosis), and how they could even work better to obtain
quality products in what is done (intervention). (Caballo V, 1993).
Likewise in 2008, Caballo, V, emphasized that: In the field of Education, this
translates, among other things, into the improvement of educational,
learning, and teaching practices, in the dynamics of interaction in the family,
in classrooms, in centers, in the academic performance of students and in
the educational quality that is achieved in a certain center or educational
institution, or with a specific educational policy or program in a local,
regional, national or even international setting. An example of this could be
research funded to analyse the possibilities and benefits of introducing
information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the educational field,
or studies on programmes to promote the social integration of students and
citizens from other cultures through immigration.
Given the potential benefits of research, it is considered necessary that the
knowledge and findings obtained through it on the procedures to be used to
improve educational practices and products be disseminated so that they
reach the maximum possible number of beneficiaries. Therefore, after
carrying out the investigation, it is necessary to write a research report. Its
reading may be useful for people interested in putting into practice the
knowledge obtained in their work areas after adapting it to the characteristics
of the same: it should not be forgotten that each educational context is
different from another and that it is necessary to adapt the knowledge to the
specific ways of functioning that govern each one of them.
On the other hand, in 2002, Crawshaw, R. He explained that this better
knowledge of the situation analysed provided by the research will make it
easier to assess it in order to establish whether or not there are deficiencies
after comparing it with a criterion or pattern (evaluation), and will also make
it possible to more easily identify the factors that are influencing it by
determining its behaviour (diagnosis), which in some cases may be deficient
as expected and in others not.

Origin of educational research

Educational research, understood as a discipline, is a recent field of
knowledge, it has approximately a century of history, since its origin dates
back to the end of the 19th century, when Pedagogy, similar to what other
humanistic disciplines had previously done, such as Sociology, Psychology
among others, adopted the scientific methodology as a fundamental
instrument to become a science (Cruz, F, 2003).
This scientific conversion was not a mere product of chance, but the result of
a long process that began in the late Middle Ages and early Modern Age;
from the work of various authors, but especially from the contributions of
Galileo, a new model of approaches to the knowledge of reality emerged.
However, for Byram, M. (2000) the expression "Educational Research" is
quite recent, since it was traditionally called "Experimental Pedagogy", the
terminological and conceptual change is fundamentally due to sociocultural
reasons and the preexistence of contributions from the Anglo-Saxon world in
the educational field. Experimental pedagogy was born in a historical-social
context in which there was an interest in strengthening education on
empirical foundations and incorporating the
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos11/metods/metods.shtmlexperimental
method in the human sciences.
According to Buyse's studies (1949), three main influences on experimental
pedagogy can be distinguished: the philosophical thought that prevailed in
the 19th century, the emergence of scientific pedagogy and the growth of
experimental methodology.
The prevailing philosophical thought in the 19th century was characterized
by philosophical currents that were fundamental to the independence of the
social sciences, contributing greatly to providing scientificity to pedagogy.
These currents are positivism, whose representative is Comte; pragmatism,
represented by James; the sociologism of Durkheim; and the
experimentalism of Dewey. (Cruz, F, 2003).
ACTIONS THAT FACILITATE EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

ASPECTS THAT CAN BE INVESTIGATED IN EDUCATION

Purpose of research in education
According to Rokeach, M. (1973). The purpose of research in Education is to
know (describe, understand) with some precision a given educational reality,
its characteristics and functioning, as well as the relationship that exists
between the elements that configure it. This subsequently facilitates, if
necessary, making appropriate assessments and diagnoses of the same, as
well as certain predictions of its future functioning, and identifying the factors
that cause certain effects on it. These possibilities offered by research lay
the foundations for educational intervention, which aims to act on a situation
to improve it.
