Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

The Kodiak Study: Narratives Of Diversity And Acceptance On The American Frontier, Steve Drewry

The Qualitative Report

This article describes a qualitative study of diversity and acceptance on the American frontier comprised of interview data and ethnographic observations gleaned from a sample of residents on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Convenience and snowball sampling methods were used to select the study population, after which individual interviews with people who are members of various cultural groups were completed by the researcher. Also included in the study are elements of anthropological investigation, historical context and thick description. The data were analyzed using (primarily) narrative and thematic analysis placed in the cultural context of life on Kodiak Island. Findings suggest that multiple …

Letters To Grandma: A Comparison Of Generational Perspectives Of Women's Growth As Higher Education Faculty, Elyn Mcreynolds Palmer

The Qualitative Report

This ethnographic compilation is the result of a course exercise in qualitative research. A current student of Texas Tech University interviewed an 87-yearold faculty member from the 1950s, comparing her experiences to those of the author in similar, present-day academic environments. The author developed the format of the paper as letters between a young faculty member and her experienced grandmother. Results of the study reflect many similarities between the experiences of past female faculty members and female faculty of today; the exercise does convey, however, many advances for women in the academic culture as well. Finally, the recorded experiences of …

A Good Old Age: Experiencing A Satisfying Life, Kaitlin Thimann

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The definition of successful aging has been changing, however, there is a lack of current studies on existing aging trends and how to experience a good old age. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe themes and factors that can lead to an individual experiencing a good old age. This study is a qualitative, exploratory ethnography in which interviews were used to gather information on a good old age from adults aged sixty-five and older. The study revealed that there were several common factors throughout the interviews. Physical and mental health, social support, and financial stability are …

The Impact Of Downsizing And Efficiency Measures On Anti-Fraud Resources, Marek Palasinski

The Qualitative Report

The main purpose of this study was to explore the impact of downsizing and efficiency measures on two key elements of operational performance - fraud detection and fraud reporting. Qualitative data were obtained from ethnographic observations of two major multinational insurance companies, which were already examined before the Global Financial Crisis, and subjected to an inter - and intra - business comparative analysis of anti - fraud resources. The paper points out a big discrepancy in opinions on the downsizing effects between junior staff and their supervisors. Whereas the latter present them as enabling the business to deal with suspicious …

Alive In The Reading: Nayaran And Chekhov, Laurie Ecke

The Qualitative Report

Kirin Nayaran's Alive in the Writing: Crafting Ethnography in the Company of Chekhov is a five - section book about finding "company amid the often isolating and difficult aspects of writing" (p. xiii). As an English Literature major, I recall the basic tenets of story - writing: plot, setting, and characterization. Narayan's chapters offer a kinder entry. "Story and Theory" invoke Anton Chekhov as an ethnographic companion offering expertise about the essentials of writing a good story. "Place," "Person," and "Voice" take the innocent writer further in to the power of writing, until "Self" provides a denouement of sorts, when …

Strategies For Data Gathering And Reporting Voices From The Field: A Review Of Applied Ethnography: Guidelines For Field Research, Loum S.L. Constantine

The Qualitative Report

The importance of applied research cannot be underestimated in this era of evidence - based implementation of intervention programs in health, community development, education, agriculture and other applied disciplines. Research reports of many qualitative studies have turned out short on quality due to poor data gathering techniques, analysis and write - up of findings. “Applied ethnography: guidelines for field research” is an authoritative narrative answering to this serious methodological flaws in applied research within ethnographic context. It presents rich and deep practical field experiences applicable in all qualitative research undertakings that demonstrate skills in planning field research ; from gaining …

(Un)Stable Space(S): An Ethnography Of A (Sometimes) Gay Bar, Andrea M. Davis

The Qualitative Report

Using ethnography, I studied the ways in which space was created at a nightclub with a once a week Drag Night. The history of the space (each night building on the night before for years and years) created stability for the nightclub that remained regardless of the individuals within it. Drag Night, however, did not reap the benefits of that stability. Despite site - specific (read theme - night specific) normative performances in the space, the social space was altered through individual performances as well as rules associated with the club.

