Syracuse University
Anthropology 481/781
Ethnographic Research Methods:
Collaborative and Action-Oriented Approaches
Spring 2013
T and Th 2:00-3:20 pm
Crouse Hinds 020
Professor John Burdick
209 Maxwell Hall
443-3822
E-mail: jsburdic@maxwell.syr.edu
Office hrs: Mondays and Wednesdays, 3-5 pm, by appointment
By guiding you through field projects conducted in collaboration with local communitybased groups, this course will refine your skills as a qualitative researcher with a special
emphasis on ethnographic methods, and enhance your ability to conduct research that is
useful for and contributes to action. By the end of the course, you will be able to
 design research projects that are useful to organizations dedicated to
community and social change;
 conduct high-quality ethnographic interviews, participant observation,
focus groups, and oral history;
 assess the risks of research to informants and be acquainted with
Institutional Review Board procedures;
 analyze qualitative data;
 prepare research reports for different audiences.
This is a Blackboard course. We have no textbook. If you are interested in following
along with a text, here are several that I recommend.
On the design and techniques of qualitative and ethnographic research
Agar, Michael, Speaking of Ethnography
Bernard, Russell and Gery Ryan, Analyzing Qualitative Data
Emerson, Robert, et al., Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes
Gibbs, Graham, Analyzing Qualitative Data
Hesse-Biber, Sharlene, The Practice of Qualitative Research
Mason, Jennifer, Qualitative Researching
Maxwell, Joseph, Qualitative Research Design
O’Leary, Zina, The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project
O’Reilley, Karen, Key Concepts in Ethnography
Schensul, Jean et al, The Ethnographer’s Toolkit
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On collaborative and action-oriented research:
Davydd Greenwood and Levin, Action Research
Charles Hale, ed., Engaging Contradictions
Danny Murphy et al, Doing Community-Based Research
Sanford, Victoria and Asale Angel-Ajani, eds. Engaged Observer: Anthropology,
Advocacy and Activism
Richard Sclove, ed, Community-Based Research in the United States
Stoecker, Randy, Research Methods for Community Change
Kerry Strand et al, Community-Based Research and Higher education
Wali, Alaka. 2006. Collaborative Research: A Practical Guide,
http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/par/
Williamson, Andy and Ruth De Souza, Researching with Communities
THE FIRST 4 WEEKS
Your work in this course depends on you connecting with an organization. Your research
will be a contribution to this group; hence the need to move promptly to choose which
group this will be, and enter soon into contact with it. Here is the timetable.
1) Friday, January 18. By this coming Friday I expect you to have decided which
three (3) projects you are most interested in. Please e-mail me by 9 pm Friday,
January 18 to tell me what they are. Please rank the three projects. For each
project, write a few lines explaining what in your background, values, experience,
skill-set, major, etc. has led you to be interested in the project. Please note: you
may undertake a project with a group or organization that is not on this list, but
only according to the rules stated under item #10 on the list of projects.
2) Sunday, January 20: By the end of the day I will have reviewed and collated
everyone’s preferences and will send you a message letting you know which
project you’ll be working on. It is important to have all of you engaged evenly
across projects. If there is another student working with you, or on a closely
related project, I will tell you who that student is.
3) Tuesday, January 22 By the end of the day you must have contacted the group’s
contact person (identified on the project list) and set up a meeting. That meeting
must take place no later than Wednesday, January 30 (the sooner the better). It
is very important that you do not rely on e-mail alone to arrange this meeting.
Lesson #1 of working with community-based groups is that you need to
accompany any and all e-mail communication with a phone call -- usually more
than one!
4) Wednesday, January 30. By this date you must have met face-to-face with your
contact person for at least 40-60 minutes. If you are working on a project with
another student, the two of you should attend the meeting together. In this
meeting, you must accomplish the following:
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a. Gather basic information about the organization (history, member-base,
key struggles, etc.), orally and/or through brochures and other materials;
b. Get clearer what you will be investigating. You should think through ways
of making the questions more concrete, as per the readings and discussions
in class. Engage your contact person in a conversation about how the
questions might be made more concrete.
c. Clarify to the community contact your overall work calendar/schedule,
and the weekly time commitment you are making (average 4-5 hours/wk);
d. Discuss the kind of support you hope to receive from the organization
(e.g., having someone to introduce you to key informants, someone to take
you around the neighborhood, share data with you, etc.);
e. Explain that you will provide the organization with a 5-6 page work plan