Also in 1997, Santibañez, R. expresses that research in Education,
therefore, is closely linked to educational practice. For this reason, a
distinction is often made between basic research and applied research. One
and the other complement each other: educational practice needs
of the theories, reflections and methods that are generated through basic
research to identify, among other things, its most positive aspects and its
limitations, to better understand the effects to which this practice gives rise,
to improve them and to introduce progressive innovations that, being studied
and analyzed by applied research, allow the achievement of increasingly
higher and more complex educational objectives. Basic research, for its part,
requires educational practice in order to not remain only in theoretical
reflections about how reality works and in the formulation of hypotheses that
 cannot be tested in specific contextual frameworks. Both types of research in
interaction enrich each other and allow for a better and greater
understanding of educational reality.
Since scientific research needs to be rigorous and objective, it is necessary
to use a scientific method that facilitates carrying it out in an appropriate
manner to obtain a more precise knowledge of the reality studied that can
also be considered scientific; that is, knowledge based on facts and data
that, as far as possible due to the complexity of human and educational
behaviors and processes, can be demonstrated, repeated and contrasted
independently of the person carrying out the research (Santibañez, R,
1997).
Briefly stated, this scientific method consists of a process that entails a set of
ordered operations that start with the identification of the topic or problem to
be investigated and continue with the planning and
designhttp://www.monografias.com/trabajos13/diseprod/diseprod.shtmlhttp://
www.monografias.com/trabajos34/planificacion/planificacion.shtml of the
research, subsequently giving way to the execution or realization of the
same, to conclude with a phase of interpretation and reflection that leads to
establishing the meaning and conclusions about what has been analyzed,
the potentialities and limitations of the educational situation investigated, and
the possible improvement actions that are considered appropriate for it.
Thus, research in Education requires carrying out a well thought-out
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos7/plane/plane.shtmlplan organized in
successive stages to obtain a more scientific understanding of the
functioning of the situation analyzed, which allows, if necessary, to make an
adequate assessment of it based on the factors that affect it (diagnosis) and
to make appropriate decisions on how to act to improve it (intervention).
Once these stages of research have been completed, a so-called research
report is usually drawn up, which summarises all the phases and includes
the information, data, conclusions and fundamental educational implications
of the research carried out. (Santibañez, R, 1997)

Types of research
 Basic Research: This is concerned with increasing knowledge about a given
reality in order to delve deeper into the development of theories, principles
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos4/leyes/leyes.shtmlor general laws that
allow us to understand it, explain it, and even predict and control it, without
seeking to immediately use this knowledge in practice; this is the case, for
example, of studying how the intellectual development of people occurs
according to their evolutionary stages in order to know what mental
operations they are capable of doing at certain chronological ages. It is
about investigating to know more about a reality (Souza, B, 2003).
 In 2003, Souza, B., also confirmed that to do so, it is necessary to analyze,
among other things, the relationship that may exist between different
phenomena, elements or factors of that reality in order to identify the causes
that produce certain effects on it, which is basic for making diagnoses and
future interventions on it; in the previous example, it could be analyzed,
among other things, how environmental and social stimulation influences the
intellectual development of people who are at different evolutionary stages,
because this can condition the quality and quantity of their mental operations
at certain ages.
 Applied Research: Its objective is to apply the knowledge obtained by
researching a specific reality or practice to modify and transform it as far as
possible in order to improve it. In Education, this type of research is
especially relevant due to the interest it has for both teachers and educators,
as well as for educational centers and institutions and those responsible for
educational policy, in improving learning and teaching practices, the
organization of centers and their dynamics, student involvement, and other
factors associated with achieving better results and educational quality
(Steinwachs, K, 2002).
The information obtained from applied research is very useful for increasing
the corpus of knowledge and theories of basic research and, in turn, this
knowledge of basic research allows for better guidance of applied research,
so that both complement each other.