Grumpy Old Ethnographers: A Review Of David Silverman ’S A Very Short, Fairly Interesting And Reasonably Cheap Book About Qualitative Research, Rachel Fang

The Qualitative Report

Renowned scholar of qualitative research methods David Silverman delivers an indictment of contemporary qualitative research methods. The book is meant to be an introduction (or “pre - textbook”) to the subject of qualitative research and definitely not a “how - to” manual. In evaluating contemporary qualitative research methods, Silverman’s book primarily focuses on ethnography and conversation analysis. Intentionally personal and biased, Silverman’s plainly - stated goal for this book is to “debunk the accepted understandings” of qualitative research and elicit an interest in the arguments within the field of qualitative inquiry , and he succeeds on both accounts .

Transpersonal Approaches To Autoethnographic Research And Writing, Diana Raab

The Qualitative Report

My life as nonfiction writer has led to my interest in doing an autoethnographical study and this paper will discuss how autoethnography can be performed using transpersonal psychology as a model. Autoethnography is a personal narrative akin to biography and memoir, and has become a more prevalent research method because of its accessibility an d the ease with which the reader can connect with the researcher ’ s and participant's lived experiences and/or epiphanies. The best narratives consist of embodied, vulnerable, and evocative writing, which help to explore, transform, and heal through various life journeys. This self - awareness and …

Among The Cannibals : A Review, Julie Schuh

The Qualitative Report

Paul Raffaele has written a particularly absorbing book about his ethnographic studies to discover the last remaining participants in the enigmatic and disconcerting practice of cannibalism. His research takes him across the globe living with societies from New Guinea to Mexico.

Behind The Seams: An Ethnographic Study Of The Performative Nature Of Theatrical Costumes, Emily M. Lindholm

Student Publications

Actors are said to bring a play to life, but what about the garments that they wear? Like set production, light design, and direction, the role of the costume plays an important part in informing and enchanting the audience. However, this is not all that they do. This paper acts as an in-depth examination of the culture of costume creation and destruction at Gettysburg College, researching their roles as garments, as well as how the garments themselves "act" around others. Imbued with their own set of responsibilities, the costumes are expected to behave certain ways, perform specific functions, and put …

Practicing The Four Seasons Of Ethnography Methodology While Searching For Identity In Mexico, Margaret Jane Pitts

The Qualitative Report

This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing González’s (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of experience, I represent the ethnography for the reader in the way it unfolded for me—sometimes painful, other times insightful, oftentimes both. This dual text exposes my struggles as emergent ethnographer grappling with …

Foundations Of Unlimited, Anna Azulai

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (3rd ed.) is an informative, engaging and user-friendly book by J. W. Creswell (2012) that is focused on practical application of qualitative research methods in social inquiry. The author provided a useful comparison of the five types of qualitative inquiry (narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, and case study) and discussed foundational and methodological aspects of the five traditional approaches. Creswell also effectively demonstrated how the type of the approach of qualitative inquiry shaped the design or procedures of a study. This book could be particularly useful to novice researchers and graduate …

Women And Wasta: The Use Of Focus Groups For Understanding Social Capital And Middle Eastern Women, Deborah C. Bailey

The Qualitative Report

Social capital is the use of informal networking to secure access to resources and opportunities. Often identified as an asset for offsetting deficiencies in societies, research on the phenomena is limited. This paper describes a qualitative study using focus groups with young adult Emeriti women representing three social-economic groups who were interviewed by the author in order to explore the topic of social capital, specifically a form of social capital defined by the Arabic term “wasta”. The women discussed their experiences of how wasta persists regardless of social and religious laws forbidding its practice and how they might use it …

Finding A Way Out Of The Ethnographic Paradigm Jungle, Subhadip Roy, Pratyush Banerjee

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a hybrid ethnographic paradigm, taking the best points from the different approaches of ethnographic research. The pioneering proponents of ethnography differed in their conceptualization of the method, resulting in the development of three distinct schools of thought-holistic, semiotic and behavioristic. These three ethnographic paradigms have their respective benefits and shortcomings. Following any one of these approaches may lead to only partial comprehension of the phenomenon by the ethnographer. This study wished to address this issue by developing a best practice approach, which will have the virtues of all the three …

