Ethnography, the former province of anthropologists and sociologists, is now entering the mainstream of social research in the United States. One of the strengths of ethnography is the flexibility to adapt methods to historical contingencies. A process referred to as "frame resolution" is used to represent a holistic point of view and to show how larger frames are constructed to characterize group life. Ethnography is considered to be an alternative to social research, with differences in the two methods occurring at several levels. In the area of drug research, ethnography interacts with epidemiology to explain drug abuse. Ethnography is characterized as a sophisticated research approach, an approach whose rich points, grounded theories, and abductive logic typically challenge and complicate prior theoretical and programmatic frameworks. 19 references and 3 figures