Jämför metoder

	Kritisk etnografi	Aktionsforskning	Discourse Analysis
Ämnesområde	Kvalitativa metoder	Kvalitativ forskning	Kvalitativ forskning
Familj	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Ursprungsår	Late 20th century (~1980s–1993 systematisation)	1946	1989 (Fairclough); 1987 (Potter & Wetherell)
Upphovsperson	Jim Thomas (systematised); rooted in Frankfurt School critical theory (Adorno, Horkheimer) and feminist/postcolonial traditions	Kurt Lewin; expanded by Kemmis, McTaggart, Reason & Bradbury	Norman Fairclough; Jonathan Potter and Margaret Wetherell
Typ	Qualitative research method	Method	Method
Ursprungskälla	Thomas, J. (1993). Doing Critical Ethnography. Sage Publications.	Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2(4), 34–46.	Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. Longman.
Alias	critical ethnographic research, critical qualitative ethnography, advocacy ethnography, emancipatory ethnography	Participatory Action Research, PAR, Collaborative Inquiry	DA, Critical Discourse Analysis, Discursive Analysis
Närliggande	6	1	2
Sammanfattning	Critical ethnography is a qualitative research approach that combines sustained fieldwork immersion with explicit critical theory to examine how power, inequality, and ideology shape the lived experiences of marginalised communities. Unlike conventional ethnography, which aims to describe a culture as it is, critical ethnography commits the researcher to questioning what is taken for granted and to producing knowledge that can serve as a resource for social change. Rooted in Frankfurt School critical theory and expanded through feminist, postcolonial, and race-critical traditions, it treats the research process itself as a political act.	Action research is a collaborative research methodology in which researchers work with practitioners and community members to investigate a problem, implement change, and evaluate outcomes, cycling through reflection, action, and learning. Developed by Kurt Lewin (1946), action research bridges research and practice, aiming simultaneously to produce knowledge and practical improvement.	Discourse analysis is a qualitative research methodology that examines how language, communication, and power shape meaning, identity, and social reality. Developed across linguistics, sociology, and psychology (particularly by Norman Fairclough and Jonathan Potter), discourse analysis goes beyond content to analyze language use as a social practice that constitutes and reflects power relations, ideologies, and social structures.