Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.3
Burnt-out building in the inner city
NONJUDGMENTAL ORIENTATION
Some ethnographic concepts push the researcher to explore in new directions,
some ensure that the data are valid, and others simply prevent contamination
of the data. A nonjudgmental orientation helps ethnographers on all three
fronts. Most important, this concept prevents ethnographers from making
inappropriate and unnecessary value judgments about what they observe.
A nonjudgmental orientation requires the ethnographer to suspend personal
valuation of any given cultural practice. Maintaining a nonjudgmental orienta-
tion is similar to suspending disbelief while one watches a movie or play or
reads a bookâone accepts what may be an obviously illogical or unbelievable
set of circumstances to allow the author to unravel a riveting story.
An experience I had with the Bedouin Arabs in the Sinai desert provides
a useful example of this conceptual guideline. During my stay with the
Bedouins, I tried not to let my bias for Western hygiene practices and
