Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
multiple audiences is essential to the communication of research findings
(see Fetterman, 1987a, 1987b).
Theethnographycanbewritteninmanystylesandinmanyformats.Atyp-
ical ethnography describes the history of the group, the geography of the loca-
tion, kinship patterns, symbols, politics, economic systems, educational or
socialization systems, and the degree of contact between the target culture and
the mainstream culture.
3
Specialized ethnographies may focus on specific ele-
ments of socialization of the young or the role of a significant person such as
the principal (Wolcott, 2003).
Ethnographic research findings can be communicated through newspaper
releases, photographs, recordings, speech, and a variety of electronic communi-
cations. Book form, however, provides the most control over ethnographic work
and remains the standard. Other forms still fall into the supplemental category.
Ethnographies usually form long but quite interesting scholarly topics.
Sponsors in applied settings are often more likely to read long ethnographic
reports than the avalanche of figures and indecipherable statistical tables that
often appear in psychometric studies. If the ethnography is too long or poorly
written, however, no one but another ethnographer will read it. A lucid style
and reasonable length, therefore, are critical if the ethnography is to see the
lightofday.Irecommendaclear,easy-to-readwritingstylethatnonacademics
and readers unfamiliar with the culture or study will find interesting and
understandable. Within the bounds of this rather omnibus recommendation, a
multitude of writing styles exist that can interest and persuade readers of the
value of an ethnographic work. In selecting a style suitable to various audi-
ences, the ethnographer becomes rhetorician, pursuing the means of effective
communication to diverse populations (Fetterman, 1987b).
TOPIC ORGANIZATION
This chapter has provided a brisk walk though the intellectual landscape that
this topic will explore. Specifically, it has included discussion of the basic
steps in ethnographic research, focusing on the selection of a problem and the
use of theory.The following chapters will lead the reader step by step through
the ethnographic terrain, periodically stopping to smell the roses and contem-
plate the value of one concept or technique over another.
Chapter 2 focuses on guiding concepts in ethnography: culture, cultural
interpretation, a holistic perspective, contextualization, emic and etic perspec-
tives, a nonjudgmental orientation, inter- and intracultural diversity, structure
and function, and ritual and symbols as well as micro and macro approaches
