Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
woman and one of the sweetest and friendliest individuals in the center. During
my first lengthy conversation with her, she began rambling on, half in German
and half in English. I tried a few timid questions in German about her youth,
and she began to open up. During the conversation, I heard her repeat “Arbeit
macht frei” (work makes you free) over and over again. In time, I realized she
was referring to the legend inscribed over the entrances to concentration
camps. My first impression was that she was a survivor, much like the sur-
vivors I had worked with in Israel. I soon realized, however, that she was not a
victim but a supporter of the Nazi movement. When I asked about the Jews and
the Poles, she explained to me that “they deserved it” because they were the
cause of her country's financial and moral bankruptcy. She had organized ral-
lies for the Nazis and remembered one glorious moment when Adolf Hitler
actually shook her hand. Betsy was my link to the women in the center.
Everyone loved her, and she had befriended me. I had already extended an
implicit trust. This ethical balancing act was one of the most difficult I have
had to maintain as an ethnographer (Fetterman, 1986e).
People often accord ethnographers the same level of trust that they give to
priests, rabbis, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, doctors, and lawyers. The
researcher must guard this trust, for better or worse, like a treasure. The ethnog-
rapher has an obligation to protect the privacy of his or her contacts. This
obligation also protects the quality of the research effort. Errors, miscalcula-
tions, and poor judgment in human relations can be as devastating to the
research effort as any notational or statistical error.
Pseudonyms
The project reaches maturity when the ethnographer has gained acceptance
into the community or organization under study. Acceptance improves the
quality of data by opening up new levels of previously undisclosed symbols
and cultural knowledge. The issue of disclosing sacred cultural knowledge
becomes more problematic after the ethnographer reaches this adult stage in
the life cycle.
Ethnographic descriptions are usually detailed and revealing. They probe
beyond the facade of normal human interaction. Such descriptions can jeopar-
dize individuals. One person may speak candidly about a neighbor's wild par-
ties and mention calling the police to complain about them. Another individual
may reveal the arbitrary and punitive behavior of a program director or princi-
pal. Still another may simply reveal some information about office politics.
Each individual has provided invaluable information about how the system
really works. However, the delicate web of interrelationships in a neighbor-
hood, a school, or an office might be destroyed if the researcher reveals the
