  ethnomethodology is a method for understanding the social orders people use to make sense of the world through analysing their accounts and descriptions of their day-to-day experiences.karamjit s. gill (1996). human machine symbiosis. springer. page 330. it is an alternative to the american sociological approach to data analysis born in the 1960s with its theoretical and epistemological importance being that it is a radical breach from traditional sociological modes of thinking.alain coulon (1995). ethnomethodology. london: sage publications. page 1. isbn 0-8039-4777-1.paul attewell (1974). ethnomethodology since garfinkel. theory and society, vol. 1, no. 2 (summer, 1974), pp. 179-210 the term itself was originally coined by harold garfinkel in 1954,harold garfinkel (2002). ethnomethodology's program. new york: rowman and littlefield. isbn 0-7425-1642-3. page 4. but the discipline itself has changed from garfinkel's original programme to the point where it is no longer recognisable.j.r. bergmann (2004). ethmethodology. in: u. flick, e. von kardorff & i. steinke (eds.) a companion to qualitative research; pp.72-81. ethnomethodology is a descriptive discipline and does not engage in the explanation or evaluation of the particular social order undertaken as a topic of study.wes w. sharrock, bob anderson, r. j. anderson (1986). the ethnomethodologists. london: taylor & francis. isbn 0-85312-949-5. page 18 as a method, it is used in ethnographic studies to describe people's methods that they use in everyday situations.randall collins, michael makowsky (1978). the discovery of society. london: random house. page 232 ==definition== the term's etymology can be broken down into its three constituent parts: ethno - method - ology, for the purpose of explanation. using an appropriate southern california example: ethno refers to a particular socio-cultural group [think a particular, localized community of surfers]; method refers to the methods and practices this particular group employs in its everyday activities [related to surfing]; and ology refers to the systematic description of these methods and practices. the focus of the investigation used in our example is the social order of surfing, the ethnomethodological interest is in the "how" [the methods and practices] of the production and maintenance of this social order. in essence ethnomethology attempts to create classifications of the social actions of individuals within groups through drawing on the experience of the groups directly, without imposing on the setting the opinions of the researcher with regards to social order, as is the case with sociological studies.michael lynch, scientific practice and ordinary action: ethnomethodology and social studies of science, cambr
Methods_in_sociology Science_and_technology_studies Sociological_paradigms Sociological_theories