Qualitative research in the social sciences depends on multiple means of data collection and analysis, including the tools used in narrative research and ethnography. Narrative research involves the telling of stories through both subjective and objective accounts. For example, narrative research may include interviews with subjects as well as documentary evidence like photographs. The result of narrative research will be a richly textured look at an individual, or at some other entity like a geographic place. Ethnography may utilize similar data collection and analysis methods used in narrative research, such as interviews and field notes. In fact, narration and interview are technically narrative data collection methods that are employed in ethnographic research. While ethnography can include some types of narrative research methods, though, the goal is more to understand a subculture or similar sociological phenomenon and not an individual person. Social science researchers should aim to understand the similarities and differences between ethnography and narrative research, so that these qualitative methods can be judiciously applied.
Similar ethical precautions need to be taken with both narrative research and ethnography. Researchers need to take care of the rights of participants and all stakeholders, going beyond the basic informed consent process to ensure that anonymity, privacy, and confidentiality are confirmed given the sensitive nature of many social science studies. Moreover, researchers need to protect the validity of their research and the reliability of the results and conclusions they draw. One of the great risks of qualitative research is not applying rigorous analytical frameworks to the data collected, leading to ineffectively or even inaccurately presented findings in both narrative research and ethnography (Atkinson & Delamont, 2006). Researcher bias is of course another potential pitfall in narrative research and ethnography, given the tendency to frame issues, ask questions, or formulate hypotheses based on preconceived ideas rather than allowing the data to speak for itself.

Deciding on which type of qualitative research method to choose also requires astute considerations of the goals and practical applications but also the research questions. Narrative research is best used when the social scientist aims to understand a complex person, place, or thing like an event or situation. For example, a researcher might want to gather stories about survivors of September 11 living in Manhattan and the family members of the victims. A researcher would also want to use narrative methods like interviews and multimedia documents to study the evolution of a city throughout a specific period of time. For instance, a researcher who was interested in the transformation of London during the Industrial Revolution would be using diaries, photographs, news media, art, and literature as sources of data that would be compiled into a comprehensive narrative describing London during this critical period of time. Unlike case studies, narrative research tends more towards the descriptive, not using the subjects to illustrate some other point but instead to allow the subject to become both the ends and the means.

Ethnography is more commonly used in fields like anthropology and sociology. Whereas narrative research focuses on one person, one place, or one event, ethnography is about cultures, subcultures, systems, and patterns. Ethnography is the appropriate research method to use when examining worldviews and belief systems, religions, cults, and sects, linguistic groups, ethnic enclaves, or any self-defined and self-contained social institution. For example, Mertin (2014) uses ethnographic methods to explore the reasons why Japanese students remain longer in their English language classes than their counterparts from other cultures and linguistic backgrounds. Mertin (2014) hypothesizes that there may be something unique to Japanese culture or social norms that causes the phenomenon and uses ethnographic methods and participant-observation. If the researcher had instead wanted to capture the story of one student, Mertin (2014) would have used narrative research. In this case, the aim was to understand a group of people: Japanese students learning English as a foreign language.

With ethnography, the researcher relies heavily on sociological concepts, theories, tools, and frameworks. Ethnographic research would therefore refer to aspects of culture that have been codified in sociological research and which may have a strong bearing on the subject. For...…healthcare system can be documented using narrative research methods. It is not as if these patients form a subculture, but that their individual experiences with the healthcare system indicate a shared experience. The narration of that experience through systematic social science research can then become important data used in changing hospital policies or healthcare policy.

Another example highlighting the differences between ethnography and narrative research would be with regards to membership in terrorist organizations. A researcher interested in finding out what motivates individuals from various backgrounds to join a group like ISIS, for example, would turn to narrative research in order to capture the life histories and experiences of disparate people who ended up becoming members of the group. On the other hand, a researcher interested in finding out and explicating the social norms, values, political philosophies, and belief systems of ISIS or another terrorist group would use ethnography. Issues like identity and values will arise in both situations and scenarios; interviews and photographic evidence may also be used in either narrative research or ethnography. Yet the overall approach is quite different. Using the example of healthcare, an ethnographer might investigate how people from South Asian backgrounds interact with physicians using an ethnographic methodology to show how healthcare workers can improve outcomes with this patient cohort. Another researcher might want to document one South Asian patient’s different experiences with medical systems from the home country versus the United States.

Research questions determine the research method, which in turn impacts data collection, analysis, and the presentation of results. Neither research method is superior or more valid than the other; both have methodological issues and concerns that can be addressed through rigorous application of scientific means and methods to preserve ethnical integrity (Polkinghorne, 2007). It is critical that researchers remain true to the method selected for the research, choose the most appropriate method for answering the research question, and present the findings in authentic ways that contribute to the growing body of evidence on the subject.

References

Atkinson,…