 Action Research: is a type of applied research that is carried out primarily by
the people who work in a given context – for example, the teachers or
educators at a school – to critically analyse their own performance in order
to introduce changes to improve it in that context, without necessarily
expecting that the research will contribute to generalising the knowledge
acquired beyond the framework in which it has been generated. Therefore, it
is basically a continuous investigation, carried out on a daily basis, and
which requires, in most cases, teamwork of the people involved in daily
practice. From this perspective, it is a research that contributes to the
promotion of self-assessment of educational centers (internal assessment)
and of teachers and educators, and to the training of these in research skills
and procedures (Steinwachs, K, 2002).
 Evaluative Research: is another type of applied research that seeks to
rigorously and objectively assess the quality and effectiveness of institutions,
teachers and specific and highly contextualized educational programs,
taking into account the processes followed and the results obtained to
achieve the objectives that are intended to be attained. This assessment is
carried out by comparing the results with previously established criteria,
which subsequently facilitates the development of decision-making
processes on the actions that can be undertaken in each case to improve
educational practices and institutions. It follows from this that in this form of
 research, unlike others, the involvement of the evaluator or researcher in the
very process of assessing the reality studied is considered necessary
(Steinwachs, K, 2002).
How to do research in Education
This methodological section presents a variety of studies and methods with
which educational research can be carried out.

SOME STUDIES AND METHODS WITH WHICH EDUCATIONAL

RESEARCH CAN BE CARRIED OUT
 Field Studies: They are especially interesting in Education because they
focus on analyzing and describing unmodified natural situations, such as a
community.
educational, a classroom, an educational center or institution, a
neighborhood, or a family context. They require the presence of the
researcher for a time in the situation to be
analyzed so that you can become familiar with it and collect contextualized
and first-hand information, often based on direct observations and interviews
and conversations with the people who are part of it, which will give you
important keys to interpret what is happening (Trianes, M, et al., 1997).
 Correlational Studies: are aimed at identifying the possible relationship that
can be established between two or more factors that operate in an analyzed
situation; for example, the relationship between motivation to learn and
academic performance; or between motivation to learn, intellectual capacity,
study strategies, reading habits and academic performance. (Trianes, M, et
al., 1997).
 Experimental Laboratory and Field Studies: These studies aim to
establish, to the extent possible, cause-effect relationships between
variables, that is, to identify the factor or factors that cause something to
occur as a consequence of their action, and, therefore, require controlling
the conditions of the study as much as possible. For example, when
studying what relationship can be established between the application of a
new teaching method in language teaching and the increase in student
performance in that subject. (Trianes, M, et al., 1997).
 Case Studies: are those that are carried out on a singular, unique and
unrepeatable reality, without this necessarily meaning a single subject. A
case can be, in fact, a subject, but also a certain group of subjects, a
classroom, a program, a resource, a change, a center or institution, a family,
 or even a specific neighborhood or community environment. What
characterizes the "case" is its uniqueness, its specificity compared to other
realities, and what defines the case study is the intention to describe, know
and understand in depth the behavior of said case from its history and within
its context and environmental coordinates, most of the time to predict its
behavior and make decisions on how to act on it to improve it. (Trianes, M,
et al., 1997).
 Cross-sectional studies: These are carried out on a specific situation and
population at a specific time, collecting data only once from each subject
under study. The aim is to analyse how the analysis variables behave in that
situation under specific circumstances. They are usually carried out with the
aim of describing and identifying the factors that affect the reality studied, the
frequency with which certain phenomena occur in it and the possible
relationships that can be established between them, and subsequently
developing, if appropriate,
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos/tesisgrado/tesisgrado.shtmlexplanator
y hypotheses on relationships between variables that will then have to be
contrasted. These hypotheses can be useful for making diagnoses of the
situation analyzed that allow suggesting the development of improvement
actions (Trianes, M, et al., 1997).
 Longitudinal Studies: their purpose is to analyze the same reality
repeatedly at successive points in time to observe variations in its behavior
due to the passage of time and other associated factors. For example, one
can study how the acquisition of increasingly complex
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos14/mocom/mocom.shtmlintellectual
skills and competencies occurs in a given group of children as they reach a
later chronological age. Or the variations in the acquisition of personal,
intellectual, attitudinal, etc. skills in a given group of people can also be
studied due to the continued effect of the education they receive over the
years (Trianes, M, et al., 1997).

