Ethnography in Rehabilitation: Methodological Applications

This chapter will provide an outline of ethnography as a methodology, coincided with reflections of research methods within an ethnographic study for prospective rehabilitation practitioners. The chapter will begin by providing a brief overview and outline the virtues of undertaking ethnographic research amongst service users. Then, the researchers focus on some of their own ethnographic methods, some commonplace and another unique. This is supported with important methodological issues that take place within the field and how these provide both opportunity and uncertainty. Central to these discussions are the authors’ reflections on the radiography environment, an imaging environment previously underexplored in the field. Lastly, this chapter considers the voice of participants and how they can be represented in away that remains authentic and not tokenistic. This content will be linked to undertaking an ethnographic study with service users within rehabilitation services.