Hnatiuk focused primarily on West Ukraine, gathering information about folk songs, legends, customs and dialects.
Volodymyr Hnatiuk was born on May 9, 1871, in Velesniv, Buchach powiat, Galicia (now located in Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine).
When he was a freshman at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv he took an interest in the folklore of residents of the southern slopes of the Carpathians.
Personally conducted by Ivan Franko he edited the ethnographic collection "Materials for Ukrainian Ethnology".
The collected materials are celebrated for accuracy of record and have great importance for the further study of culture and life of Ukrainian, especially of Carpathian residents.
Numerous works on comparative ethnography, linguistics, literary criticism, organizing and publishing folkloristic materials, were also created by Volodymyr Hnatiuk.