no later than Tuesday, February 12th. That plan will be informed by
coursework, preliminary site visits and conversations. It may also be
refined afterward by feedback from your field contact person. If your
contact person wishes to see a preliminary work plan before February 12th,
you may send one but emphasize that the plan is provisional until you
complete the full-fledged plan by February 12th.
5) February 5. On this date an ungraded 4-page “pre-design” is due in class. This
report is NOT a research design; it is your initial proposal for research. In this
paper you
a. describe the group you will be working with (brief history, number of
people involved, objectives);
b. describe the problem faced by the group which has generated issues to be
investigated;
c. describe in as operational a way as you can the research question(s) you
will be investigating, and distinguish the core question from the subquestions.
d. comment on possible issues/tensions having to do with your role as actionoriented researcher, and what biases may be active on the side of the
organization.
6) February 12th. By this date you must have completed your research design &
proposal. This is a 5-6-page paper (given both to me and the organization) in
which you
a) Compress the information conveyed in assignment #1 about objective,
question and sub-questions;
b) Identify the key populations you plan to investigate and why -- in terms of
the characteristics they possess that are relevant to the research questions;
c) Explain how these populations are bounded by geography, group or
organizational membership, etc., and any limits on feasibility or access
you may face;
d) Identify and explain the procedures you intend to follow to draw samples
from these populations;
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e) Articulate in the form of one or more preliminary hunches what would
constitute data relevant to your research question;
f) Identify and explain the function and appropriateness of the different data
collection methods you intend to use (you should have at least two
methods);
g) Set forth a data collection schedule and, if appropriate, include a statement
of a division of labor among individuals collaborating on the project.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Class participation…………………...…………………………….…….…10%
This is a practice-oriented course designed to help you acquire, develop, and refine your
skills as a researcher. Class time is devoted to a mix of practical exercises (in-class
observations, interviews, focus groups, auto-ethnographic writing exercises, etc.) and
discussion of readings. Some days we will spend more time on exercises; some more on
readings. You need to come to class ready to participate both in classroom exercises and
discussion. I pay close attention to the frequency and quality of your participation.
2. Reading responses………………………..………………………………….10%
You will post a response to readings once per week on the Blackboard site. On the
second day of class (Jan 17), I will divide you into two groups. Group A will be
responsible throughout the semester for sending posts by 10:00 pm Monday nights about
the readings assigned for Tuesday; group B will be responsible throughout the semester
for sending posts by 10:00 pm on Wednesday nights, about the readings assigned for
Thursday. Although you only post once per week, I expect you to read all of both sets of
assigned readings every week. When you post, you will send to the Blackboard
Discussion site a message of at least 200 words (run a word count please) in which you
respond to the reading. This will focus you on key issues in advance, prime the pump for
class discussion, allow you to see how your classmates think, and give me a feel for what
is, and is not, making sense to you. Although I do not always respond to your posts, I
read them all carefully.
What is a reading response?
By 10:00 pm the night before class, I expect you to post to the Blackboard Discussion a
message of at least 200 words in which you do (at least) the following:
1)
2)
3)
Comment on how the reading was significant/useful – state one or two
things, for example, that you learned from it; for example, you may
want to draw a connection between the reading and something we have
done in class, or something you are experiencing in the field;
If you found anything puzzling or confusing in the reading, say what it
was;
This is important: state a question (or questions) the reading leaves you
with, and that you think might be useful for the class to discuss. We
cannot always get to all questions in class discussions, but I want to
know what your questions are.
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Note: In each post, you must comment on at least two of the assigned readings. You may
comment on them one by one, and/or by commenting on points of overlap or difference
between them. Also; I occasionally substitute new readings for those on the syllabus. The
readings posted on Blackboard take precedence over what appears on the syllabus. You
are responsible for reading posted articles, even when they differ from what appears on
the syllabus.
How will my responses be evaluated?
I do not grade individual posts. I expect you to post 11 times over the course of the
semester. Your grade on the posts will be determined as follows: to be counted as a
