An overview of ethnography in healthcare and medical education research

Abstract

Research in healthcare settings and medical education has relied heavily on quantitative methods. However, there are research questions within these academic domains that may be more adequately addressed by qualitative inquiry. While there are many qualitative approaches, ethnography is one method that allows the researcher to take advantage of relative immersion in order to obtain thick description. The purpose of this article is to introduce ethnography, to describe how ethnographic methods may be utilized, to provide an overview of ethnography's use in healthcare and medical education, and to summarize some key limitations with the method.

How do healthcare professionals and lay people learn interactively? A case of transprofessional education

“…Ethnography is a social research methodology "occurring in natural settings characterized by learning the culture of the group under study and experiencing their way of life before attempting to derive explanations of their attitudes or behaviour" (Goodson & Vassar, 2011). Ethnography is usually used in a single setting, and data collection is mainly conducted through participant observation and interviews (Atkinson & Pugsley, 2005).…”

Enhancing the public impact of ethnography

“…Historically, public health practice and policy have, in great part, relied upon the discipline of epidemiology, which primarily uses quantitative methods to characterize the distribution of diseases within populations, elucidate causal relationships between exposures (e.g., individual behaviors) and health outcomes, and inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion and disease prevention interventions (Goodson & Vassar, 2011;Jack, 2006). Randomized clinical trials, widely considered the gold standard and highest quality of evidence, and cost analyses are other important tools for policy makers, reflecting the ideal that scarce public resources should be invested in policies and programs that have demonstrable positive outcomes and efficacy (Bryman, 2007;Rhodes, Stimson, Moore, & Bourgois, 2010;Stenius, Makela, Miovsky, & Gabrhelik, 2004;Task Force on Community Preventive Services, 2005).…”

Aspectos éticos de la investigación etnográfica en salud. El papel del comité de ética de la investigación

“…Para los comités de ética de la investigación que evalúan protocolos biomédicos, algunas técnicas del protocolo de investigación pueden ser más fácilmente reconocidas que otras, por ejemplo, la entrevista semiestructurada o el grupo focal son aproximaciones cada vez más comunes dentro del contexto de los estudios de implementación (12), la evaluación de sistemas de salud (13), las pruebas de usabilidad de tecnologías aplicadas al manejo de enfermedades (14) y la cualificación de servicios de telemedicina (15), entre otros. Sin embargo, otros métodos de investigación propios de la antropología, y que se aplican al ámbito de la investigación en salud, como es el caso de la etnografía, son pobremente entendidos por parte de la mayoría del personal de salud, y esta no es una metodología que se incorpore usualmente en la enseñanza de los cursos de epidemiología clínica o en cursos de metodología de la investigación biomédica (16,17). El caso particular de la etnografía adquiere aún más relevancia en relación con la definición de riesgo para el sujeto de investigación.…”