Ethnography in Counseling Psychology Research

Possibilities for Application

Suzuki, Lisa A.
Ahluwalia, Muninder K.
Mattis, Jacqueline S.
Quizon, Cherubim A.

¹Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University
²Department of Counseling, Human Development, and Educational Leadership, College of Education and Human Services, Montclair State University
³Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Seton Hall University

⁴Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lisa A. Suzuki, Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University, 239 Greene Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10003. E-mail: [email protected]

Received Date: August 23, 2004; Revised Date: October 14, 2004; Accepted Date: October 27, 2004

Journal of Counseling Psychology 52(2):p 206-214, April 2005.

The emphasis placed on prolonged engagement, fieldwork, and participant observation has prevented wide-scale use of ethnography in counseling psychology. This article provides a discussion of ethnography in terms of definition, process, and potential ethical dilemmas. The authors propose that ethnographically informed methods can enhance counseling psychology research conducted with multicultural communities and provide better avenues toward a contextual understanding of diversity as it relates to professional inquiry.