“post”, the text you send should be about 250 -300 words (run a Word count)
11 posts............................................................................................................................A
10 posts........................................................................................................................... A9 posts..............................................................................................................................B+
8 posts...............................................................................................................................B
7 posts...............................................................................................................................B6 posts............................................................................................................................ C+
5 posts ..............................................................................................................................C
4 posts….………………………………..…………………… ………………………...C3 posts…….……………………………………………………………………………..D
Fewer than 3 posts………………………………………………………………………F
3. Field journal…………………………………...……………………………..15%
I expect you to spend about 4 hours of field time every week and I expect you to write an
average of at least two (2) pages of double-spaced field notes for every week you are in
the field. (Graduate students must write at least three (3) pages per week). Please write
your field notes digitally, for ease of access, and to facilitate coding and analysis later on.
I expect you to write these notes every week between February 11th and April 16th (with
one week off for spring break) for a minimum of 16-18 pages of notes overall. Students
often find that they end up writing more than this; indeed, it is usually a good idea to do
so. I will look at your field journal three times over the course of the term, to make sure
you are keeping up with it. I will not grade individual entries in the journal; however, I
will grade the overall journal at the end of the term based upon the care, seriousness, upto-datedness, and volume of writing that the journal exhibits. For example, a journal will
be graded down if its writer did not keep it up to date, did not write enough, etc. The
check-in dates are Feb 26, March 26, and April 16.
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What should you write in my field journal?
Field notes are generally of three kinds: primarily descriptive notes, analytical memos,
and extended personal reflections. Certainly these can merge into each other, but you will
discover that it is useful for purposes of method and later analysis to distinguish them as
you write. Thus, as you begin an entry, it makes sense to pause for a moment, and give
the note a heading, or otherwise identify it for yourself as belonging to one of these types
of notes. (You may also discover other categories of notes; that is fine, but please let me
know what they are). For this course, I am not asking you to keep three separate field
journals, though some researchers do this—that is, they keep a separate journal for the
three types of notes. I am just asking for a single Word document, in which you identify
what kind of note you are writing. We will talk more in class about the three kinds of
notes, but briefly, they are:
Descriptive notes: Overall, at least 50-60% of your notes should be of this kind. In this
kind of entry, your main goal is to provide yourself with detailed, sensory, experiencenear descriptions of stuff you experienced, saw, witnessed, heard, and talked about that is
pertinent to your research question and project. While these entries are naturally filtered
through various interpretive lenses, it is important for you to develop the skill of
providing yourself with notes that are not themselves already “fully figured out,” fully
digested, analyzed and interpreted. We will be engaging in classroom exercises to refine
your skill in writing descriptive field notes, but your main development of this skill will
come from keeping up your field journal on regular basis. The key for this kind of note is
that you don’t have to “understand” everything you are writing. It is important not to let
more than 1 day transpire between the time you are in the field, and the time you write
your notes. Indeed, it is ideal that you write them on the same day (though I know this is
sometimes hard to do).
Analytical memos: What you seek to do in an analytical memo is to reflect in a more
focused way on possible connections, patterns, and interpretations you are having of the
stuff you are registering in your descriptive notes. Roughly 20% of your notes may be of
this kind, but you do not have to do this kind of writing every time. Analytical memos get
you into the groove of generating ideas for how to code your material later on, when you
turn to more systematic analysis. While it is a good idea to start writing analytical memos
while still in the field, it is also important to wait a few weeks before you plunge into
writing them – let yourself get “marinated” first for a while in the field, before trying to
analyze it. Once you do start writing analytical memos, it is crucial not to get carried
away and let them crowd out your descriptive notes. You can easily get swept away by
the beauty and symmetry of your analytical memos. Beware of becoming overcommitted
