Q: Jon wonders, “What kinds of questions must one ask when one takes an anthropological/ethnographic perspective to study the media? What methods would I use and what questions would I ask if I was doing an ethnographic study on television?”
A: Hi Jon,
Thanks for your question.
My first piece of advice is to narrow your research question a little bit—what aspect of the media/television are you most interested in? Depending on your objective—then you should begin thinking about where you need to go and who you need to talk to in order to begin to develop an understanding of your topic. For example, if your question is to understand the experience of those who watch television/are influenced by the media, then you would start with creating a list of all of the types of people you want to understand and the different contexts you would need to be in to help enrich your understanding. On the other hand, if your question is to understand those who produce media—then you would need to talk to a very different set of people and visit a very different set of contexts.
Still, no matter what your research question, in order to take an ethnographic approach, you would need to make sure that you conduct your fieldwork in the places and during the times that allow you to get a well rounded understanding of your topic. You want to be there in the moments when people experience the thing you are trying to understand and you would want to get a sense for the cultural variables that impact the who/when/how/what of your topic. You will also want to make sure that your fieldwork is inductive. Ethnography is a process that combines a very open ended approach to data collection with an iterative generation of theory/understanding.
The types of questions you ask depend on what your research objective is, but no matter what your question, interviewing should be conducted in a way that encourages your participant to tell you a story!
Good luck to you,
Melinda