Making Markets And Constructing Crises: A Review Of Ho’S Liquidated, Alexandra B. Cox

The Qualitative Report

This book review is a beginning academic researcher’s interpretation of the robust methods and rich data Ho presents in her study of investment banking culture and the market in Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (2009). A unique contribution of the text is Ho’s combining of ethnographic methods in order to practice polymorphous engagement in her study. A weakness of the text is Ho’s lacking autoethnographic analysis of her experience as an Asian American woman on Wall Street. The book will be helpful for a scholarly audience interested in studying rigorous ethnographic methodologies and exploring the culture of Wall Street.

Chapter 4, My Life, In Intimacy And Community In A Changing World: Sikaiana Life 1980-1993, William Donner

Sikaiana Ethnography

A description of my life living with and learning from the Sikaiana people of the Solomon Islands, 1980-1993. The discussion includes how I established relationships and adjusted to life, and how I conducted ethnographic research.

A related website in www.sikaianaarchives.com

Chapter 1, Another Perspective, In Intimacy And Community In A Changing World: Sikaiana Life 1980-1993, William Donner

Sikaiana Ethnography

This chapter serves as an introduction to cultural anthropology as an enterprise and this ethnography of the Sikaiana people. It discusses why learning about other cultures is important to for understanding human diversity across the globe and also provided another perspective for examining and understanding my own culture.

Chapter 2, Getting There In Intimacy And Community In A Changing World: Sikaiana Life 1980-1993, William Donner

Sikaiana Ethnography

This chapter describes how I got to do ethnographic research on Sikaiana, how I decided to go there and the logistics of setting up my research including funding, traveling and my initial meetings of Sikaiana people.

A related website is at www.sikaianaarchives.com

Manufacturing Change, Una Ruddock

The Qualitative Report

This is a highly accessible presentation of organisational research, which demonstrates how ethnography can elicit a holistic understanding of across section of employees and thereby reveal a workplace culture. It suggests that change efforts fail if culture is ignored and offers a detailed account of how critical incidents translate into tools for change. The data analysis reveals the weakness in working relationships and how blame functions to prevent change. The Ideal Plant project emerges, which validates transformation tools to create cooperative workplace interactions and collaborative problem solving. The past and future, metaphorically represented as two different places, are connected by …

How To Conduct Ethnographic Research, Nisaratana Sangasubana

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of conducting ethnographic research. Methodology definition and key characteristics are given. The stages of the research process are described including preparation, data gathering and recording, and analysis. Important issues such as reliability and validity are also discussed.

Corporate Ethnographers: Master Puzzlers, What They Do, And Their Value To The Business Sector, Alice Obenchain-Leeson

The Qualitative Report

Melissa Cefkin's book Ethnography and the Corporate Encounter is the fifth volume in a six-volume series on studies in public and applied anthropology by Berghahn Publishing. Cefkin unearths the world of corporate ethnography by explaining how the field evolved from the larger field of anthropology. Through collecting a variety of corporate ethnography studies conducted at Intel, Microsoft, and others, Cefkin brings to life the work of corporate ethnographers as master puzzlers as she attempts to answer the questions: What are corporate ethnographers and under what conditions do they work? What value does ethnography bring to the understanding of complex business …

Women In Transition: Experiences Of Asian Women International Students On U.S. College Campuses, Siva Jeyabalasingam

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Often referred to as people in transition, international students usually arrive in the U.S. with a clear sense of their academic goals; however, they often have not considered what their lives will be like or how they may change in non-academic ways. In addition to the typical level of university-related stress, international students face additional problems and difficulties generated in part by the cultural differences between the U.S. and their own countries. This is particularly true for Asian students. Of several studies that have investigated the experiences of international students in the U.S., only a handful have examined Asian students' …

Culture For Sale? An Exploratory Study Of The Crow Fair, Thomas D. Bordelon, Marie Opatrny, Wendy G. Turner, Steven D. Williams

The Qualitative Report

This paper describes an ethnographically-oriented participant-observation study conducted during the annual Crow Fair, held in south central Montana. Data collected included audio-recorded interviews with participants, participant observations, photographic and video recordings. Narrative interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparison method. Multiple data sources improved the veracity of this study through triangulation, and four themes emerged from the data: commercialization, alcohol abuse, spirituality, and community. The researchers discuss these themes and their conclusions regarding the "selling" of Native American culture as a form of cultural transmission. Theme analysis revealed the researchers recognized that the principal researcher had changed his …

Netnography: A Method Specifically Designed To Study Cultures And Communities Online, Gary M. Bowler Jr.