Main lines or paradigms of

educational research
The term paradigm was introduced by Kuhn (1978), one of the most relevant
scholars of scientific and epistemological knowledge. It is difficult to define in
a few words what a paradigm is, but we could identify it with a particular
vision of the world that a certain scientific community has, and how to study
it scientifically. Thus, a paradigm will include a set of values, beliefs, goals,
norms http://www.monografias.com/trabajos4/leyes/leyes.shtmland specific
language that will differentiate it from another paradigm from which the world
and its scientific study will be interpreted differently. Thus, depending on the
paradigm taken as a reference, a different knowledge of the world will be
obtained, that is, a knowledge that is partial and relative.
Vila, R. also refers to this. (2003). That these paradigms are historically
modified based on scientific progress and the knowledge it generates,
causing its followers to progressively introduce new positions, approaches,
ways of working, etc., which lead to new forms of research and new
paradigms.
Byram, M. (2000) states that with regard to educational research, and when
it involves not only researchers, but also teachers, educators and other
related professionals, it is advisable that both share, as far as possible, the
same paradigm or way of interpreting the educational reality that is to be
investigated, with its values, norms, budgets, ways of thinking, language,
etc., in order to adequately combine educational theories, research
methodology and educational practice, so that this can promote educational
quality.
In 2000, Byram alluded to the fact that in educational research these
paradigms have basically given rise to three fundamental lines of research,
which are described below: 1) empirical-positivist research, of a
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos34/el-caracter/el-
caracter.shtmlquantitative nature, 2) phenomenological or ethnographic
research, of a qualitative nature, and 3) socio-critical research, linked to
action research, which can combine, depending on the cases and objectives
of the study, quantitative and qualitative lines of research.
Empiricist-Positivist and Quantitative Research Line
Speaking about these lines of research, Klass (2001) says that:
The empiricist-positivist line of educational research is based on the
assumptions of the empiricist and positivist philosophy of science, which
highlights the value of studying natural and observable phenomena with
empirical, objective and quantitative data, collected through very elaborate
and structured measurement procedures and with controlled research
designs that allow the conclusions obtained in a sample or group of subjects
to be generalized to an entire population with a certain margin of error. For
this purpose, quantitative, numerical and statistical procedures based on
measurement are used, which allow the characteristics of the reality studied
to be quantified to a certain degree. (p. 54)
In this line of research, the hypothetical-deductive method is often used,
which is based on the formulation of hypotheses about the behavior of the
reality studied, which are subsequently subjected to contrast.
On the other hand, Klass (2001) expresses that this line of research is
usually developed from three methodological approaches that allow us to get
closer to the analysis and diagnosis of an educational situation and its
modification through intervention. Thus, when we intend to describe an
educational situation and/or classify it in a certain category, we can use
descriptive designs; for example, to analyze the behavioral tendency of a
person.
or a group of people. When the objective is to make a prediction about the
possible future behaviour of a situation, the appropriate research design will
be correlational; for example, to offer advice to secondary school students to
make academic or professional decisions; and when the goal is to identify
the causes that produce certain effects, or to modify a certain situation, an
experimental design will be used, previously establishing a reference
criterion that allows the changes to be evaluated; for example, to check the
effectiveness of an innovative teaching method on academic performance by
comparison with the effectiveness of another more traditional teaching
method.
Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Line
This line of research, also called comprehensive, according to Krasst (2000)
says that:
It is situated within the interpretive, existentialist, and phenomenological
philosophical currents, based on theories and practices of interpretation that
seek to understand what happens in different human contexts based on
what people interpret about them and the meanings they give to what
happens to them. Its main purpose is to describe the events that occur in the
life of a group, giving special importance to its social organization, to the
behavior of each subject in relation to that of the other members of the
group, and to the interpretation of the meanings that these behaviors have in
the culture of said group, because, ultimately, it is considered to be what
substantially influences people's reactions and behaviors. (p. 32)
For this reason, in this line of research, research is usually carried out using
the case study method, also known as ideographic, in which generalizations
and the prior elaboration of hypotheses that have to be contrasted or verified
are not of particular interest, as occurs in the empiricist-positivist line of
research.