to your own analyses at this stage. This kind of note must be in the spirit of
brainstorming, trying out ideas, developing hunches, playing with possibilities.
Extended personal reflections: It is important to take time in your notes, when you feel
it is helpful and necessary, to reflect on how you are feeling personally about what you
are doing and finding, about ethical and political issues, and about any project-related
doubts, fears, worries, obsessions, etc. I recommend writing about 20% of your notes this
way. This will allow you to work through concerns, articulate issues that you may want
to bring to my attention of that of the class, etc.
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4. Written exercises
Preliminary “pre-design” plan, due Feb 5.….…….………….………………..not graded
Research design, due Feb 12 ……..……………………………………..……....….….7%
Observation report, due Feb 19...………………………….…………………….....…..7%
Domain interview, due March 5………………………..…..………...……..…………7%
IRB report, due March 19………………………..….…………………........……..…..7%
Coding report, due April 9……….……..…...….….…………….……….................…7%
4. In-class presentation.……..…………. …………………………………....….7%
On either April 18, 23, 25, or 30 you will make a 10-minute presentation on your project,
followed by discussion. Detailed instructions for how to organize the presentation will be
given later in the term.
5. Final report……….……………….…….……….…................………,,…….......17%
Your final paper will report the findings/results of your semester-long project.
Undergraduates must write a report of 12-14 pages; graduate students must write a paper
of 14-18 pages. The report should be in a style that is suitable for your organizational
audience. The report should include the following: a) statement of the research context;
b) the method you used, and why; c) your principal findings and your interpretation of
findings; e) a discussion of ethical and/or political issues raised through the process; f)
suggestions about follow-up, dissemination of findings, and recommendations for action.
In some cases, you may elect to prepare two documents: the report, and some other
format of presentation (list of recommendations, exhibit, video, etc.) that is aimed
primarily at the organizational audience. You will be receiving fuller instructions on this
report later in the term. Due Tuesday, May 7
SPECIAL NOTES
A note on time commitment
This course involves a heavy time commitment. Anthropological research requires time
in the field. Equally important, the course involves you in organizations beyond the
academy’s walls: your time commitment sends the message that you are serious about the
project. You should plan to be in the field (visiting the organization’s office, setting up
meetings, traveling to and from research sites, observing, interviewing, and note-taking)
on average about 4 hours per week. There will be weeks when you put in less than that,
and weeks that you put in more; but that ought to be the average target. Every week that
you are in the field I also expect you to devote at least one additional hour to writing
field notes (see above). These are time commitments over and beyond the time required
to prepare for class sessions and complete the assignments.
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A note on your budget
I will reimburse each of you up to $75 for expenses connected to your project.
Reimbursable expenses include (for example): meals with informants (meeting for
lunch/coffee, etc.); batteries and tapes for tape recorders; notebooks and writing
instruments; film; bus fares; driving fuel costs; food for focus groups; Xeroxing expenses
for flyers, announcements; gifts to informants; software relevant to the project; pertinent
books. To be reimbursed, please keep your receipts, and submit them to me by
Thursday, March 28. When you do so, I will need the following information all at the
same time: 1. Your name, SUID and complete mailing address; 2. Brief description of
why the expenditures were made and how it pertains to University business (the
completion of the course); 3. Itemized, dated receipts for the purchases - the receipts must
be taped in date order on paper with your name & SUID on top of each page; 4. If you
purchased equipment, the equipment is the property of the University (A&S) and must be
given to me at the end of the class so I can bring it over the A&S Dean’s office. 5. total
amount you are asking to be reimbursed; 6. If you are employed by the University, you
will need to sign an Employee Expense Voucher, by stopping by the office (209 Maxwell
Hall) You will receive your reimbursement check by late April.
A note on recording interviews and verbal notes
There are several ways to record. 1) Borrow a digital recorder from Learning
Environments at Newhouse II; 2) use the record function of your laptop; 3) use a digital
recorder your own (these are very useful to have); 4) borrow one from a friend,
acquaintance, or classmate
A note on student papers from prior years
Toward the end of the term, I will make available to you papers by students from prior
years, as we turn to analysis and interpretation. Look for it!
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Part 1:
POSITIONING RESEARCH
Tuesday, Jan 15
Introduction
Thursday, Jan 17
What is “engaged” research?



