Dialogical ethnography

In this chapter, a hybrid methodology for the study of group interactions is outlined. The method is suited for the problematization of social categories (e.g., gender, ethnicity, and race) in the research process. The ethnographic approach is reframed within a sociocultural perspective and thus called dialogical ethnography. Because dialogical theory and analysis are key elements in sociocultural theory, the ethical and procedural aspects of the analysis are derived from dialogism. It is an exploratory methodology for qualitative analysis and involves the construction of a data corpus from theoretically informed participant observations. The three-step-process for analysis consists of: (1) describing the social as crystallization of social categories, (2) identifying different voices in interactions around the topic, with a focus on how agreements are reached, and disagreements resolved, and (3) tracing regularities and strategies as patterns, which speak to iterative aspects of the group and people’s way of engaging with the world. Built from a sociocultural approach, it allows understanding different forms and configurations of people’s interactions. This qualitative method can be used in dialogical case studies and in multi/mixed-method designs as a way to understand social categories as they appear and are negotiated in interaction. This allows addressing the naturalization and invisibilization of the constructed nature of social categories.