Summary Ethnographic Research and Theory

ETHNOGRAPHIC
RESEARCH.
[Date]


WHAT IS THEORY
TYPES OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
THE IMPORTANCE OF THEORY




SUMMARY NOTES ABOUT
ETHNOGRAPHY

, Lecture 5 – 25th July 2019
Ethnographic Research:
What is theory?


 Theory is a tool of science
 Theories are statements about how things are connected
 The purpose of theory is to explain why things happen as
they do
 They help us sort out our world, make sense of it, guide us
on how to behave in it and predict what might happen next
 Conceptual tools used in analyzing and explaining certain
patterns of practices and beliefs.
 Theories are the tools anthropologists use to give meaning
to data. This is because data in themselves are
meaningless.
 Theories are used by anthropologists to separate
significant from meaningless data.
 Theories are created by developing sets of propositions or
generalisations which establish relationships between
things in a systematic way
 Theories are human constructions
 They are derived from information that people collect by
seeing, smelling and feeling
 This information is generally put together into formal or
informal theories by means of cognitive processes or
thinking
 This type of thinking, or set of cognitive processes is
called theorizing



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