University of Applied Sciences, Fulda

Ethnography

Ethnography gathers information in order to answer two questions: (1) How is social order created ; that is, what makes a particular group of people a functioning unit of some sort? And (2) how do individuals make sense of their way of living; that is, how do they explain why they live the way they do and differently from others? In order to answer these questions ethnography tries to describe the group of people on the basis of long-term observation and in many by actively participating in the functions of the researched unit. Thus, the ethnographer provides an insiders’ perspective on the one hand ,and on the other hand should be able to step back and preserve his/her objectivity.
According to Duranti 1999, “a successful ethnography, then, is not a method of writing in which the observer assumes one perspective--whether ‘distant’ or ‘near’-- but a style in which the researcher establishes a dialogue between different viewpoints and voices, including those of the people studied, of the ethnographer, and of his disciplinary and theoretical preferences” (p. 87). Hence, participant observation is the most widely used method of observation. Ethnographic methods have been applied to the study of contemporary society and its problems, such as addiction (Agar, 1986). The distinguishing point in this approach is interpreting and applying the findings from a cultural perspective (Wolcott, 1980: 59).

Heuristic Inquiry

The word heuristic is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as: “of, relation to, or constituting an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.” Heuristic is Greek in origin and means to discover. Heuristic research is full of discoveries, personal insights and reflection of the researcher himself. Discovery comes from “a kind of being wide open in surrender to the thing itself, a recognition that one must relinquish control and be tumbled about with the newness and drama of a searching focus that is taking over life” (Douglas and Moustakas, 1984: 47).
Heuristic is a kind of phenomenological inquiry that puts more stress on human experience and the insights of the researcher. The main question in such research is: What is my experience of this phenomenon and the essential experience of others who also experience this phenomenon intensely?
There are then two main focuses in this approach to research. First, the researcher should have some kind of experience of the theme of his research and at the same time the theme should be interesting enough to be researched. Second, those who take part in the research should also have had some experience of the phenomenon, if not as intensely as the researcher. Heuristic research is concerned with the depth of the human experience and its meaning. According to Douglas and Moustakas, ”Heuristics is concerned with meanings, not measurements; with essence, not appearance; with quality, not quantity; with experience, not behaviour” (1984: 42).
The fact that this type of inquiry is concerned with human experience differentiates it from other modes of research. Here the researcher shares his experience with other co-researchers and together they try to find the core and essence of the phenomenon. It is not hard to guess that intensive and deep interviews are used to find out more about human understanding.

The power of heuristic inquiry lies in its potential for disclosing truth. Through exhaustive self-research, dialogues with others, and creative depictions of experience, a comprehensive knowledge is generated, beginning as a series of subjective understandings and developing into a systematic and definitive exposition. [Douglas and Moustakas, 1984: 40]