Ethnography
The research method chosen for this study is qualitative research. Its methodology is ethnography which incorporates non-participant field observation and non-structured interviewing. Observational field studies are the dominant research tool used to study expert teams (Salas, Rosen, Burke, Goodwin, & Fiore, (2006), which all tumor boards are. Salas et al (2006) also state that observational studies are necessary to access information about how teams operate in their environments, particularly in complex environments.
Rationale.
Because of the complex functioning of hospitals and tumor boards, ethnography is the most suitable tool for illuminating the subtle culture of tumor boards in their interactions of multidisciplinary physicians. In addition, in the cultural approach to …show more content…
organization studies, ethnographic methods are considered one of the best tools for understanding the culture and systems of an organization in relation to its surroundings (Geertz, 1973).
Ethnography is a form of methodology where researchers take an in-depth look at a phenomenon while in the field. Practiced by early anthropologists as a form of fieldwork, ethnography stands apart from other methodologies by its emphasis on culture and the revelation of what happens in that culture. In ethnographic studies, researchers study a cultural group or particular phenomenon in a naturalistic setting, using primarily observational data to gather information over a period of time (Madison, 2005; Patillo-McCoy, 1999) and provide a more nuanced report of what is occurring.
According to Wolcott (2008), however, ethnography is more than a methodology.
While ethnographic methods such as participant observation (fieldwork), interviewing, and archival examination are broadly applied in many qualitative studies, Wolcott (2008) argues that this approach, borrowing ethnographic techniques, needs to be separated from doing ethnography.
For Wolcott (2008), ethnographic researchers not only experience and enquire about cultures and human activities through participant observation and interviewing, but also strive to understand and create meaning out of specific human cultures and activities. Therefore, ethnographic inquiries involve both “descriptive questions as to how, and understanding questions as to meanings imputed to action” (Wolcott, 2008, p. 74). The inclusion of ethnographic research at the seven studied hospitals provides first-hand field insight into the organizational cultures of hospital tumor boards deciding on treatment options for patients with various types of cancers.
The advantage for ethnographers is that research is fairly flexible, sanctioning the lived realities of participants to evolve in their natural context (Creswell, 2003), so as
to prevent contrived results. Ethnographers tend to view society as constructed, and they acknowledge that researchers necessarily influence the descriptions and conclusions of ethnographic studies by their perspectives (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). Through ethnography, the voices of the participants are free to emerge and speak to the guiding research question rather than be influenced by an established set of social norms. Only through my immersion into the tumor board cultural setting, am I able to create meaning through symbols in observed behavior. Hammersley and Atkinson (2007) argue that we are necessarily part of the social phenomena we study, and therefore our investigations inevitably involve reflexivity, that is, our background, presuppositions, theories, and prior knowledge influence our research. This limitation will be highlighted at the end of this proposal.
Rationale.
Because of the complex functioning of hospitals and tumor boards, ethnography is the most suitable tool for illuminating the subtle culture of tumor boards in their interactions of multidisciplinary physicians. In addition, in the cultural approach to …show more content…
organization studies, ethnographic methods are considered one of the best tools for understanding the culture and systems of an organization in relation to its surroundings (Geertz, 1973).
Ethnography is a form of methodology where researchers take an in-depth look at a phenomenon while in the field. Practiced by early anthropologists as a form of fieldwork, ethnography stands apart from other methodologies by its emphasis on culture and the revelation of what happens in that culture. In ethnographic studies, researchers study a cultural group or particular phenomenon in a naturalistic setting, using primarily observational data to gather information over a period of time (Madison, 2005; Patillo-McCoy, 1999) and provide a more nuanced report of what is occurring.
According to Wolcott (2008), however, ethnography is more than a methodology.
While ethnographic methods such as participant observation (fieldwork), interviewing, and archival examination are broadly applied in many qualitative studies, Wolcott (2008) argues that this approach, borrowing ethnographic techniques, needs to be separated from doing ethnography.
For Wolcott (2008), ethnographic researchers not only experience and enquire about cultures and human activities through participant observation and interviewing, but also strive to understand and create meaning out of specific human cultures and activities. Therefore, ethnographic inquiries involve both “descriptive questions as to how, and understanding questions as to meanings imputed to action” (Wolcott, 2008, p. 74). The inclusion of ethnographic research at the seven studied hospitals provides first-hand field insight into the organizational cultures of hospital tumor boards deciding on treatment options for patients with various types of cancers.
The advantage for ethnographers is that research is fairly flexible, sanctioning the lived realities of participants to evolve in their natural context (Creswell, 2003), so as
to prevent contrived results. Ethnographers tend to view society as constructed, and they acknowledge that researchers necessarily influence the descriptions and conclusions of ethnographic studies by their perspectives (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007). Through ethnography, the voices of the participants are free to emerge and speak to the guiding research question rather than be influenced by an established set of social norms. Only through my immersion into the tumor board cultural setting, am I able to create meaning through symbols in observed behavior. Hammersley and Atkinson (2007) argue that we are necessarily part of the social phenomena we study, and therefore our investigations inevitably involve reflexivity, that is, our background, presuppositions, theories, and prior knowledge influence our research. This limitation will be highlighted at the end of this proposal.