Hi folks,

For my PhD I'm using ethnographic methods and am currently trying to write-up something about the role of theory and ethnography. I know that ethnography is classed as method and methodology, and therefore has it's own theoretical underpinnings and ontological and epistemological assumptions; but it's flipping hard to pin down what these actually are!

So far I have come across some writers who say ethnography fits into the interpretivist paradigm, some who say all ethnographers take a relativist stance, and some who say it's phenomenological.

My question is, can all of these be true at the same time? Do they fit together in some kind of theoretical hierarchy (e.g. relativism is a theoretical position within the interpretivist paradigm etc) or is it just a case of whose opinion you resonate with?

I'm also wanting to carry out a critical realist ethnography (of sorts) and wondered if that's at all compatible with the above paradigms/assumptions?

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated, or suggestions of any clear literature on the subject.

Thanks,
Bethan