Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
or a romantic signal transmitted across a crowded room. Thus, the description
would incorporate the cultural meaning and the ethnographer's analysis.
Thickdescriptioncanportrayavarietyofculturalscenesandepisodes.The
following example is from a discussion about ethical dilemmas during field-
work in the inner city (Fetterman, 1986e):
On what was to have been the last day of the site visit a student befriended me.
Afterafewhoursofconversationabouthislifeandtheneighborhood,hedecided
to show me around. He introduced me to a number of the leaders running life in
the streets. It was getting hot and he knew I was from California, so he brought
me into a health food store for a cold drink and a snack. We went in and my new
friendwinkedattheownerofthestoreandtoldhimtogivemeagranolabarwith
some natural soda. I said thanks and reached out my hand for the granola bar and
felt something else under the bar. It was a nickel bag of marijuana. I looked at the
owner, then I looked at my friend. I did not want to show any form of disapproval
or ingratitude, but this was not exactly what I had in mind when I agreed to play
the role of guest, visitor, and friend.
A moment later, I heard steps in perfect stride. I looked over to the front win-
dow and saw two policemen walking by, looking right in the window. My hand
was still in the air with the mixed contents for all to see. My heart dropped to the
floor. My first thought was, “I'm going to get busted. How am I going to explain
this to my colleagues at the research corporation?”
Fortunately,thepolicedisappearedasquicklyastheyhadappeared.Iaskedmy
friend what had just transpired. He explained to me that the police were paid off
regularly and would bother you only if they needed money or if an owner had not
made a contribution. (pp. 27-28)
Thickdescriptionsstartoutaslong,unwieldy,redundantentriesinnoteform
duringfieldwork.Theauthormustcarefullyselectandprunethesenotestoillus-
trate a point or present an interpretation in a report or topic. Ethnographic writ-
ing is a process of compression as the ethnographer moves from field notes to
written text.The goal is to represent reality concisely but completely and not to
reproduce every detail and word. A complete reproduction is not possible or
desirable: It is not science, and no one will take the time to read it all.
Verbatimquotationsarealsoasinequanonofethnography.Theyareaper-
manentrecordofaperson'sthoughtsandfeelings.Verbatimquotationsconvey
the fear, anger, frustration, exhilaration, and joy of a human being and contain
surface and deep, embedded meanings about the person's life. They can pre-
sent a host of ideas to the reader: basic “factual” data, social and economic
indicators, and internal consistency or patterned inconsistencies. The reader
can infer the values and worldview of the speaker from these passages.
Long verbatim quotations help convey a sense of immediacy to the reader.
In addition, judicious use of such raw data in reports and ethnographies can
