Longitudinal Ethnography — Extended Ethnographic Research Over Time

Longitudinal ethnography is a qualitative research design in which a researcher conducts sustained, repeated fieldwork with the same community, organisation, or group across an extended period — months to decades. By returning to the field at multiple time points, the researcher captures how social processes, meanings, and structures evolve, making it the only qualitative method capable of directly observing change and continuity in lived experience.