Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
life cycle. They come to the fore, however, during the adolescent stage. They
range from informed consent to the conduct of a rigorous research effort.
Permission
Ethnographers must formally or informally seek informed consent to con-
duct their work. In a school district, formal written requests are requisite.
Often, the ethnographer's request is accompanied by a detailed account of the
purpose and design of the study. Similarly, in most government agencies and
private industry, the researcher must submit a formal request and receive writ-
ten permission. The nature of the request and the consent changes according
to the context of the study. For example, no formal structure exists for the
researcher to communicate within a study of tramps. However, permission is
still necessary to conduct a study. In this situation, the request may be as
simple as the following embedded question to a tramp: “I am interested in
learning about your life, and I would like to ask you a few questions, if that's
all right with you.” In this context, a detailed explanation of purpose and
method might be counterproductive unless the individual asks for additional
detail. Similarly, after receiving initial permission to study a large corporation,
the ethnographer must ask each individual for permission to talk about a given
topic. Photographs and digital recordings also require the participant's per-
mission. Written permission is particularly important for photographs if the
ethnographer plans to use the pictures for educational purposes at professional
associations or in speeches and publications. The aim of this standard is to pro-
tect the privacy of the individual as directly and simply as possible. (See the
section on institutional review boards [IRBs] presented earlier in this chapter
for more discussion on this topic.)
Honesty
Ethnographers must be candid about their task, explaining what they plan
to study and how they plan to study it. In some cases, detailed description is
appropriate, and in others extremely general statements are best, according to
the type of audience and the interest in the topic. Few individuals want a
detailed discussion of the theoretical and methodological bases of an ethnog-
rapher's work. However, the ethnographer should be ready throughout the
study to present this information to any participant who requests it. Deceptive
techniques are unnecessary and inappropriate in ethnographic research.
Ethnographers need not disguise their efforts or use elaborate ploys to trick
people into responding to a specific stimulus. Other disciplines differ in this
respect. Psychology studies, for example, often require that the subject not
know the purpose of the experiment.
