Social Roles in the Ethnographic Fieldwork

This paper investigates the concept of social roles in ethnographic fieldwork, its place in the global literature discussing qualitative research methods, and its application in the Ethiopian ethnographic fieldwork. I discuss that social roles are all about seeing one’s role and status, in this case, as researchers, in the social structure of a society or community we do the ethnographic research. Based on my own experience and the experience of other ethnographers elsewhere, I argue that a conscious use of our social roles is a sin qua non for successful ethnographic fieldwork. However, this concept has been given less emphasis in the literature of qualitative research methods. Social roles in the ethnographic fieldwork are especially less known in the Ethiopian ethnographic research experience.