Abstract
This chapter provides a basic introduction to ethnographic methodology and explores its implementation in settings relevant to psychologists, arguing that its use potentially can give researchers insight into human experiences that are otherwise diffi cult to access. After describing some of the basic tools of this methodology (such as participant observation, map-making, census, informal interview, and object- or photo-elicitation), the authors make a case for considering and using a number of the key features underlying this approach to research, including sustained contact, attention to place, pansensory investigation, and emergent theory generation. We then discuss how psychologists can engage with a concentrated version of ethnographic methodology—focused ethnography—and provide two brief examples to illuminate its practical use.