In some studies, participants are assigned ethnographic or communicative tasks, such as field-work observation, life-story interviews, and photography. These studies usually involve in-person interaction, both for the participants doing the task and for the researchers in engaging with participants throughout the research process. Our study was…

This case study is aimed at postgraduate and early career researchers who wish to embark on using ethnographic techniques in educational research. The topic in question is school food and its impact upon learning. In this case, it is the social aspect which is being addressed. This research did not aim to address the nutritious element but the way…

This account describes my research experiences as a doctoral student in education, seeking to understand what transition to Higher Education was like for undergraduate students. I was supported throughout the process by my colleague and supervisor Dr Jane Tobbell. I conducted ethnographic research and the case study provides an account of the…

Classrooms are complex environments. Ethnography can help researchers understand these complexities as they gather information by watching and talking with people, reading available reports and records and mapping out the environment. This case adds to existing literature on ethnography as we share our own experiences of what we refer to as…

In this case, I discuss my progression from ethnography toward multimodal ethnography as a necessary methodology to study multiliterate and multimodal lives. I view daily life, social interactions, and meaning-making practices as inherently multimodal. By multimodal, I mean that individuals continually read, interpret, and create meanings that…

Researchers regularly deal with ethical considerations when writing up their research. However, such considerations are rarely addressed in existing research ethics literature. Here, the focus tends to be on ethical considerations that arise in relation to research proposals and "protocols," that is, during the "process" of…

This case provides an account of how micro-ethnography and fiction narratives were used together on a PhD that explores teachers' emotional involvement with their day-to-day work in 'special-alternative' schools. The case study presented here focuses on examining the practicalities and challenges of putting together those methods. A…

My PhD research asks why UK high school mathematics teachers who probably love mathematics do not always fully share this with their students. Currently, I am completing my data collection at the end of my second PhD year. I think that researching this might inform new teachers and classroom practice. There is research in mathematics education…

In 2008, I moved to the Republic of Ireland for 8 months to examine the independent learning of international students while they were simultaneously students and tourists. I was jointly supervised by a sociologist of education and an anthropologist of tourism, and throughout my doctoral project, I was pushed to account for my methodological…