The library & information science research in Korea and ethnographic method

한국문헌정보학 연구와 문화기술적 방법

This study aims at introducing 'ethnography' which is one of the most representative qualitative research methods into Library and Information Science research in Korea.. Ethnography, derived from anthropology, helps researchers to understand the whole and deep aspect of the research object. That is because the researcher puts himself into the life-world of the research object and observes it for a long time. Ethnography can be used as an alternative method to quantitative research methods. Until now, Library and Information Science research in Korea has used quantitative research methods in almost every case. From the 1980s so-called 'scientific methods' using hypotheses testing, have provided the major premise for research methodology in Library and Information Science of Korea. And the researchers have seen their research object(Korean Libraries) not in the native perspective but largely in the western(especially American) perspective. There is a need in Korea for more culturally relative research. So the desirability of introducing ethnography and other qualitative research methods into Library and Information Science research in Korea can be summarized as follows : I. Ethnography and other qualitative methods are needed for the researchers to overcome the limitation of quantitative methods which have formed the main methodological paradigm in Library and Information Science research in Korea. While those quantitative scientific methods can be a n.0, pplied to the social sciences, they are not adequate for the social sciences. It is because the research objects of the social sciences are human and social phenomena. II. It is needed that Library and Information Science research in Korea pay more attention to the speciality of Korean libraries. To do researches based on the viewpoint of cultural-relativism, researchers should consider the cultural context of Korean libraries. During the past years researchers in other social science fields in Korea, especially sociology and pedagogy, have gradually a n.0, pplied the methods of ethnography to their fields. These social scientists have attempted to escape from ethnocentrism, a problem which has greatly influenced past and present research methods. To get a holistic and in-depth understanding of Korean libraries on the present stage, and to solve their problems radically, it seems imperative that Library and Information Science research in Korea pay more attention to qualitative research methods such as ethnography.