“A lot of it is about feel”: The promise of sensory ethnography for anatomical education research

Ethnographers have constructed rich accounts of cultural settings since the early nineteenth century. A new approach, sensory ethnography, holds great promise for Health Professions Education scholars in its incorporation of the senses, particularly regarding anatomical teaching and learning. In this article, we describe sensory ethnography as a promising approach for anatomical sciences education research. We draw on our sensory ethnographic research on human donor learning programs to provide concrete examples of this approach in action, in all its complexity and promise. We explore how the senses can be woven into key phases of the research process and describe challenges and considerations we grappled with during our research. Finally, drawing on our research data, we offer five key ways sensory ethnography can elevate our understanding of Health Professions Education.