In this line of research, language plays a fundamental role and is considered
a means to understanding, which requires the researcher to use and
understand two languages well, his own and that of the people who provide
him with the information, so that he can adequately interpret what happens
in the research context and not be carried away only by his subjective and
personal assessments (Krasst, 2000).
According to Krasst in 2000, this line of research is applied in the
educational field, for example, to the study of student and teacher behavior
that takes place in classrooms and schools, or also to understand how
positive or conflictive interactions occur between people, which influence the
dynamics of centers, institutions and society. All of this provides valuable
information for introducing possible modifications in these interactions or in
the functioning of the contexts, which facilitate improving educational
processes and achieving greater satisfaction for the people who participate
in them.
The research method used is called naturalistic, or emergent, and is
qualitative in nature, in which, unlike the empiricist-positivist line, more
importance is given to the discovery of facts and how things happen, than to
the verification of hypotheses that may have been previously formulated
based on how things are believed to be and how they happen. Here, in
addition, not only the observable products, facts or behaviors are analyzed,
but also the processes that are not directly observable (implicit, sometimes
also called "hidden curriculum") that give rise to said products, such as, for
example, the perceptions, beliefs, experiences, interpretations, meanings,
values, etc. that the subjects give to the facts and real situations. In this
sense, also unlike the empiricist-positivist line, the study
The number of cases here becomes more relevant than that of
representative samples of a population (Krasst, 2000).
Socio-critical Research and Action Research Line
For Buyse (1949), the socio-critical line of research can combine the
approaches of the empirical-positivist lines of research, of a quantitative
nature, and the ethnographic lines, of a qualitative nature, which represent
very different methodological positions. In this line of research, the
fundamental object of study is educational practice, which includes both
observable behaviors and the meanings and interpretations that said
practice carries with it for those who carry it out. For this reason, this line of
research incorporates, complementing them, the objects of study of the
empiricist-positivist line and the ethnographic line.
This is a research perspective that focuses on analyzing and controlling how
the processes of change that occur in educational practices occur. This
research process is promoted by the subjects themselves who carry out
these practices, hence the term action research. In principle, this analysis
can be shared collaboratively by groups made up of teachers, students,
parents,
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos11/fuper/fuper.shtmladministrative staff
and other figures from the educational community; however, in practice,
most action research projects are carried out with components from only one
or two, or sometimes three, of these groups (Buyse, 1949).
This line proposes a research method based on the relationship between
theory and practice, in which participatory research is encouraged. Its
objective is to train people to develop their capacity for critical reflection and
allow them to analyze their own context and daily reality, and make their own
decisions about the actions that are best for them to take to deal with their
limitations or the limitations of the situations in which they operate. It also
seeks to understand the "implicit theories" with which people interpret,
predict and act in the social world in order to create collective knowledge
that is expressed in everyday language so that it can be easily understood
and also useful to the greatest possible number of people (Buyse, 1949).
The fundamental characteristics of this line of research are the following:
The topic that is the object of study arises in a community of people and in a
given context,
The main objective of the research is to gain in-depth knowledge of the
situation of this community of subjects (teaching professionals, educators,
etc.), for which alternatives for improvement are sought,
The research is carried out and controlled by the subjects who are part of
the community where the topic to be investigated arises (managers,
teachers, educators, students, parents, etc.), both at the time of planning
and execution and evaluation of the results obtained,
This research seeks to develop in people processes of reflection on their
own situation, stimulating the development of self-confidence, in their
capabilities and resources, and in their possibilities of organizing themselves
to collectively create new knowledge about themselves and their own reality,
Although the researchers in this line of research are the subjects themselves
who want to analyze their situation in order to improve it, they can count on
experts who come from outside this community, who become collaborators
or co-participants in the research, acting as advisors or mediators in it, and
not as experts,
thus facilitating the development of research skills in the subjects of the
community analyzed,
It aims, above all, to obtain positive results for the situation studied, without
worrying about whether these results can be applied or not to other
situations or contexts in a generalized manner,
It places more emphasis on the findings and results obtained than on
ensuring that the research methods and procedures are the most valid or
scientific, whether quantitative or qualitative (Byram, M, 2000).
