Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Gestation and Birth: Proposals
The problem, people, and place to study first come together in the proposal
to solicit funds for research. Writing a proposal for funding lays the founda-
tion and sets the tone of the study. Experienced ethnographers have learned to
take charge during this phase and to establish the budget—to provide for field-
workers, equipment, and time to think; analyze the data; and write up the find-
ings. Poor planning will have severe repercussions for the health, stability, and
longevity of the entire endeavor. Inadequate planning can force an ethnogra-
pher to overrun the budget, eliminate important areas of investigation, or ini-
tiate closure prematurely, producing a great deal of stress in the process. This
stage is also the time to nail down answers to such questions as who is to own
the raw data. Typically, ethnographers strive to maintain control of the raw data
so that they can maintain confidentiality and protect key informants and other
participants from abuses. Specifying ownership of the raw data in the proposal
has proved instrumental on more than one occasion in my own research.
Similarly, ethnographers must present their methodological intent to spon-
sors clearly and honestly. Dishonesty, including significant omissions, will
surface later in the study. The period of waiting between writing and submis-
sion and acceptance or rejection of the proposal is part of project gestation.
Some proposals abort, others are rejected, but the best ones (or at least the
most successful proposals) emerge from the process with full funding.
Midwifing: Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
Ethnographic research is guided by the principles and standards described
in this chapter. These principles are used by ethnographers to guide and inform
their ethnographic practice. In addition, ethnographic work supported by fed-
eral and other funding is reviewed by IRBs. Their approval is required before
research can be conducted. A panel of researchers and administrators review
ethnographic (and other) proposals to protect “human subjects,” or those being
researched, from harm. Their primary concern is with ethics and the protection
of subjects. The need for IRBs emerged as result of research that did in fact
damage individuals, ranging from the Tuskegee Experiment (Heller, 1972), in
which African American males with syphilis were allowed to go untreated to
study the effects of the disease, to the atrocities of Nazi scientists' experiments
on human flesh (Weindling, 2005). IRBs require that research subjects have
enough information to make an informed decision about their participation. In
addition, participants must be able to withdraw from the study at any time.
Unnecessary risk to them must be eliminated. The benefits to society from the
research must outweigh the risk. The IRB represents a significant hurdle for
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