Ethnography - Originating in anthropology, this term traditionally refers to a
practice in which researchers spend long periods living within a culture
in order to study it. The term has been adopted within qualitative
market research to describe occasions where researchers spend time -
hours, days or weeks - observing and/or interacting with participants in
areas of their everyday lives. This contrasts with interview-based
research in which interaction with respondents is limited to a
conventional interview or group discussion format, is more limited in
time, and often takes place outside the participant's own environment.
link: http://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/?term=ethnography
link: http://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/?term=ethnography
Advantages
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One of the more widely cited benefits of conducting ethnographic research is that due to the first-hand observation that is involved, usually conducted over an extended period of time, the research can provide extensive and in-depth findings about human behavior. In addition, because ethnographic research relies on observation rather than examinations or predetermined tests, the research can evolve and explore new lines of inquiry.
Disadvantages
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Due to the fact that ethnographic research relies on observation, it often takes a longer period of time to produce thorough and reliable results. Also, because the research is reliant upon the observations of just one or a few people, the conclusions about what the human subjects were doing, saying or feeling could be altered by the observers' cultural bias or ignorance.
