Ethnography within its wider field of research is described as the study of people's behaviour in terms of social contexts, with emphasis on interaction in everyday situations (Lindsay, 1997). It is further defined as research that constitutes the art and science of describing a group or culture (Fetterman, 1989). However, the specific definition that will be used throughout this work, is that of its role within qualitative research, which is summarised by Wainwright (1997) in his paper in The Qualitative Report, stating that ethnography can be distinguished as:

"...the attempt to obtain an in-depth understanding of the meanings and 'definitions of the situation' presented by informants, rather than the quantitative 'measurement' of their characteristics or behaviour" pp1.

The technique of ethnography is a holistic approach, in order to achieve a complete and comprehensive picture of a social group (Fetterman, 1989). There are two main techniques within ethnography, that is firstly, interviews, and secondly, observational methods of participant and non-participant forms (Goetz and LeCompte, 1984; Hammersley, 1990; Lindsay,

Participant observation is one aspect of observational ethnography. As the traditional method of field anthropology, participant observation is where the researcher has access to a community and spends time living within it, joining the group as a full member, participating in activities and is accepted by the group (Lindsay, 1997). The second form of observational qualitative research is non-participant observation. This is where the observer does not infiltrate the group itself, or join in with group activities, but watches their behaviour, by various means such as following the group around, and asking them questions. A technique frequently used within this research is film, photographic, audio or video methods for recording information (Lindsay, 1997).

Fetterman, D.M. (1989) Ethnography: Step by Step: Applied Social Research Methods Series Volume 17, Sage Publications, London.

The first form of ethnographic research is interviews. These are where a respondent is asked a number of questions by the interviewer, and the interviewer records the answers. Interviews can be of the in depth conversational type, which are like guided conversations, where the interviewer converses with the respondent; or the second type, which is a semi-structured interview in a format similar to an oral questionnaire. There is also a immense range of varying techniques within both of these forms, an example being closed or open ended questions (Lindsay, 1997; Wainwright, 1997).

The benefits that observational studies have over interviews in general, are that they are particularly useful in gaining in depth information, below the surface of peoples answers, to the motives behind them, and why people actually behave they way they do. Moreover, this type of research gives detailed information especially where the interviewer wants to grasp respondents experiences from a bottom-up approach, and it is a useful method in situations where interviews or questionnaires are deemed unsuitable, such as football matches (Lindsay, 1997).

Notoriously, ethnographic research depends on a variety of factors. It is exceptionally broad in its nature and the main conclusive findings are the subjective, ambiguous nature to the study, means that there is no right or wrong answers in whether ethnography is valid, relevant or appropriate in a study relating to how residential satisfaction influences community participation.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Goetz LeCompte, Qualitative Report, Participation Ethnography, lindsay 1997, wainwright 1997, residential satisfaction, community participation, participant observation, Buckingham Hammersley, satisfaction community participation, residential satisfaction community, ethnographic research, haralambos 1986, satisfaction community, London Haralambos, Classroom Ethnography, fetterman 1989, qualitative research, Systematic Studies, Series Volume, Research Academic, Report Vol, 1997 wainwright 1997, variables residential satisfaction, lindsay 1997 wainwright,
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