Course syllabus and list of projects (please read carefully)
Setha Low and Sally Merry, “Engaged Anthropology: Diversity and
Dilemmas”, 203-214 (2010) [The “Comments: section is optional]
Philip Nyden, “University-Community Collaborative Research: Adding
Chairs at the Research Table”
Tuesday, Jan 22
What do you personally bring to this study?



Joseph Maxwell, “Purposes: Why Are You Doing this Study?”
_____________, “Experiential Knowledge”
Veronica Crossa, “Relational positionality: Conceptualizing research,
power, and the everyday politics of neoliberalization in Mexico City”
Part 2:
BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN
Thursday, January 24
What is a core research question?





Kerry Strand, et al, “Getting Started: Identifying a Research Question”
Jean Schensul, “Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research”
Zina O’Leary, “From Problems to Research Questions”
Joseph Maxwell, “Research Questions: What Do You Want to
Understand?”
John Burdick, “Clarifying Research Questions”
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Tuesday, January 29
Developing relations in the field


Carolyn Wanat, “Getting Past the Gatekeepers”
Samuel Martinez, “Making Violence Visible”
Thursday, January 31
What are sub-questions? What is “research design”?


Schensul, “Elaborating Research Questions”
Schensul, “Overview of Research Design”
Tuesday, Feb 5
What is a “population”, and how do I decide which ones to focus on?
PRE-DESIGN DUE

Schensul, Jean and Margaret LeCompte, “Selecting Populations and Units
of Analysis”
Thursday, Feb 7
How do I recruit and sample participants for this study? How do I decide
which research-gathering techniques to use?
 Jean Schensul et al, “Ethnographic Sampling”
 Kerry Strand et al, “Collecting the Data”
 Annette Brunovskis, “Untold Stories”
 Schensul and LeCompte, “Data Collection Techniques”
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PART 3:
OBSERVATION AND INTERVIEWING
Tuesday, Feb 12
Observation, 1
RESEARCH DESIGN DUE




Robert Emerson et al, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, 17-65
James Spradley, Participant Observation, 53-80
Gibbs, “Writing”, 24-37
Sarah Pink, “Re-sensing participant observation: sensory emplaced learning”
Thursday, Feb 14
Observation, 2
 Emerson et al, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, 66-141
Tuesday, Feb 19
Interviewing about specific domains
OBSERVATION REPORT DUE



Hesse-Biber and Leavy, “Designing an in-depth interview study”
James Spradley, “Asking Descriptive Questions”
Sarah Pink, “Articulating Emplaced Knowledge: Understanding Sensory
Experiences through Interviews”
Thursday, February 21
Issues of power in interviewing
 Sand and Krumer-Nevo, “Interview Shocks and Shockwaves”
 Rice, Gareth. 2010. Reflections on interviewing elites. Area 42, 70-75
 Miller and Glassner, “The ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’”
 Hiller and DeLuzio, “The interviewee and the research interview”
Tuesday, February 26
Using places, objects and photographs
FIELD BOOK CHECK-IN #1




Sarah Pink, “Walking with video”
Cohen and De Leon, “Object and Walking Probes”
Katherin Fultz, “Collaborative Media Production and Antropología
Comprometida”
Castleden, Heather, Theresa Garvin, and Huu-ay-aht First Nation. “Modifying
Photovoice for Community-Based Participatory Indigenous Research.”
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PART 4:
ETHICS AND POLITICS
Thursday, February 28
Risks, benefits, and informed consent
 AAA, 1998 Code of Ethics, plus 2009 update
 Soyini Madison, 2012, “Methods and Ethics”, from Critical Ethnography, 127155
 Soyini Madison, “Case 2: Secrets, Sexuality, and Oral History”, 155-160
Tuesday, March 5
Specific ethical dilemmas; the IRB process
INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT DUE