The Qualitative Report

With many people now using online communities such as newsgroups, blogs, forums, social networking sites, podcasting, videocasting, photosharing communities, and virtual worlds, the internet is now an important site for research. Kozinets' (2010) new text explores netnography, or the conduct of ethnography over the internet - a method specifically designed to study cultures and communities online. Guidelines for the accurate and ethical conduct of ethnographic research online are set out, with detailed, step-by-step guidance to thoroughly introduce, explain, and illustrate the method to students and researchers. Kozinets surveys the latest research on online cultures and communities, focusing on the methods …

Ethnography Essentials: A Review, Robin Cooper

The Qualitative Report

Julian M. Murchison has written a thorough and thoroughly practical resource for the newcomer to ethnography. In his new book, Ethnography Essentials: Designing, Conducting, and Presenting Your Research, he guides the novice ethnographer through the research process from conceptualization through presentation of findings. The text also includes discussion of some of the developments and debates within the field of ethnography.

Using Millie Thayer's Making Transnational Feminism To Connect Transnational Feminist Theories To Transnational Feminist Practices, Camille Sutton-Brown

The Qualitative Report

I review Millie Thayer's 2010 book, Making Transnational Feminism, from a methodological standpoint to discuss its ability to effectively connect transnational feminist theories with transnational activist practices. Transnational feminism is at once a theoretical and practical model, consisting of an intricate, yet complex, web of small entities that work with and for one another to address related concerns. Thayer illuminates the processes that are involved in creating and sustaining these transnational feminist networks in the attempt to deconstruct the complex social relations and power dynamics that operate within the current structures of globalization. I purport that Making Transnational Feminism is …

Don't Tease Me, I'M Working: Examining Humor In A Midwestern Organization Using Ethnography Of Communication, Ajay K. Ojha, Taimmy L. Holmes

The Qualitative Report

Within organizations, the communicative phenomenon of humor is commonplace. Humorous talk is just as important and frequent to regular discourse that takes place between organizational members. In this inquiry we examine humor as a particular way of communicating between members of a small Midwestern United States organization. Specifically, we examine how three functions of humor (i.e., joking, sarcasm, and teasing) are used amongst members during normal business hours (8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.). Using ethnography of communication, we conduct both fieldwork and interviews discovering that this organization exemplifies humor as a socially constructed phenomenon to complete the typical workday.

Policing: A Sociologist’S Response To An Anthropological Account, Peter Moskos

Publications and Research

Social science writing should not ape quantitative science in format, structure, or style. If we can’t explain ourselves to others in a style both illuminating and interesting, we won’t and don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Too many in the Ivory Tower cling to the belief that research and academic writing must conform to a “scientific” format. Quality writing is more art than science. To be relevant, writing need not be – indeed should not be – rooted in a limited model of “hypothesis, replicable experiment, findings, discussion.” The more jargon and sociobabble we anthropologists, sociologists, and ethnographers spew out, …

Approaches To Qualitative Research: Theory And Its Practical Application (A Guide For Dissertation Students), John Hogan, Paddy Dolan, Paul Donnelly

Books/Book Chapters

Qualitative research is a multifaceted approach that investigates culture, society and behaviour through an analysis and synthesis of people’s words and actions. Qualitative methods produce compelling knowledge of how and why people behave as they do, whether in organisational, family, personal, or other social roles.

The primary objective of this book is to introduce students to the concepts underlying qualitative research and how this kind of research can be conducted in a practical manner. To this end, it discusses various approaches to qualitative research and provides examples of these approaches being carried out in practice. In doing so, the book …