UNIT II. Educational
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos6/juti/juti.shtmltechniques for
researching educational practice:
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos35/etnografia/etnografia.shtmlethnogra
phy and phenomenologyhttp://www.monografias.com/trabajos15/ciencias-
sociales/ciencias-sociales.shtml - fenom.
According to Pérez, Flores (1994) says that ethnography has its origins in
anthropology and sociology. Anthony Giddens, a sociologist, defines it as
the direct study of people or groups over a certain period, using participant
observation or interviews to understand their social behavior.
Ethnography is one of the most relevant methods used in qualitative
research. It is a research method through which one learns about the way of
life of a specific social unit, which may be a family, a social class or a school.
It allows us to interpret the consumer's daily life from what they do and not
 only from what they say they do, focused on understanding the cultural
codes that surround a brand or a specific product (Pérez, Flores, 1994)
Despite the various scopes that the technique may have, depending on the
intentions of the researcher with his object of study, the following conditions
are characterized:
o The object of study is approached with a view to understanding and
interpreting a reality that interacts with a broader context, with the aim of
obtaining knowledge and theoretical approaches rather than solving practical
problems as Action Research could do.
o Information found in the field, both verbal and non-verbal, must be analyzed
and interpreted to understand what they do, say and think, as well as how
they interpret their world and what happens in it.
o An ethnographic study gathers a global vision of the social sphere studied
from different points of view: an internal point of view of the group members
and an external perspective, that is, the interpretation of the researcher
himself, which in sum can show us the appropriation of brands in life as a
tool in the construction of
identityhttp://www.monografias.com/trabajos14/cambcult/cambcult.shtmlhttp:
//www.monografias.com/trabajos35/materiales-construccion/materiales-
construccion.shtml (Pérez, Flores, 1994).
Spectrum of ethnographic methodologies:
o In-depth exploration on site (e.g. at home)
o Observation (Interactive)
o Photographyhttp://www.monografias.com/trabajos13/fotogr/fotogr.shtml/
video documentation
o Diaries, blogs and collages
o Use of mobile recording techniques (e.g. smartphones) to track user
behavior.
Ethnography allows us to investigate consumer thoughts about things
beyond the product, it allows us to understand the person on a more
personal level: their biography, personality, judgments and prejudices or
their deeply rooted brand images.
Ethnography, also known as ethnographic research or qualitative research,
is a useful research method in identifying, analyzing and solving multiple
educational problems. This pedagogical approach emerged in the 1970s in
countries such as Great Britain, the United States and Australia, and
became widespread throughout Latin America, with the aim of improving the
quality of education and studying and solving the different problems that
affect it. (Pérez, Flores, 1994)
This method changes the positivist conception and incorporates the analysis
of qualitative aspects given by the behavior of individuals, their social
relationships and their interactions with the context in which they develop.
