Anthropology 292
Ethnographic Research Methods
Fall 2006
Professor: Maria Tapias (tapias@grinnell.edu)
Goodnow Hall 203
Phone: 269-3137
Lecture: T/Th 2:30-4:00
Goodnow 105
Office Hours: Mon 10-12; T, TH 9-10 During office hours, feel free to stop by without an appointment.
If you don’t want to have to wait during office hours please email me and we’ll set up a definite time. If
you are unable to attend office hours due to schedule conflicts please email me and we’ll find a suitable
time to meet.
Course Description:
This purpose of this course is to introduce you to an array of qualitative research methods and to
provide you with some first hand experience conducting fieldwork. The classroom meetings will provide a
forum for us to discuss particular theoretical issues related to ethnographic research and to also learn the
nitty gritty of research methods. Throughout the semester you will also conduct fieldwork at a particular
site/sites of your choosing on a topic that interests you. As you undertake your fieldwork you will be able
to try out several of the methods we discuss.
Some of our meetings will focus on more theoretical readings about field work, participant
observation, ethics, etc. while others will be more focused on specific methods and “how-to’s” such as
writing fieldnotes, conducting interviews, life histories, using photography, etc. You will learn how to
develop an adequate methodological framework to address your research design and to prepare a
competitive research proposal.
I would like to encourage students with documented disabilities, including non-visible disabilities
such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury, attention deficit/hyperactive disorder,
psychiatric disabilities, to discuss with me, after class or during my office hours, appropriate
accommodations. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Associate Dean and
Director of Academic Advising, Joyce Stern, located in the lower level of the Forum (x3702)
Texts (please note abbreviations used in syllabus)
Mitchell Duneier Sidewalk (S)
Karen O’Reilly Ethnographic Methods (EM)
Carolyn Smith and William Kornblum (ITF) In the Field: Readings on the Field Research Experience.
Requirements:
Annotated bibliography (5%) Due October 12th. Prior to fall break you will undertake a literature
review and hand in an annotated bibliography on your topic of ten sources. Your final literature review
should have at least 25 sources (books and articles) but you will only hand in ten annotated sources today.
Literature Review (10%) Due November 28 Your literature review should examine prior
anthropological studies on the topic you are researching (at least 25 sources). You should be examining
what studies have been done on your topic and how you see your fieldwork potentially contributing to these
discussions.
Grant Proposal (15%) Due December 7th. You will write a 10 page proposal following the guidelines
given in class.
Field Portfolio (50%)
You will keep a field portofolio consisting of two parts which you will submit to me on a regular
basis. The first will be a set of notes on the readings assigned for that particular week. Keep these in
chronological order in one section of your binder. On Nov 21st you will write a reflection paper on what
readings were particularly helpful for you as you undertook your fieldwork.
The second part will consist of your fieldnotes which will be typed and printed (proofread and
spell checked!) The comments and feedback that I or other students give you should be addressed in the
subsequent field entries. All original notes (with my comments) will be handed in at the end of the
semester. These notes are to be kept in chronological order as well. The entire binder with
reading/reflection notes and fieldnotes will be handed in on the last day of class.
1
Visual Project (10%)
You will have the opportunity to use photography as one of your field methods. We will exhibit
your picture in class and you will give a short presentation about the images, how you chose to organize
these, and to what degree photography was a good medium for your project.
Class Participation (10%).
Given the size of the class it will be virtually impossible to be invisible. Come prepared to
participate in class!! Often you will be asked to do small exercises and report your results/findings in class.
Don’t forget that everybody is learning the “tricks of the trade” so you should feel free to raise issues,
concerns and questions regarding your fieldwork.
Important dates to note:
8/29 Hand in one page description of your project
9/26 Hand in Binder
10/12 Hand in annotated bibliography with 10 academic sources (journal articles or books)
10/24 Hand in binder with coded fieldnotes
10/26 You should have completed two in-depth interviews
11/9; 11/14 Picture exhibition
11/21 Hand in sections of proposal on “methods” and “fieldsite”. Also, 5 page reflection paper.
11/28 Literature review of the proposal is due (should have at least 25 academic sources)
12/5; 12/7 Final presentations: your fieldnote binder is due when you give your presentation
12/7 proposals due by 5 pm.
Reading Schedule
Date
Week 1
TH 8/24
Week 2
T 8/29
TH 8/31
Week 3
T 9/5
TH 9/7
Week 4
T 9/12
Assignment
Introduction to the class
Discussion of possible field projects.
Visit the Farmer’s market this afternoon or Saturday and write your observations of the
event. After your visit, write up an “ethnographic description” of your visit to hand in (Th.
Aug 31) and come prepared to discuss your experience and notes.
Individual meeting to discuss project. Hand in 1 page project description
 You should begin spending time at your site(s) to familiarize yourself with its
activity and participants. You cannot begin interviewing until you have obtained
IRB approval. You can however begin your observation of the field. You should
plan on spending between 2-4 hours/wk at your site and should be planning on
spending about 2 hours of writing up notes for every hour spent in the field
PW: C. Geertz: Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture.
PW: Malinowski, B. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Pp. 1-25
 Discussion of visit to farmer’s market
 Come prepared to discuss your proposed project with the class.
EM: Ch 1 and pages 25-34
S: Intro, 17-42 and Appendix on Methods (pp. 333-357)
Do these authors think about ethnography in similar ways? What does Duneier mean by
the “extended place method” and how does this help him avoid the ethnographic fallacy?
Ethics
EM: Ch 3
ITF: Sterk, Bosk and Williams articles
What are some ethical issues that arise in the articles assigned for today? How are these
issues solved? Are there any ethical issues you are concerned about in your project?
