One of the first things we need early on in order to conduct a successful ethnographic project is an appropriate guiding question.  Having a guiding question before beginning fieldwork is a good idea because it gives you some way to focus your attention productively in early visits to your fieldsite.  Of course, this question might change in the course of the research as more is learned; this happens often and can be a step towards especially insightful research!

        Guiding questions are aimed at the basic point of ethnography: gaining the world view of a group of people.  Common formats for guiding questions might be:

• How do members of a particular group perceive of or understand a certain social or cultural phenomenon?  (This is often seen through behavior of some kind.)

Example: How do sexually active high school students in rural American conveive of and negotiate the use of birth control?
 

• How is a certain social or cultural practice socially constructed among members of a certain group?

Example: How is arranged marriage socially constructed among matchmakers in contemporary Japan?

Modern ethnographies focus on a central guiding question that connects the local fieldsite to larger anthropological questions about how culture works.  Guiding questions should encode larger questions regarding culture or social practice within them.   See Theoretical Context for more details.

Since everyone is cultural, the ways of life of all groups - familiar, unfamiliar, rich, poor, popular, unpopular - are potential ethnographic topics.  While many ethnographies have focused on the poorest or most disenfranchised populations in societies, students are encouraged to "study up" as well.  This refers to studying powerful groups and institutions.  How and why do these groups gain, maintain, and exercise power?  Note that since groups of people are not homogenous or static, it is often most effective to study a social process at work over time.

In choosing a guiding question, be sure first that it is answerable through ethnographic research.  It may be helpful to review the description of ethnography provided in this site to make sure that your question is appropriate.  Remember that quantitative research, public policy research, and journalism may seem similar but are importantly distinct from ethnography; examples of the kinds of questions these consider are included there.  It is also a good idea to show the guiding question to the professor for help in deciding whether or not it is appropriately anthropological and able to be addressed by ethnographic means.