Ethnographic Research and the Problem of Data Reduction¹

Abstract

Choices of strategies for analyzing records or transcripts of human behavior in everyday, naturalistic settings are affected by a variety of external and internal design constraints. Among the most common techniques identified are analytic induction, the constant comparative method, typological analysis, enumerative systems, and standardized observational protocols. Each of these is described and analyzed along multiple dimensions of design considerations. SCHOOL ETHNOGRAPHY; OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH; QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS; RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.