A Comparison Between Two Research Methods in Cultural Sturdies: Ethnography and Ethnomethodology

In this paper, ethnography and ethnomethodology are compared as two research methods to investigate culture. Ethnography as a well-established method in anthropology sometimes is applied inappropriately and ethnomethodology has not been used very often in Iran as a research method. Descriptions of the two research methods include a review of their definitions, characteristics, presuppositions, theoretical frameworks, practical principles, methods of data collection, and diverse types of them. On the other side, our comparison between these methods includes an exploration on their similarities and differences, different attitudes toward them, as well as the status of each of them in the context of historical-epistemological traditions that are considered as their cultivating conditions. At the end of the paper, some examples of Ethnomethodological Ethnography are presented to manifest the Proximity of these two research methodologies. In the study of research methods, it is very important to go beyond stereotypes and do a close study of various aspects of them in order to pay attention to their inextricably and reciprocal effects. Ethnography and ethnomethodology are related to each other in complex ways. Ethnomethodology seems to warn ethnography to be careful about its descriptive ambitions. Ethnomethodology will also need ethnography, verbal depictions and characterizations of events in particular places and at particular times.