Open AccessEpistemological Values and Limitations of Ethnography as an Interpretive Research Approach
Author(s) -
Youba Raj Luintel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
scholars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2773-7837
pISSN - 2773-7829
DOI - 10.3126/sjah.v2i0.35016
Subject(s) - ethnography , sociology , epistemology , scholarship , subject (documents) , meaning (existential) , frame (networking) , naturalistic observation , qualitative research , social research , social science , psychology , social psychology , anthropology , political science , computer science , philosophy , telecommunications , library science , law
The research method in humanities and social sciences shares a certain theoretical frame and research design with the interpretive approach. The “interpretive approach” of ethnographic research brings humanities and social sciences together in the realms of naturalistic inquiry as well as knowledge production. This article discusses how ethnographers would tend to address these epistemological fronts in scholarship and research design in humanities and social sciences. It also raises some of the pragmatics and methodological utilities of the ethnographic approach, followed by a short description of ethical and practical issues involved in the research process. Both the humanities and social science research adopt the interpretive approach to explore the subject of investigation in the specific theoretical frame and from multiple perspectives. The article concludes that the strengths that it offers, particularly concerning unravelling complexities of people’s daily lives in their “meaning perspectives,” are unique and appealing even though ethnography never remains immune to some of the limitations of qualitative research.