Comment on 'Ethnography asa methodological descriptor:the editors reply

We appreciated the thoughtful commentary by Dixon-Woods and Shojania1 in response to emerging issues around methods and scholarship, particularly those using qualitative methods. Dixon-Woods and Shojania make important points in this commentary, but there are two issues with which we are concerned. Most importantly, we are concerned about both ends of a continuum in using ‘quick’ approaches that draw on the rich traditions of ethnography. On one side, the pressure to learn methods quickly and adapt them for rapid use can lead to loss of richness, dumbing down the study. On the other, insistence on purity of method can lead to a guild-enforced set of requirements. Such restrictions of practice to ‘card-carrying’ members of a guild—be they medical anthropologists or biostatisticians or practicing physicians—need to be scrutinised sceptically. We agree with the need for deep understanding of complex methods, and training in methods that goes beyond a...
Source: BMJ Quality and Safety - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research