Research in Constructivist Frameworks Using Ethnographic Techniques

This article discusses the undertaking of research using a constructivist philosophical framework and ethnographic techniques, which can include individual interviews, focus groups, observation, and questionnaires. It begins with a broad overview of social sciences research philosophy, discussing both positivism and interpretivism, before moving on to focus on the constructivist paradigm, which comes under the interpretivist umbrella. The section on ethnography follows and includes sampling, data collection techniques, and data analysis. Examples from the author’s work are used to illustrate both philosophy and method. They are from the author’s studies of the information-seeking behavior of, fi rstly, women with breast cancer and, secondly, online investors. Introduction This article discusses not only a research method, ethnography, and the techniques that are commonly associated with it but also the philosophical framework in which the method can be situated. It begins with a broad overview of social sciences research philosophy and moves on to discuss the constructivist paradigm specifi cally before detailing ethnographic method and techniques and providing examples from the author’s work. Philosophical Traditions of Research in the Social Sciences In the broader context of research theory in the social sciences, there are two major philosophical traditions—-positivist and interpretivist (sometimes Research in Constructivist Frameworks Using Ethnographic Techniques