Ethnographic Debriefing

Abstract

Debriefing is not a substitute for ethnographic interviewing but a complement to it. It may be about content, context, or both. It is helpful in situations or descriptions of events in which recording is not possible or permitted. It is one of the best methods for supplying ethnographic context to interviews that the interviewer may have overlooked—it then becomes an interview about an interview. Debriefing may be self-debriefing, one-on-one, one information giver to a group of debriefers, or a group session. Particularly the latter is an excellent teaching tool for ethnographic methods.