Volume 8, No. 3, Art. 10 – September 2007

Conference Report:

On Unfamiliar Terrain—Ethnographical Research in the Fields of Education and Social Work

7th and 8th July 2006, University of Kassel, Student’s Club K19

Organized for the Department of Social Work in cooperation with the Department of Educational Science and Human Science, University of Kassel, and the Department of Educational and Social Science of the University of Hildesheim by Peter Cloos, Frederike Heinzel, Stefan Köngeter and Werner Thole

Davina Höblich (Germany)

Abstract: The gradual spread of ethnographic in human science and that ethnographic methods in research related to education and social work are still rather new were the starting points of the conference. The aim of the conference was to evoke a discussion about previous experiences in research with ethnographic methods, not only within but also between different disciplines such as social work, sociology, and educational science. The discussions revealed that there is still some kind of reluctance regarding the use of ethnographic methods in social research related to education and social work. However, the conference demonstrated that there exist various attempts to solve methodological problems in ethnographic research. Despite different conceptualizations, presenters agreed on the relevance and necessity of reflecting on the researchers' point of view and the process of "going native." The presenters identified limits and open questions in taking field notes and the forms of representing ethnographic research.

Key words: ethnography, field entry, note taking, data analysis and representation, researcher's role, ethnographic education research, ethnographic social work research

This contribution is only available as a full text in the German language. German text

Volume 8, No. 3   Table of Contents

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