Kathryn Blee and Tim Vining, 2010. “Risks and Ethics of Social Movement
Research in a Changing Political Climate”
Louisa Allen, “Caught in the Act”
htthttp://www.aaanet.org/stmts/irb
htmp://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/irb.htm
http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/bp.htm
Thursday, March 7
Collaborative, participatory and activist models of research




Shirley Suet-ling Tang, 2008. “Community-Centered Research as
Knowledge/Capacity Building in Immigrant and Refugee Communities”,
Engaging Contradictions
One on PAR
Shannon Speed in Engaging Contradictions (2008)
Charles Hale, “In Praise of Reckless Minds” (2007)
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PART 5:
SPECIAL DATA-GATHERING TECHNIQUES
Tuesday, March 19
Chronologically deep interviews
IRB REPORT DUE







Sean Field, “Oral History Methodology”
2 of the following:
Alicia Rouverol, “Collaborative oral history in a correctional setting: Promise and
pitfalls”
Jocelyn Vargas, “Afro-Puerto Rican Oral Histories”
Wendy Rickard, “Collaborating with sex workers in oral history”
Rachel Slater, “Using life histories to explore change”
Papa and Lassiter 2003
Campbell and Lassiter 2010
Thursday, March 21
Focus group interviews

Pranee Liamputtong, Focus Groups: Principles and Practice (2011)
Tuesday, March 26
Auto-ethnography
FIELD BOOK CHECK-IN #2
Heewon Chang, Autoethnography as method (selections)
Further reading: Computer-mediated social relations





Sarah Pink, 2012a. “The Digital Places of Everyday Life: Thinking About
Activism and the Internet”
_________, 2012b. “Visual ethnography and the internet: visuality, virtuality and
the spatial turn”
Anne Beaulieu, 2011 “From co-location to co-presence”
____________ and Adolfo Estallela, 2012 “Rethinking Research Ethics for
Mediated Settings”
James Dickman, 2010 “Social Interactions on Skype”
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PART 6:
ANALYSIS AND REPRESENTATION
Thursday, March 28
Beginning the process
 Gibbs, “The Nature of Qualitative Analysis”,
 _____, “Data Preparation”
 McClellan et al, “Beyond the Qualitative Interview”
Tuesday, April 2
Generating and using categories: codes and key events
 Emerson et al, “Processing fieldnotes”
 Gibbs, “Thematic Coding and Categorizing”
Thursday, April 4
Finding pattern and significance
 Gibbs, “Analyzing Biographies and Narratives”
 ____, “Comparative Analysis”
 Kearney et al, “Salvaging Self”
Tuesday, April 9
Developing interpretations
CODING REPORT DUE
 Soyini Madison, “Case 3: Community Theatre: Conflicts and
Organization,” 81-92
 Dodson and Schmarlzbauer, “Poor Mothers and Habits of Hiding”
 Daniel Kerr, “’We Know What the Problem Is”
Further reading: using qualitative data management software
 Gibbs, “Getting started with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis”
 _____, “Searching and Other Analytic Activities Using Software”
Thursday, April 11
Validating and triangulating findings and interpretations
 Joseph Maxwell, “Validity: How Might You Be Wrong?”
 J. Schensul, “Validity and Reliability”
 Gibbs, “Analytic Quality and Ethics”
Tuesday, April 16
Representing findings and interpretations
FIELDBOOK CHECK-IN #3
 Soyini Madison, “Case 1: Local Activism in West Africa”, 147-155
 Kerry Strand et al, “Reporting the Results”
 Emerson, Robert et al, “Writing an Ethnography”
 Coffey and Atkinson, “Writing and Representation”
 Gibbs, “Putting it all together”
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PART 7:
PRESENTATIONS
Thursday, April 18
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Tuesday, April 23
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Thursday, April 25
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Tuesday, April 30
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
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