Ethnographic research
"Ethnographic research is the description and analysis of a specific social
field, a particular cultural scene (a locality, a neighborhood, a factory, a
social practice, an institution or another type of field), without prejudice to the
application of other methods and techniques of collection, synthesis and
analysis. The main goal of the ethnographic method is to capture the point of
view, the meaning, the motivations, intentions and expectations that the
actors give to their own social actions,
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos12/pmbok/pmbok.shtmlpersonal or
collective projects, and to the sociocultural environment that surrounds
them. (Cruz, 2003)
Steinwachs, K, (2002) says that:
Through ethnographic research, "data" are collected which, together with
those constructed on quantitative approaches, are the basis of reflection in
ethnology and anthropology. Ethnography, through comparison, contrasts
and develops theories of intermediate or more general range, which in turn
feed into considerations about nature and society made at an
"anthropological" level. (p. 45)
Fieldwork consists of the researcher's travel to the study site, the
examination and recording of social and cultural phenomena of interest
through observation and direct participation in the social life of the place; and
the use of a theoretical framework that gives meaning and relevance to
social data. In this sense, ethnography is not only a description of data, but
implements a particular type of analysis, related to the researcher's
prejudices, ideology and theoretical conceptions. The researcher not only
observes, classifies and analyzes the facts, but also interprets them
according to his social condition, era, ideology, interests and academic
training.
Ethnography is, on the other hand, a reflexive practice. By this we mean that
the images and visions that a researcher constructs or creates of others are
related to and depend on the type of social interaction that he establishes
with his subjects of study, and on the idea that they form of the researcher,
his project and purposes. The ethnographic method is structured on the
basis of observations of social activities of interest, interviews and various
forms of participation by the researcher in selected or spontaneous
sociocultural activities. (Cruz, 2003)
Techniques and methodological strategies Steinwachs, K, (2002) says that:
Ethnography as a research modality uses multiple methods and strategies.
Ethnographic design involves a broad combination of methodological
techniques and resources; however, they tend to place greater emphasis on
interactive strategies: participant observation, formal and informal interviews,
instruments designed by the researcher and the analysis of all kinds of
documents. (p. 34)
1.- Participant observation: the ethnographic researcher combines
observation with participation, observes the patterns of behavior and
participates in the culture that is being observed; in some investigations the
role varies, the researcher may be an observer and in others a participant.
"Participant observation has always been the central method of
ethnographers. They often supplement it with other sources, especially
informal interviews.
2.- The Informal Interview: It is another technique used by ethnographers
in field work. According to Woods 1987, "Its aim is to keep participants
talking about things of interest to them and to cover aspects of importance to
the research in a way that allows participants to use their own concepts as
well as terms."
3.- Written
Materialshttp://www.monografias.com/trabajos14/propiedadmateriales/
propiedadmateriales.shtml (Documents): these are of great importance in
the research, the most used are official documents, personal documents and
questionnaires.
What does Ethnography mean?
Etymologically, the term refers to ethnos, which means any human group
united by ties of race or nationality, that is, the idea of a people.
Ethnicity as a term represents the natural grouping of individuals of the same
language and culture, while spelling describes. In this sense, Ethnography
can be interpreted as the description of groups, that is, understanding what
people with cultural, social or other ties do, say and think (Cruz, 2003).
The term ethnography in which research is carried out comes from
anthropology, in whose context it has been defined as the science that
studies, describes and classifies cultures or peoples.
What is the main objective of Ethnography? Steinwachs, K, (2002) says that:
The aim of ethnography is to understand a certain way of life from the point
of view of those who naturally belong to it.
Its goal is to capture the vision of the natives, their perspective of the world
around them, the meaning of their actions, the situations they experience
and their relationship with other people in the community. (p. 66)
Methods and techniques have been developed that allow us to approach the
real situation of the organization of people who belong to any institution, and
it is there where ethnography occupies a relevant place in the
methodological space in the socio-educational field.
What is/are the scope of Ethnography?
Ethnography as a qualitative technique has a very broad scope. Text
analysis processes are used on verbal and non-verbal expressions. With this
priority, the scope of ethnography offers contributions in the following
options:
At the micro level (identified as micro ethnography): The work focuses on the
observation and interpretation of phenomena in a single social institution.
The research requires a short period of time that can be developed by a
single ethnographer or researcher. (Cruz, 2003)
At the Macro level (identified as macro ethnography): The work focuses on
the study of a complex society with multiple communities and social
institutions. This research can extend over several years and involve several
ethnographers or researchers.