B02: Ethnography and Fieldwork

Interpretivist research methods seek to understand meaning making practices and processes in diverse social contexts. This course on ethnography and fieldwork research highlights the benefits and challenges of immersive study, while it also equips participants with the tools to orient themselves in the landscape of qualitative methods and map out possible combinations across them. We begin by exploring interpretivists sensibilities in research design and analysis, focusing on a range of working modalities with texts, discourses and lived experiences. Zooming in on the practice of ethnography in studying world politics, we then review how to prepare for fieldwork, build working relationships, assess needs, and accommodate alternative pathways of inquiry. Finally, we reflect on what it might mean to embrace the fieldwork experience, including its accidental and unplanned aspects, and how to work with data, tell ‘stories’ and create representations in an ethical and thought-through manner.

The purpose of this course is to cultivate conceptual understanding, reflexivity, and hands-on techniques for designing and carrying out ethnographic or ethnography-inspired research projects. To support participants in tailoring the course to their individual needs, we will utilize in-class writing processes as a complementary space for tracing and exploring our own meaning-making journeys.

This course introduces core approaches to ethnographic research and fieldwork in the social sciences, with a focus on their ethical, political, and creative possibilities. Across five connected sessions, participants will develop the conceptual grounding and practical skills needed to design and carry out rigorous, reflexive qualitative research.

We begin by examining the key characteristics of interpretivist methods, including their underlying ontological and epistemological assumptions and the distinctive critical and creative capacities they offer beyond machine learning. Participants will also learn how to craft meaningful research questions and work with concepts through an abductive approach to inquiry.

We then situate ethnographic research within a broader continuum of interpretivist practices, including discourse analysis, elite interviews, focus groups, and creative methods. Attention will be given to different modes of social meaning-making – from close textual analysis to performative and co-created interactions – and to research designs that integrate text-based and field-based approaches.

Building on this, the course explores historical trajectories and contemporary orientations in ethnographic research, drawing on foundational texts and current debates. Participants will engage with disciplinary and transdisciplinary opportunities and challenges, while critically reflecting on researcher positionality, ethical and decolonial questions, and possible pathways for action.

A practical, hands-on session addresses the logistical, ethical, conceptual, and personal dimensions of preparing for fieldwork. Topics include defining and entering “the field,” securing ethical approval, connecting with participants, building relationships, observing and taking fieldnotes, storing data, and choosing appropriate methods, alongside guided work on consent forms and project descriptions.

The final session focuses on navigating the diverse and often unexpected scenarios that arise in field research and on cultivating responsive, grounded practices in the field. Participants will experiment with strategies for working with emergent situations, and will learn approaches to identifying themes and narratives in their data, with particular attention to the ethics of writing and representing the lives of others.

Day 1
Engaging meaning making in the age of AI: interpretivist research methods in practice

Day 2
Expanding the field: from text to experience, observation to collaboration

Day 3
Situating ethnographic research: histories, actors, orientations

Day 4
Preparing for fieldwork: methods, needs, best practices

Day 5
Embracing the field: negotiating ‘failures’ and representations in writing

Indicative reading:

Kurowska, Xymena and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (2020) Interpretive approaches in political science and international relations. In: The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations, eds. Luigi Curini and Robert Franzese, 1221-1240. London: Sage.

This description is subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor

2 Credits

For completion of all work before and during the course, as outlined by the Instructor, and 90% participation and attendance of the course.

2 Additional Credits

Course specific extra assignments. These can include submitting assignments before the course, daily assignments, and/or a final assignment to be completed after the course as decided by the Instructor.  This description is subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor.