Ethnography Research: Choosing Your Subculture

Mike Jindra, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, developed a guide with some great examples to help you choose your subculture. Suggestions include:

Organizations--examples: clubs (hobby, fan, sports/recreation, country, social, school activity, service, etc...), churches, political, professional. See Wikipedia for a list of organizations.

Events--examples: conferences, conventions, festivals, ceremonies, sports. 

Activities or Hobbies--examples: cooking, baking, gardening, hiking, climbing, knitting, gaming, sports, bird watching, geocaching, collecting. See Wikipedia for a list of hobbies.

Workers--employees and volunteers for different industries. See the Bureau of Labor Statistics list of industries.

Groups of People--examples: nerds, goths, bronies, cosplayers, skaters, trekkies, etc. 

Cultural Productions--examples: theatres, museums, media, etc.

Issues--examples: political, social, religious, cultural, local, state, national.

Places--think of different communities. examples: nationalities, ethnicities, city/state residents, neighborhoods, schools, etc.