Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
not be problematic. However, establishing a significant relationship between
facts and theory, or interpreting “the facts,” requires greater specificity. For
example, the statement, “Hostility increases when too many students are in the
class” may be a perfectly accurate observation. Several questions arise, how-
ever: What constitutes hostility? How is an increase of hostility measured? How
many is too many students in a class? On a simpler level, sentences beginning
“Some of them believe” are commonplace. Being more specific—citing the
specific sources and the exact nature of their “belief ”—is not difficult and con-
veys more information and greater credibility and validity. Operationalism tests
us and forces us to be honest with ourselves. Instead of leaving conclusions to
strong impressions, the fieldworker should quantify or identify the source of
enthnographic insights whenever possible. Specifying how one arrives at one's
conclusions gives other researchers something concrete to go on, something to
prove or disprove. It is impossible to operationalize everything—the job of
doing ethnography would never be done. Much can be done to increase record-
ing and reporting accuracy, however.
Many concepts in ethnography help to explain what ethnography is all about
and to guide an ethnographer in the pursuit of a study. This chapter has provided
a discussion of some of the most important concepts in the profession, beginning
with such global concepts as culture, a holistic orientation, and contextualization
and gradually shifting to more narrow concepts—inter- and intracultural diver-
sity, structure and function, symbol and ritual, and operationalism. Chapter 3
details the ethnographic methods and techniques that grow out of these concepts
and allow the researcher to carry out the work of ethnography.
NOTES
1. Anthropologists typically focus on this cultural level, in contrast to sociologists,
who generally focus on society. As fieldworkers, both anthropologists and sociologists
require detailed information about the groups they study to generate their findings and
insights. The lenses through which they view the data are different, however. Ethnographers
come from an anthropological tradition and thus rely on the culture concept to guide
their research. Note, however, that many sociologists today have cultural concerns, and
many anthropologists focus on societal concerns. The research traditions of each
discipline, however, shape the respective researchers' behaviors and thoughts. In addi-
tion, the culture concept—whether employed by a sociologist or by an anthropologist—
is useful and, for better or worse, part of the conceptual baggage an ethnographer car-
ries into the field.
2. Using an inductive approach, ethnographers describe the function of each part of
a culture to understand better how the culture works as a whole. The concepts of struc-
ture and function are useful heuristic tools with which to understand and elaborate the
basic elements of a culture.
