Anthropology/Sociology 292

 MWF 9:00-9:50

 Mr. Caulkins ÊGoodnow 301

Goodnow 105 

 Telephone 269 3136

 CAULKINS@grinnell.edu

 Office Hours: TTh 10:30-12:00 & MWF 10:30-11:30

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN COMPLEX SOCIETIES

Course Content And Objectives

"Research is formalized curiosity"-- Zora Neale Hurston, "Dust Tracks on a Roadä

This course is not designed to transform you into a professional sociologist or anthropologist. What you learn here should be useful if you become a journalist, social worker, market researcher, nurse, sales person, hospital administrator, lawyer, corporation executive, union organizer, politician, community development worker, urban planner, or novelist, among other occupations. What you learn in this course will also be an important foundation for graduate work in anthropology or sociology, although I do not assume that you have career interests in either of those fields.

My fundamental assumption is that a liberal arts education ought to provide you with some insights into the processes by which disciplines construct, organize, and interpret information. In this course you will learn about these processes through first-hand experience as well as through readings and lectures. In this course we will carry out the first of two basic kinds of research in cultural anthropology: (a) primary ethnographic field research, in which you construct primary data from interviews and/or observations, and (b) cross-cultural or comparative research, in which one studies an issue or problem in two or more societies using either data collected by one'='s self or by others. The most complete source of organized data from other societies is the Human Relations Area Files. These are the two basic kinds of research carried out by anthropologists: cultural description and cultural comparison. This course will also emphasize the opportunity for using the results of anthropological research to help shape policy and illuminate societal problems.

As James Lett notes in The Human Enterprise, most anthropological inquiries addresses one or the other of two major issues: (1) the maintenance of human identity and (2) the maintenance of human life. Lett reminds us that theory and empirical research are complementary and indispensable to each other. He argues that symbolic anthropology is the paradigm best suited for dealing with human identity, while cultural materialism is best suited for dealing with the maintenance of human life. Thus, you will need to keep in mind the theory that you have learned in other courses to help inform and guide your research.

You may wish to use your ethnographic project to explore identity issues, or to explore an issue in the maintenance of human life. You may also develop a project related to your own interests. You may devise an ethnographic project of your own on some site off-campus (some past sites: volunteer fire department, Domestic Violence Alternatives Counseling, women's organizations, etc.)or you may carry out an applied research project involving interviews of students returning from study abroad programs. I am very interested in discovering how students make the decision to go abroad and how they decide what program is right for them. A number of students in the class could do research on this project, with each researcher having an independent sample and a slightly different problem focus.  For example, one researcher might concentrate on returnees from Africa.  Another might take returnees from Latin America. Another might concentrate on returnees from "integration programs that place students in indigenous universities. Another might concentrated on returnees from programs that feature internships, and so on. With over 90 returnees from off-campus programs, it should be possible to accommodate as many researchers as are interested in the topic. (Any researcher planning to go abroad can used this opportunity to better prepare for the experience.) Other possibilities including focusing on some aspect of ethnic identity, using all or part of the Iowa Heritage Project interview guide(earlier project examples: The Meaning of Irishness; Ethnic Foods and Ethnic Identity).

All new research projects must be approved by the Institutional Review Board which is concerned ethical research. Since the Iowa Heritage Project has already been approved, student selecting to base their research on that interview guide need not seek IRB approval. Your ethnographic project will result in a paper of 15-25 pages showing how the project was developed, what methods or techniques you used, the data you collected, and your interpretation of that data.

The three books by LeCompte and Schensul (Designing &Conducting Ethnographic Research , Essential Methods, and Analyzing and Interpreting Ethnographic Data) provide a concrete and will-illustrated guide to conducting ethnographic research and making sense of the data. Using Methods in the Field: A Practical Introduction and Case Book., edited by DeMunck and Sobo, shows how the repertory of methods available to ethnographers can be used systematically. All three books are oriented toward applied research, that is, research intended to be useful in solving or understanding contemporary problems. Bernard's Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology covers these and other issues in considerable depth and is a reference work that you will need to use to help you think about the standard steps in ethnographic research: (a) the literature search on your topic, (b) deciding on a research design, (c) creating a sample,(d) data construction through participant observation and/or interviewing,(e)writing field notes and entering your information in a database,(f) doing both qualitative and quantitative analysis, and (g) interpreting your results.

Course Goals:

To familiarize students with:

ethical issues in research

research design

writing of fieldnotes

variety of ethnographic research techniques

approaches to the analysis of ethnographic data

the uses and limitations of ethnographic research

the personal challenges of ethnography, through personal experience

writing ethnographic reports

 9/7

 List of possible ethnographic research topics

 9/12

Tentative selection of research problem

 9/21

 Deadline for Proposal for Institutional Review Board

 9/26

 Formulation of research problem in a theoretical context

10/1

 Written report: additional techniques useful in studying your topic

 10/5

 Completed transcription of first interview.

