Ethnomethodology and Qualitative Research in Health Sciences

observing, listening and discribing

Abstract

After recalling the theoretical reversal made by ethnomethodology and the frequent misinterpretations associated with it, this article develops some of the features of ethnomethodology, as a sociology of practical achievements, which seeks to investigate the practice of ordinary social actors who constantly apply their social
skills through their “practical sociological reasoning”. This competence is not restricted to a few, such as sociologists for example, but is practiced by all human beings in their daily exchanges. Taking into account this founding aspect, the article develops, in accordance to certain concepts of ethnomethodology, three “elementary” operations that any researcher in the fields of health or education, and more generally
in the social and human sciences, can easily carry out: observation, listening, and description.