Comparer des méthodes

	Ethnographie	Notes de terrain	Observation participante
Domaine	Qualitatif	Méthodologie d'enquête	Recherche qualitative
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	c. 1922 (Malinowski's Argonauts of the Western Pacific)	Late 19th century (formalized in 20th century)	1922
Auteur d'origine	Bronisław Malinowski (modern ethnography); rooted in 19th-century anthropology	Rooted in 19th-century anthropology and sociology; systematized by ethnographers such as Bronislaw Malinowski and later Robert Emerson et al.	Bronislaw Malinowski
Type	Qualitative fieldwork tradition	Qualitative data collection and recording technique	Method
Source fondatrice	Hammersley, M. & Atkinson, P. (2019). Ethnography: Principles in Practice (4th ed.). Routledge. ISBN: 978-1138504462	Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978-0226206813	Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books. ISBN: 978-0465026432
Alias	Etnografi, participant observation, fieldwork, ethnographic research	fieldnotes, observational notes, ethnographic notes, jottings	ethnographic observation, participatory observation, overt observation, immersive observation
Apparentées	5	6	4
Résumé	Ethnography is a qualitative research tradition in which a researcher immerses themselves in a social group or community over an extended period — typically three to six months or longer — to study its culture, values, and behaviours in their natural setting. Originating in social and cultural anthropology, and consolidated as a rigorous method by Bronisław Malinowski in the early twentieth century, ethnography produces rich, contextualised accounts of how people live, work, and make meaning together.	Field notes are detailed written records created by researchers during or immediately after direct observation in a naturalistic setting. They capture what is seen, heard, and experienced — including behaviors, interactions, physical environments, and the researcher's own analytic impressions — forming the primary data source for ethnographic and observational studies.	Participant observation is a qualitative research method in which the researcher embeds themselves within a community, organization, or social setting for an extended period, engaging in the activities and relationships of the group while systematically observing and documenting behavior, interactions, and cultural meaning. Pioneered by Malinowski in the 1920s and developed in anthropology, the method has been adopted across sociology, education, health sciences, and organizational research. The researcher functions as both insider (participating in group activities) and outsider (maintaining analytical distance), generating thick description—rich accounts of context, behavior, and meaning that reveal how people actually live and interact.