Finding the Social in Physician Narratives: The Example of Institutional Ethnography

Learn more about Institutional Ethnography (IE) with Dr. Fiona Webster (Associate Professor in the Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University). Institutional Ethnography is an approach to research that begins in the standpoint of people and then moves outward to explore the often invisible social relations that structure their lives. As a methodology, IE is especially interested in the ways that text coordinates people’s work and activities. Texts link people’s everyday experiences to broader institutional goals.

In this seminar, Fiona will reflect on a recent study that explored the social coordination of care for patients with chronic pain. One of Fiona’s overarching overarching research questions is: “How do physicians describe the work they do in caring for patients?” This study also serves as a valuable example of how IE can be used to explore the ways that the discourses, logic and concerns of institutions enter into the everyday language of care providers.

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