NEW YORK ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS

New York Ethnographic Methods

New York Ethnographic Methods

Ethnography

Ethnography is notoriously eclectic in its employment of multiple methods of data collection, and ethnographers will typically observe, conduct interviews, and scrutinize relevant archives and artifacts during a single research effort. In ethnographic research, data collection is tailored to meet the information needs of each study; the ethnographer determines the information required to address the study's research questions, and designs a mix of techniques to elicit that information. In his study of Harlem drug dealers, for example, Phillippe Bourgois (1995, p. 13) “spent hundreds of nights on the street and in crackhouses observing dealers and addicts…regularly tape recorded their conversations and life histories, …visited their families, attending parties and intimate reunions, interviewed and in many cases befriended, the spouses, lovers, siblings, mothers, grandmothers, and when possible the fathers and stepfathers of the crack dealers, [and] spent time in the larger community interviewing local politicians and attending institutional meetings.” Dorothy Holland and Margaret Eisenhart (1990, p. 63) followed 23 young women through their first three semesters at two colleges, designed and administered a survey to a random sample of young women at both colleges, and conducted follow up interviews by phone two and four years later with the 23 focus women. This diversity of research methods also allows the ethnographer to triangulate, or cross check, the accuracy of collected data and analytic statements. “Just as a surveyor locates points on a map by triangulating on several sites, so an ethnographer pinpoints the accuracy of conclusions drawn by triangulating with several sources of data.” (LeCompte & Preissle, 1993, p. 48). Merely watching an event, or simply talking with individuals at the scene does not provide checks for either researcher or participant bias. Analyzing data from multiple sources, collected by diverse methods, and supported by a range of theories allows the ethnographer to make comparisons, verify emergent assertions and convey a sense of trustworthiness to the reader.

Given the range of activities inherent in collecting data, ethnographic fieldwork is time intensive. In order to gain the perspective of a community's members, an ethnographer lives in the community for an extended period of time. I spent three years, for instance, in Botswana during in my most recent investigations of literacy. In fact, ever since the Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was sequestered while collecting data in the Triobrand Islands during WWI, one year, or a full cycle of activities, has been considered the minimum duration for fieldwork. While ethnography is time and labor intensive, most ethnographers actually have difficulty leaving the field. As Allen Burns (2000) wrote, “Anthropologists enjoy being in the field; maybe they dream better there.” In deciding when sufficient data has been collected, ethnographers are guided by what David Fetterman calls the law of diminishing returns. “The law of diminishing returns can determine that it is time for the ethnographer to leave the field. When the same specific pattern of behavior emerges over and over again, the fieldworker should move on to a ...