Q: Do you think ethnomethodology helps us in getting reliable and valid data ? Justify your answer.

Model Answer:

Ethnomethodology & Its use in Sociology

Ethnomethodology, developed by Harold Garfinkel in 1967, examines how members of society accomplish the quantity of everyday behavior and create social order through common-sense knowledge and everyday interactions. The method’s reliability and validity in data collection deserves careful analysis.

Methodological Strengths:

– Common Sense Knowledge Focus: Ethnomethodology reveals how members use common-sense knowledge to make their activities “visibly-rational-and-reportable” (accountable). Garfinkel’s “breaching experiments” demonstrated how violating taken-for-granted norms disrupts social order.

– Sequential Organization Study: The method emphasizes detailed observation of conversational interactions, including non-verbal elements like hesitations, silences, and gestures, providing rich contextual data about social order.

– Gender Accomplishment Analysis: As demonstrated in Garfinkel’s case study of Agnes (a male-to-female transsexual), it reveals how gender is ‘accomplished’ through practical methodological displays and everyday practices.

– Context-Shaped Interactions: The approach captures how interactions are both shaped by previous context and create context for future interactions, revealing the dynamic nature of social reality.

– Practical Reasoning Documentation: Its focus on members’ actual methods for making sense of everyday activities provides authentic insights into social organization.

Methodological Limitations:

– Micro-Level Constraints: The method’s focus on everyday activities might overlook larger social structures that Parsonian sociology emphasizes.

– Documentation Complexity: Capturing all aspects of interactions (hesitations, cut-offs, restarts, silences, non-verbal behaviors) requires extremely detailed data collection.

– Context Autonomy: Treating conversations as autonomous might disconnect them from broader cognitive and contextual factors.

– Turn-by-Turn Management: The local basis of analyzing interactions might miss longer-term patterns and influences.

– Sequential Dependency: The method’s reliance on sequential organization might overlook simultaneous or parallel social processes.

Analysis and Justification:

While ethnomethodology may not provide traditionally reliable data in terms of statistical significance, it offers valid insights through:
1. Detailed documentation of practical activities
2. Analysis of indigenous problem-solving methods
3. Understanding of social accountability
4. Natural observation of organizational practices
5. Focus on members’ own methods of sense-making

Conclusion:
Despite its limitations, ethnomethodology provides valuable insights into how social reality is accomplished through everyday practices. When combined with other methods, it generates valid and meaningful sociological data about social order maintenance.