This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Ethnographic Perspectives for Psychosocial Research and Intervention

Code: 45426 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Psychosocial Research and Intervention OP 1

Contact

Name:
Maria Beatriz San Roman Sobrino
Email:
beatriz.sanroman@uab.cat

Teachers

Joan Pujol Tarres
Joel Feliu Samuel Lajeunesse
Isabel Pellicer Cardona
Cristina Zhang Yu
Verna Alcalde González
Andrea Calsamiglia Madurga

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This course aims to ensure that students who take it understand and delve into ethnographic practice in the field of psychosocial research and intervention.

Specific objectives are as following:

  • Understand the foundations of ethnographic practice within the field of research and psychosocial intervention.
  • Design research or interventions adapted to specific fields using ethnographic methodologies.
  • Know and apply specific techniques for gathering information inherent to ethnography, including autoethnography, drifts, virtual ethnography, and performative ethnography.
  • Develop ethnographic writing skills to effectively document and communicate fieldwork findings.

Learning Outcomes

  1. CA10 (Competence) Design an ethnographic research proposal or psychosocial diagnosis that takes a gender and intersectional perspective into account.
  2. CA11 (Competence) Technically and temporally plan ethnographic material collection procedures adapted to the characteristics and needs of a specific population.
  3. KA11 (Knowledge) Organise methods, techniques and tools for collecting psychosocial data using ethnographic techniques.
  4. KA12 (Knowledge) Identify ethical and political debates arising from the application of an ethnographic perspective to psychosocial research or intervention.
  5. KA13 (Knowledge) Select techniques to analyse empirical material in a justifiable manner from an ethnographic perspective.
  6. KA14 (Knowledge) Identify techniques to analyse ethnografic material in a justifiable manner.
  7. SA08 (Skill) Present the methodology of a psychosocial research or diagnosis with an ethnographic perspective, justifying the procedural proposal bibliographically.
  8. SA09 (Skill) Improve the design of a research project or intervention with a community perspective within a working group.

Content

  • Review of the main perspectives of ethnographic study.
  • Social processes analyzed from the ethnographic perspective.
  • Critical perspectives in ethnographic research.
  • The field diary: principles, uses, and examples.
  • Techniques for collecting ethnographic data: observation, participant observation, and participation in the field of study.
  • Ethnographic writing.
  • Ethnography, autoethnography, virtual ethnography, and drifts.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures and group discussions 24 0.96
Presentatios 6 0.24
Type: Supervised      
Tutoring sessions 7 0.28
Type: Autonomous      
Preparation of tasks. Reading articles/reports of interest. Personal study. 113 4.52

The teaching methodologies may combine the following forms of work: seminars and lectures, individual and group tutorials, elaboration and development of exercises, project presentations, reading of articles and/or relevant reports, and personal study.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Ev1: Final individual project (design and methodology) 50% 0 0 CA10, CA11, KA11, KA12, KA13, KA14, SA08
Ev2: Group assignment 30% 0 0 KA12, KA13, SA08, SA09
Ev3: Integration of the learning of the course into the Master's Thesis 20% 0 0 CA10, CA11, KA11, KA12, KA13, KA14, SA08

This course is assessed based on three pieces of evidence:

Ev1. Final Project (50% of the grade): Individual final project where the design and methodology of the Master's Final Project will be outlined. In the case of the psychosocial intervention pathway, this research will be directed towards intervention, either in the form of diagnosis or needs analysis, or PAR (Participatory Action Research). This final project will be the same as that submitted in any of the other two optional subjects (A3a: “Discursive Perspectives for Psychosocial Research and Intervention” or A3c: “Group and Community Perspectives for Psychosocial Research and Intervention”). That is, the same work will be assessed from two coursess based on each of the corresponding rubrics and will, therefore, have two grades: one for each subject from which it is assessed.

Ev2. Group assignment (30% of the grade): Group exercise on the application of the techniques worked on in the subject. This exercise will take the form of a public presentation in class, on the date previously indicated by the teacher.

Ev3. Integration of the learning of the course into the Master's Thesis (20% of the grade): Monitoring of the final project of the subject with the tutor teacher and achievement of the learning outcomes of the subject. It includes the planning of the final project, the review of the draft, and the review of the final version (in all cases provided that it is submitted at least ten days before the delivery date marked on Moodle).

SINGLE ASSESSMENT
The single assessment will be presented on the same day as the individual final project of the course. The contents will be assessed under similar conditions of format and authorship (individual or collective), through the submission and/or presentation of evidence Ev1 and Ev2.

GRADING
Passed subject: It will be considered passed if the student obtains an average grade of 5 or higher in all assessment tests.
Assessable: It will be considered assessable if the student has submitted learning evidence with a weight equal to or greater than 40% of the total course.
Not assessable: It will be considered not assessable if the weight of the evidence submitted is less than 40% of the total course.

Reassessment: There is no reassessment for this course.

