Ethnography essentials : designing, conducting, and presenting your research

Ethnography Essentials: Designing, Conducting, and Presenting Your Research......Page 3
CONTENTS......Page 5
PREFACE......Page 9
THE BASIS FOR THIS BOOK......Page 10
NOTE TO STUDENTS......Page 11
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 12
THE AUTHOR......Page 15
PART 1: THE WHY AND WHAT OF ETHNOGRAPHY......Page 17
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 19
A BRIEF HISTORY......Page 20
HOW ETHNOGRAPHY HAS CHANGED: DOING CONTEMPORARY ETHNOGRAPHY......Page 24
ETHNOGRAPHY AS FIRSTHAND RESEARCH......Page 28
ETHNOGRAPHER AS RESEARCH INSTRUMENT......Page 29
COLLABORATION AS RESEARCH MODEL: ETHNOGRAPHER AS STUDENT......Page 31
SUMMARY......Page 33
KEY TERMS......Page 34
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 35
WHERE TO LOOK FOR POSSIBLE TOPICS......Page 38
THE BENEFITS OF A RELATIVELY SPECIFIC FOCUS......Page 39
THINKING ABOUT THE NONOBVIOUS AS DISCOVERABLE......Page 42
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND BEHAVIOR IN ACTION AS RESEARCH OBJECTS......Page 44
PRACTICAL CONCERNS......Page 45
CONSIDERING ETHICS FROM THE START: YOUR OBLIGATIONS TO POTENTIAL INFORMANTS......Page 48
TOPICS YOU MIGHT WANT TO AVOID......Page 49
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 51
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 53
TURNING AN IDEA OR TOPIC INTO A RESEARCH QUESTION......Page 54
LINKING QUESTIONS TO METHODS......Page 56
KEY METHODS TO CONSIDER FOR THE ETHNOGRAPHIC PROJECT......Page 57
WHAT IS PRACTICAL OR FEASIBLE? TIME, AVAILABILITY, AND ETHICS......Page 63
KEY TERMS......Page 65
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 66
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 67
IDENTIFYING AND REVIEWING APPROPRIATE LITERATURE......Page 68
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM......Page 71
A CLEAR RESEARCH PLAN......Page 72
IDENTIFYING YOUR PROJECT’S LARGER RELEVANCE......Page 74
HUMAN SUBJECTS REVIEW AND APPROVAL......Page 75
KEY TERMS......Page 78
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 79
PART 2: ETHNOGRAPHY IN THE FIELD: COLLECTING DATA......Page 81
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 83
“SHOULD I WRITE IT DOWN IMMEDIATELY?”......Page 86
THE IMPORTANCE OF DETAIL IN THE ETHNOGRAPHIC RECORD......Page 87
WRITING NOTES VERSUS USING RECORDERS......Page 88
THE PROSPECTS OF TRANSCRIPTION......Page 90
WHAT IS IMPORTANT AND WHAT IS SUPERFLUOUS: “WHAT DO I NEED TO WRITE DOWN?”......Page 92
THE ETHICS OF COLLECTING INFORMATION......Page 94
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 96
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 99
THE APPARENT PARADOX: PARTICIPATION AND OBSERVATION......Page 100
BALANCING PARTICIPATION AND OBSERVATION......Page 103
THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME......Page 104
DEPENDING ON INFORMANTS AS TEACHERS AND GUIDES......Page 105
GETTING STARTED......Page 108
REGULAR VERSUS EXTRAORDINARY BEHAVIOR AND CONVERSATIONS......Page 110
KEY TERMS......Page 113
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 114
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 115
STARTING WITH INFORMAL INTERVIEWS AND CONVERSATIONS......Page 117
INFORMAL CONVERSATION AS AN AVENUE TO “REAL” CULTURE......Page 120
HOW TO RECORD INTERVIEW DATA......Page 121
USING AN INTERVIEW SCHEDULE......Page 123
HOW TO START AN INTERVIEW......Page 124
GOOD VERSUS BAD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS......Page 125
KEY TERMS......Page 129
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 130
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 131
IDENTIFYING KEY THEMES AND QUESTIONS: PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR DATA......Page 132
HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR NOTES......Page 133
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?......Page 134
WHAT DO YOU STILL NEED TO DO?......Page 135
HAS THE RESEARCH QUESTION CHANGED?......Page 136
TWEAKING THE RESEARCH DESIGN......Page 137
GETTING FEEDBACK FROM YOUR INFORMANTS......Page 138
WRITING AT THE MIDWAY POINT......Page 139
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 141
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 143
THE IMPORTANCE OF SPACE, SHAPE, AND DISTANCE......Page 147
LARGE-AND SMALL-SCALE GEOGRAPHIC MAPS......Page 148
MAPPING INTERIOR SPACES......Page 151
COGNITIVE OR CONCEPTUAL MAPS......Page 154
REPRESENTING MOVEMENT AND BEHAVIOR ON A MAP......Page 157
KEY TERMS......Page 158
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 159
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AS A MANIFESTATION OF CULTURE......Page 160
KINSHIP AS AN ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE......Page 162
OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS......Page 165
KEY TERMS......Page 170
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 171
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 173
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS AS SOURCES OF INFORMATION......Page 174
MAKING ETHNOGRAPHIC USE OF ARCHIVES......Page 177
CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL ARTIFACTS......Page 180
EVALUATING AND ANALYZING CULTURAL ARTIFACTS......Page 182
ANALYTICAL SOURCES VERSUS POPULAR OR PRIMARY SOURCES......Page 183
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 184
PART 3: ANALYZING AND WRITING......Page 187
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 189
WRITING FROM YOUR RESEARCH DATA......Page 190
IDENTIFYING KEY THEMES AND QUESTIONS......Page 191
IDENTIFYING IMPORTANT RESEARCH MOMENTS AND EXPERIENCES......Page 192
CODING AND SORTING THE ETHNOGRAPHIC RECORD......Page 194
DEALING WITH APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS: THE MESSINESS OF ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA......Page 197
KEY TERMS......Page 198
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 199
FITTING THE PIECES TOGETHER......Page 200
REMEMBERING THE BIG PICTURE AND THE BIG QUESTIONS......Page 206
INFUSING THEORY IN ETHNOGRAPHY......Page 208
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 209
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 211
COMMON ETHNOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS......Page 212
THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHNOGRAPHIC DETAIL......Page 218
MATCHING STYLE TO AUDIENCE, SUBJECT, AND ANALYSIS......Page 220
A FORMAL TO INFORMAL CONTINUUM OF STYLE......Page 222
KEY TERMS......Page 224
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 225
LEARNING OBJECTIVES......Page 227
THE HOURGLASS SHAPE AS A MODEL......Page 228
ALTERNATIVE MODELS FOR ORGANIZING AN ETHNOGRAPHY......Page 229
INCORPORATING RELEVANT LITERATURE......Page 230
INCORPORATING MAPS, CHARTS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS......Page 231
DEMONSTRATING THE PROJECT’S RELEVANCE......Page 232
EVALUATING AND REVISING ETHNOGRAPHY......Page 233
SHARING THE ETHNOGRAPHY......Page 234
INCORPORATING RESPONSES AND CRITIQUES......Page 236
SUMMARY......Page 237
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS......Page 238
GLOSSARY......Page 239
REFERENCES......Page 247
INDEX......Page 251