Ethnography may be a type of research, but it is far from just another technique of data collection. Ethnography is a meticulous set of methods which in its most characteristic form is a quest . . . a quest that takes ethnographers through the lives of their informants. The journey is at once arduous and rewarding; if you can avoid the pitfalls of conducting ethnography, you invariably achieve a novel prospective and interpretation of the human condition.

Conducting ethnographic research, or at least what I make of it, is no easy task. There is no standard setting, no particular way of observing or of interpreting what we observe. It is fluid, shapeless, and almost without convention – except for that all effective ethnographers share a single mentality. Veteran researcher James P. Spradley outlines this attitude:

“I want to understand the world from your point of view. I want to know what you know in the way you know it. I want to understand the meaning of your experience, to walk in your shoes, to feel things as you feel them, to explain things as you explain them. Will you become my teacher and help me understand?”

As ethnographic researchers, we have to cast away our roles as the objective observer and delve into the lives of those whom we want to learn about. We have to identify with our informants, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually, and be wary of our tendency to expect and judge. This is the immersion aspect of ethnography. At the same time, we must maintain a sufficient distance from the informants to be able to critically reflect and analyze the results of our research. Immersion is beneficial to an extent. However, by fusing it with observant participation (defined as the “utilization of an existing role to observe aspects of a familiar or unfamiliar setting”), we will be able to get the most out of ethnographic research.