Faculty of Psychology Assessment Guidelines: https://www.uab.cat/web/estudiar/graus/graus/avaluacions-1345722525858.html.

FEEDBACK

In accordance with current regulations, the feedback of the evidences will be made within 3 weeks of the delivery date with the modality indicated in the following table.

 

Return Type

Ev1

Written

Ev2

In the classroom/ Written

Ev3

Tutoring sessions

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed as an integral part of the development of the work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution from the student interms of analysis and personal reflection. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated or reviewed using AI technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI, failure to verify the accuracy of AI-generated content, citation of non-existent bibliographic references, or the use of AI-generated data will be considered academic dishonesty and will result in a grade penalty or more serious sanctions in severe cases.


Bibliography

Adams, Tony E., & Herrmann, Andrew F. (2023). Good AutoethnographyJournal of Autoethnography4(1), 1-9.

Agar, M. (1996). The professional stranger: an informal introduction to ethnography (2nd ed). San Diego: Academic Press.

Alexander, Bryant Keith (2013). Etnografía performativa: La representación y la incitación de la cultura. En Las estrategias de investigación cualitativa: Manual de investigación cualitativa Vol. III (pp. 94-153). Barcelona: Gedisa.

Apud Peláez, Ismael Eduardo (2013). Repensar el método etnográfico: hacia una etnografía multitécnica, reflexiva y abierta al diálogo interdisciplinarioANTÍPODA. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, (16), 213-235.

Ardèvol, Elisenda; Bertrán, Marta; Callén, Blanca & Pérez, Carmen María (2003). Etnografía virtualizada: la observación participante y la entrevista semiestructurada en líneaAthenea Digital, 1(3), 72–92.

Denzin, Norman K. & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (coords.). (1994/2013). Manual de investigación cualitativa. Barcelona: Gedisa.

Destrooper, Tine & Verclyte, Sofie (2022). Artistic Practices as a Site of Human Rights: How Performative Ethnography Can Facilitate a Deeper Contextual Understanding. Journal of Human Rights Practice, 13(3), 565–584.

Di Masso, Andrés; Santoro Lamelas, Valeria; Vivas i Elias, Pep; Pradillo-Caimari, Cristina; Aleu-Barnadas, Laia; Berroeta, Héctor, & Solano-Molina, Raúl (2025). What is so good about walking interviews? Expanding the geo-indexical virtues of making meaning on the moveQualitative Research in Psychology, 1–20. 

Ellis, Carolyn; Adams, Tony E. & Bochner, Arthur P. (2015). Autoetnografía: un panoramaAstrolabio, (14), 249-273.

Emerson, Robert M.; Fretz, Rachel I. & Shaw, Linda L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Goodall, H. Lloyd (2001). Writing the New EthnographyQualitative Research, 1(1), 111-114.

Hammersley, Martyn & Atkinson, Paul (2009). Etnografía: Métodos de investigación. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica.

Hine, Christine (2004). Etnografía virtualBarcelona: UOC.

Østern, Tone; Jusslin, Sofia; Nødtvedt Knudsen, Kristian; Maapalo, Pauliina & Bjørkøy, Ingrid. (2023). A performative paradigm for post-qualitative inquiryQualitative Research23(2), 272–289. 

Papachristophorou, Marilena (2024). Beyond the Method, the Method, Again. In Marilena Papachristophorou (Ed.), Performing Self in Ethnographic Fieldwork (pp. 87–107). Springer Nature Switzerland. 

Pellicer, Isabel; Rojas, Jesús & Vivas, Pep (2012). La deriva: una técnica de investigación psicosocial acorde con la ciudad contemporánea. Boletín de Antropología Universidad de Antioquia, 27(44), 144-163.

Pellicer, Isabel; Vivas-Elias, Pep & Rojas, Jesús. (2013). La observación participante y la deriva: dos técnicas móviles para el análisis de la ciudad contemporánea. El caso de Barcelona. EURE (Santiago)39(116), 119-139.   

Pink, Sarah; Horst, Heather; Postill, John; Hjorth, Larissa; Lewis, Tania & Tacchi, Jo (2016). Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice. SAGE.

Ropert, María Teresa; Pinto de Carvalho, Laís & Pellicer, Isabel (2022). Micropolíticas del movimiento: aportes metodológicos desde la investigación cualitativa crítica. Anuario de Psicología/The UB Journal of Psychology, 52(1).  

San Román, Beatriz (2013). De los" hijos del corazón" a los" niños abandonados": construcción de" los orígenes" en la adopción en España. Papeles del psicólogo34(1), 2-10.

Van Maanen, John (2011). Tales of the field: on writing ethnography (2nd ed). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wolcott, Harry F. (2008). Ethnography: a way of seeing (2nd ed). Lanham: Altamira Press.


Software

This course promotes the use of free software for ethical and political reasons. We recommend that students use free tools.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 Spanish first semester afternoon