Ethnography and health care

Abstract

Development of a culture of evidence based medicine depends on a body of research that draws from both qualitative and quantitative approaches.1 Recent BMJ articles have usefully questioned a stark polarity between qualitative and quantitative research and helped to demystify qualitative approaches.2 3 4 There has been little mention of ethnography, however, and little argument for its use in health research.I have examined some of these omissions, giving a broad indication of the nature of ethnography and arguing for its greater use within health care. I have given examples of ethnographic studies to suggest some of the issues that ethnography can help to explore, together with a brief outline of limitations of the approach.

Qualitative research in dentistry

“…13,14 How ever, qualitative approaches should also be regarded as valuable research meth ods in their own right and should not be thought of as merely a precursor for larger scale, quantitative research.…”

“…The researcher must also be wary of the diffi culties of becoming too involved or immersed in the setting ('going native') and losing sight of their research agenda. 13 As with ethnographic studies more generally, observation is time consuming, labour intensive and costly, 14 but it does offer valuable insights in health research settings on issues otherwise inaccessi ble through other methods. It can help overcome discrepancies between what people say or think they do, and what they appear to do to others.…”

Service user led organisations in mental health today

“…Interviews were analysed using a thematic approach (Braun and Clarke 2006) supported by the qualitative software Nvivo9 (Nvivo9 2010). Interpretations of meetings relied on field notes which were analysed using ethnographic principles of 'thick description' and interpretation (Geertz 1973, Hammersley and Atkinson 1989, Savage 2000 made possible by the combination of data collection methods described above. Quotations can be found in Table 1.…”

Qualitative Research Design and Methods in Dentistry: A Survey of Opinions of Nigerian Resident Doctors Training to Become Specialists

“…In addition, sensitivity in qualitative research allows the researcher to take into account both verbal and nonverbal responses of the participants unlike quantitative research where only quantified data is collected. Qualitative research can also aid the development of theories or strategies that are useful in understanding people's experiences in making health related decisions [11]. Furthermore, qualitative research has been used to enhance better understanding of health services and provision by identifying implementation and intermediate outcomes which may not have been captured using quantitative methods [12].…”