Jharkhand Journal of Development and Management Studies XISS, Ranchi, Vol. 12, No.1, March 2014, pp. 5709-5730 ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH: HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR THROUGH TEXT AND CONTEXT Sudeep Kumar* The modern societies world over are transforming rapidly due to their complex structures, need and demands, and ongoing interactions of the diversified changing factors. This rapid pace of social change has made the entire social fabric and human behaviour complicated giving rise to a number of human problems. Understanding human behaviour poses a formidable challenge to social scientists as each person is different from all others in terms of outlook, genetic makeup, attitude, thought process and above all behaviour. Collecting, analyzing and interpreting the quantitative data in terms of numbers and quanitities is not sufficient as the reality experienced by the respondents remain untouched while understanding any social problem and the complex human behaviour. Under such circumstances, for understanding human behaviour ethnographic research seems to be pertinent and very useful as it involves holistic approach. Collecting high quality data through ethnographic research always concentrates on a researchers ability to interact within the community he/she is studying and to observe the behaviour of its members. The idea is usually to see how people make sense out of their daily activities, actions and decisions. Similarly, unlike quantitative data in the forms of numbers ethnographic interpretations involve interpreting peoples socially sanctioned and non-sanctioned behaviour as they appear out of the empirical field work research data in the form of words, texts, narratives, notes and so on. In the light of the above, using primary as well as secondary data the present paper makes an attempt to unfold the basic assumptions and characteristics of ethnography as a research methodology, limitations of the technique and its usefulness in holistic understanding of human behaviour. Anthropology is the most Humanistic of Sciences and the most Scientific of the Humanities  A.L. Kroeber Introduction Human beings world over are known for their complexity and diversity. Their social networks and their relationships are like spider webs which extend outward in intricate patterned structures; each of which are organized and perform a valuable function either singularly or collectively. They are powerful beings with the ability to mould and shape their physical, biological and socio-cultural environments as easily as the latter would and shape them. The current challenge before the social scientists is how to make correct sense out of each person and his groups way of life in the light of this diversity and complexity. 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Research & Publications, Xavier Institute of Social Service, Dr. Camil Bulcke Path, Ranchi - 834001 (Jharkhand), E-mail: skg74@rediffmail.com 5709