Etnografinio interviu (apklausos) episteminė vertė ir ribos: pokalbiai su gydytojais apie COVID-19 pandemiją

In ethnographic research, participant observation and ethnographic view are inseparable from talking with people, hearing their stories, words and language. They are research actions, methods and sources of knowledge that supplement and enrich each other. However, in Lithuanian ethnology, it is historically characteristic to give priority to the methodology of an interview (enquiry) based on a questionnaire instead of observation. This article discusses the ethnographic experience during research on the Covid-19 pandemic, when it appeared that data from ethnographic interviews differs from, and even contrasts with, the facts of observation. The concept of ‘patchwork ethnography’, developed by anthropologists during the pandemic (Gűnel, Varma, Watanabe 2020), became an effective methodological and theoretical approach, which opened the way to understanding the reality of the pandemic.