Ethnographies

        Ethnography is the scientific study of a culture.  The exact details of a culture that are taken into consideration varies across disciplines.  An ethnographer becomes a part of the observed culture and participates in basic cultural happenings in order to better understand them. An ethnography is not a look on the outside type study.  It is important to fully embrace the culture to be able to observe every aspect of the culture and not miss any key measures.  It is not possible to observe everything there is about a society, but it is critical to absorb as much as humanly possible in order to get a more full understanding.  The majority of ethnographic studies are done by anthropologists and sociologists.
        The collection of data is always subjective since the majority of data is the ethnographers' personal observations. Because human societies are so complex, an aspect of the selected culture is usually focused on.  That does not mean other aspects should be ignored because there are always links between aspects of societies.  Links are not always obvious, so it is important to keep a sense of broad ideas as well as the details throughout the societies aspects.
        There are many ethical issues that need to be taken into consideration when studying a culture.  The study should not negatively impact the society individuals under study in any way.  The ethnographer should keep an emotional distance from the people of the society as to unnecessarily effect their actions and gather false observations because of their own impact on the society.  They should also not discuss the aim of the ethnography so as to manipulate the peoples' actions to skew their responses.
        An ethnographer also needs to be aware that observations may not always be the exact or full representation of what happened either from a false observation or a loose interpretation of the data.  The fact that the ethnographer is also a participant in the culture means they will always effect the research in some way.  It is the ethnographer's job to keep their effects to a minimum and also consider their influence when observing.
       Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead is an ethnography about the life of young women on the island Ta'u in the Samoa Islands.  It was incredibly influential when it was published in 1928, but it was not received well by many Westerners because of the great difference in culture found on Ta'u.  It opened the eyes of many and solidified Mead as a popular anthropologist in America.  There were many critics that pointed out flaws in her descriptions of the Samoa culture.  There will always be inaccuracies in all ethnographic studies because they are subjective, but they can still strongly influence views and provide valuable knowledge about cultures.