Ethnomethodology

Ethnomethodology is a new research design. As its name implies, it refers to the study of a nation and characteristics of its communities. It is a bit related to ethnograhy, which provides the description of the collective values of a community, though it also describes other important elements of a social group, such as its tools, food, culture, and way of life. Ethnomethodology places an emphasis on the attitudes of a society, and the way in which they are expressed linguistically. Unlike sociology, which does not have a data collection system, ethnomethodology endeavours to develop one.

Ethnomethodology uses facts obtained from the speech of an ordinary person, a man from the people. It is aimed at defining the attitudes of individuals towards their society, formed on the basis of their environment, its influences, and interpersonal communication, i.e. at understanding how people make sense of their own lived realities and practices. People have a perception of something, be it what they simply see or what they accept or do not accept through various media, and they use it to form an opinion. The purpose of the ethnomethodological design is to collect the facts about how, i.e. in which social conditions and situations, individuals gain emotional perceptions of reality (Ristić, 2016, p. 228).

The object of the ethnomethodological research is defined by people, because people decide what is important to them by expressing their emotions. The aim is to express one’s feelings and perceptions regardless of those who disagree with them. Every person needs to have a personal perception of society, and if they find the collective perception unacceptable, the attitudes can change. People create society and therefore people can change it.

Ethnomethodology is a new scientific design, and based on the type of perceptions, can be divided into limited and unlimited ethnomethodology, as well as ethnomethodology of direct and indirect influence. Limited ethnomethodology deals with a specific group of people and their attitudes. This method is used to analyse the relationships within a group, and how people are perceived. Unlimited ethnomethodology goes beyong a specific group to other social wholes. It shows what the members of a group think of their group, and whether they accept other groups. Direct influence ethnomethodology is characterised by personal and autonomous perceptions of the members of a society or group. The aim is to identify similar opinions, and group them. On the other hand, indirect influence ethnomethodology is characterised by external influences. The members’ opinions are corrected under the external pressure in order to conform to the majority group.

Data is usually collected through the extended observation of the behaviour, language and the interaction among members of a culture-sharing group, and interviews with the most knowledgeable members of a community, who are called key informants. Researchers have to bracket themselves. The data collection and analysis occur simultaneously. According to Creswell (2007), the procedure of conducting such research includes the following steps:

• determining if etnomethodology is the most appropriate design to use to study the research problem (it is appropriate when it is necessary to describe how a cultural group functions, and to explore the beliefs, language, behaviours, and issues such as power, resistance and dominance);
• identifying or locating a culture-sharing group to study – the one that has been together for an extended period of time so that their shared language, patterns of behaviour, and attitudes have merged into a discernable pattern, or a group marginalised by society;
• selecting cultural themes or issues to study about the group (such as learning, socialisation, cognition, domination, inequality, etc.);
• fieldwork/gathering information where the group works and lives, while respecting the daily lives of individuals on the site. Observations, interviews, tests, surveys, audiovisual methods can be used for data collection;
• data analysis – description of themes that emerge from the group, and an overall analysis of how the group functions and lives;
• providing a holistic cultural portrait of the group that incorporates the views of the participants, as well as the views of the researcher, so that the reader learns about the culture-sharing group from both the participants’ and researcher’s interpretation. It might advocate for the needs of the group or suggest changes to address these needs. Theatre productions, plays or poems can be some of the end products of ethnomethodology.

In order to engage in ethnomethodology, the researcher needs to have a grounding in cultural anthropology and the meaning of a socio-cultural system. Data collection is extensive and time-consuming. There is a possibility that the researcher will go native, and be unable to complete the study. The researcher needs to acknowledge his or her impact on the people and places being studied (Creswell, 2007, p. 72).