Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
prove himself or herself worthy and to earn the community's trust and respect.
This predicament forces the ethnographer to disassociate diplomatically from
the intermediary once inside but act honorably and acknowledge the debt owed
to that first contact.
Selecting an integral and powerful member of the community is useful, but
establishing independence in the field is also important to avoid prematurely
cutting off other lines of communication. For example, in a library study, a
close link with the power brokers was instrumental in my gaining access to the
organization but was almost lethal to data collection. My alliance with a power
broker created the perception that I was a spy or another power broker sitting
on the wrong side of the fence. In attempting to understand how the subordi-
nate and disenfranchised group functioned in the bowels of the library, I found
myself persona non grata. Tremendous effort was necessary for me to prove
myself an impartial or at least nonjudgmental witness and shed the guilt I had
acquired by association.
Once in the community, specific methods and techniques will guide the
ethnographer in the process of data collection and analysis. The remainder of
this chapter will discuss each of these techniques in turn.
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Participant observation characterizes most ethnographic research and is cru-
cial to effective fieldwork. Participant observation combines participation in
the lives of the people under study with maintenance of a professional distance
that allows adequate observation and recording of data. Powdermaker's
Stranger and Friend
(1966) vividly depicts this delicate role.
Participant observation is immersion in a culture. Ideally, the ethnographer
lives and works in the community for 6 months to a year or more, learning the
language and seeing patterns of behavior over time. Long-term residence helps
the researcher internalize the basic beliefs, fears, hopes, and expectations of the
people under study. The simple, ritualistic behaviors of going to the market or
to the well for water teach how people use their time and space and how they
determine what is precious, sacred, and profane. The process may seem unsys-
tematic; in the beginning, it is somewhat uncontrolled and haphazard. However,
even in the early stages of fieldwork, the ethnographer searches out experiences
and events as they come to his or her attention. Participant observation sets the
stage for more refined techniques—including projective techniques and
questionnaires—and becomes more refined itself as the fieldworker under-
stands more and more about the culture. Ideas and behaviors that were only a