 11/26

 Narrative of Ahow I did the research@

 12/05-12/12

 Class Presentations

 12/14

 Final Paper combining narrative of how the research was done along with the results.

Grades:

Quizzes 10%Ê (over readings occasionally)

Class participation 40%

Ethnographic research paper 50%

READING LIST

Required Texts:

Victor DeMunck and Lisa Sobo, editors, 1998

Using Methods inthe Field: A Practical Introduction and Case Book.

WalnutCreek(CA): Altamira Press

Margaret LeCompte and Jean J. Schensul, 1999

Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research

Walnut Creek (CA):Alta Mira.(Volume 1)

Margaret LeCompte and Jean J. Schensul, 1999

Analyzing and Interpreting Ethnographic Data.

Walnut Creek (CA):AltaMira.Ê (Volume 5)

Jean Schensul, et al. 1999

Essential Ethnographic Methods

Walnut Creek (CA) AltaMira (Volume 2)

Douglas Caulkins, 1999

"Student-Faculty Research: Collaborationin a Liberal Arts College

Anthropology of Work Review.XIX, (4) Pp 18-23.

Anna Painter and Douglas Caulkins, 1999

"Work and Successin a De-Industrialized English Region

Anthropology of WorkReview. XIX, (4) Pp 23-28

Video:

Anthropologists at Work.

National Association of Practicing Anthropologists

On Reserve:

H. Russell Bernard, 1994 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology.(Second Edition) Newbury Park, CA.: Sage

H. Russell Bernard (editor) 1998 Handbook of Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Sage. (For reference for comprehensive reviews of particular topics).

 F 8/31

 Introduction: Expectations

 M 9/3

 LeCompte V1, Chapter 1,2,9, Ethnography; Ethical Responsibility

 Discussion: Research possibilities;The role of the Institutional Review Board

W9/5 

LeCompte V1, Chapter 3, Paradigms

 DeMunck&Sobo, Chapter 1, The Forest of Methods

 F 9/7

 LeCompte V1, Chapters 4, 5 &6.Design and Techniques

 Preliminary list of possible research topics

 M 9/10

 DeMunck & Sobo, Chapters 2 & 3 Participant Observation, Lists

 W 9/12

 LeCompte V1, Chapter 8; Caulkins, Student-Faculty Research (handout)

 Written: Tentative selection of potential research topics

 F 9/14

 DeMunch & Sobo, Chapters 4, 5 & 6; Freelisting & Pilesorts

 M 9/17

 DeMunch & Sobo, Chapter 9, Decision Modeling

W 9/19

 Bernard, RMA Chapter 9, Field Notes

 F 9/21

 DeMunch & Sobo, Chapters 10 & 11. Consensus Analysis.

 Deadline for Proposal for Institutional Review Board

 M 9/24

 DeMunch & Sobo, Chapter 12. Consensus Analysis Continued

W 9/26

 Written: Research Problem in a theoretical context

 F 9/28

 D&S, Chapter 13,14, MDS & QAP.

M 10/1

 D& S,Ê Chapter 15

 Written report: what techniques would be useful in studying your topic?

W10/3

 Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods,Ê Introduction, Chapter 1

F10/5

Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods,Ê 1, ÊConceptualizing Ethno Res.

 Written: Completed transcription of first interview

 M10/8

 Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods, 2, Operationalization

W 10/10

Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods, 3, Unstructured Interviewing

F 10/12

Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods, 4, Semii-Structured Interviewing

M 10/15

Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods, 5, The Ethnographic Survey

W 10/17

Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods, 6, Accessing archival data

F 10/19

Schensul, Essential Ethnographic Methods, 7, Triangulating

 M 10/29

ÊLeCompte V1 Chapter 7, Data Analysis

 W10/31

 LeCompte V 5 Chapters 1 ÊÊAnalysis & Interpretation

 F 11/2

ÊÊLeCompte V 5 Chapters Ê2Ê Analysis & Interpretation

 M 11/5

ÊLeCompte V 5 Chapter 3 ÊAnalysis from the top down

 W 11/7

 LeCompte V 5 Chapter 4 Analysis from the top down

 F 11/9

 LeCompte V 5 Chapter 5 Analysis from the bottom up

 M 11/12

 LeCompte V 5 Chapter 6,7Ê Code books,Identifying patterns

 W 11/14

 LeCompte V 5 Chapter 8Ê Managing Quantitative Data

 F 11/16

 LeCompte V 5 Chapter 9 Analyzing Ethnographic Survey Data

M 11/19

LeCompte V 5 Chapter 10 Assembling Components

W 11/21

LeCompte V 5 ChapterÊ 11 Creating Interpretations

M 11/26

Written: Narrative of Ahow I did the research@

W 11/28

No class: Caulkins attending American Anthropological Association

F 11/30

No class: Caulkins attending American Anthropological Association

M 12/3

Time for individual conferences

W 12/5

Class presentations

 F 12/7

 Class presentations

 M 12/10

 Class presentations

 W 12/12

 Class presentations

 F 12/14

 Summary