Filling out the IRB
Before coming to class please read the following webpages:
AAA statement on Ethics at: www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ethcode.htm
Institutional Review Board webpage at: http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/irb/
Complete ethics training module found on the IRB webpage and
2
TH 9/14
Week 5
T 9/19
TH 9/21
Week 6
T 9/26
TH 9/28
Week 7
T 10/3
TH 10/5
Week 8
T 10/10
TH 10/12
Week 9 Fall Break
Oct 16-Oct. 20
Week 10 T 10/24
Print and bring to class the “research with human subjects” form which can be found at:
http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/irb/humansform.doc
Do not submit these materials to the board until I have checked them!!!
S: 43-80
Anthropology and the Crisis of Representation
PW: Clifford, James “Introduction: Partial Truths” in Writing Culture: The Poetics and
Politics of Ethnography.
PW: Abu-Lughod, Lila “Writing Against Culture” in Richard Fox ed. Recapturing
Anthropology: Working in the Present.
Participant Observation
Come prepared to discuss how your participant observation is progressing.
EM: Ch 4
S: 81-111
 Bring a copy of fieldnotes (for one particular day you were “in the field”) to class
to exchange with one of your peers. In class you will fill out a feedback sheet for
your partner. Include your peer’s evaluation of your notes in your binder.
Class will not meet.
Please read EM: 34-58.**
S: 115-154
 ** Begin anthropological literature searches that have addressed the topics you are
pursuing. An annotated bibliography of 10 sources will be due before fall break.
 Catch up with fieldnotes and be ready to hand in your binder on Tuesday.
HAND IN BINDER WITH NOTES. Please complete writing up your notes before you
read the following readings:
PW: Emerson, Fretz and Shaw: Preface, chapter 1 and 2 Which suggestions made by
Emerson et al. do you think will be useful for you to write notes?
S: 157-228
Preparing your annotated bibliography
Interviews
EM: Ch. 5,6
 Bring 3 copies of 10 questions you intend to ask during your interviews. BE sure
the questions are not leading. Avoid questions that will yield a “yes/no/I don’t
know” answer. In class you will discuss your questions with peers.
 You should have completed 2 in-depth interviews by October 26
Reflexivity and Positioned Engagements
PW: Rosaldo: Grief and a Headhunters Rage in Culture and Truth
PW: Selections from Malinowski’s A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term
ITF: Naples
Positioned engagements (cont)
JSTOR: Narayan: How Native is a “Native Anthropologist?” in American Ethnologist, V.
95 n. 3 (Sept. 1993) pp. 671-686
S: 231-289
Updates on Projects.
Come prepared to discuss your findings so far and obstacles that you may be encountering
in your fieldwork.
Bring in your fieldnotes binder to class.
Discussion of coding of fieldnotes.
Class will not meet but your annotated bibliography of 10 sources is due today.
Finish SIDEWALK.
 If you have fallen behind in your notes catch up this week. Over break go through
all of your notes and begin to code them and see what themes begin to emerge
from them. What do people talk about? What is meaningful to them?
 Return from break with a camera (if you don’t have access to one you can use a
disposable camera). From now until the end of the semester you should have your
camera handy to take photos when appropriate.
Pursuing Member’s Meanings
PW: Emerson, Fretz and Shaw: Chapter 5
 Bring your copy of Sidewalk to class with you (cont.)
3

TH 10/26
Week 11
T 10/31
TH 11/2
Week 12
T 11/7
TH 11/9
Week 13
T 11/14
TH 11/16
Week 14 T 11/21
Thanksgiving Break
Week 15 T 11/28
TH 11/30
Week 16
T 12/5
TH 12/7
We will discuss the themes that you see emerging in your notes and also discuss
the ways in which Duneier pursues members meanings. How to the linkages he
develops help us understand the street scenes and actors he describes?
 HAND IN BINDER WITH CODED FIELDNOTES. Your notes should reflect all
the fieldwork you have done through October 12 th.
Life Histories
PW: Faye Ginsburg “Dissonance and Harmony: The Symbolic Function of Abortion in
Activists’ Life Stories”
PW: Karen Sacks “What’s a Life Story Got to Do With it? Interpreting Women’s Lives:
Feminist Theory and Personal Narratives

You should have completed at least 2 in-depth interviews. Come prepared to
discuss how they went. Were your questions adequate? What, if any,
modifications did you have to make to your questions?
Proposal Writing
PW: Przeworski, A and F. Salomon 1991 “On the Art of Writing Proposals” Social
Science Research Council.
JSTOR: Silverman, Sydel 1991 “Writing Grant Proposals for Anthropological Research”
Current Anthropology 32(4) 485-489.
Visual and Other forms of Data
EM: Ch 7
Come prepared to discuss how archival or statistical data, letters, or newspaper articles
might be useful to your project. What kinds of data could you rely upon to situate your
project within a larger framework?
Get your pictures developed and be sure to leave yourself ample time to mount your
images to bring to class on Nov 9th or 14th.
Visual data continued…
PW: Becker, Howard 1998 “Categories and Comparisons: How We Find Meanings in
Photographs” Visual Anthropology Review 14(2): 3-10
PW: Harper, D. 1987. The Visual Ethnographic Narrative. Visual Anthropology 1:1-19.
ITF: Article by Harper.
Bring in your copy of sidewalk and be prepared to discuss what the use of images added to
Duneier’s ethnography. What are some of the potential limitations of visual images?
During the next t 2 weeks you should be focusing on getting as much fieldwork done as
possible. There are no readings for these weeks so take advantage of the time to conduct
more interviews and hang out at your site. All fieldwork should be completed by
Thanksgiving break.
Picture exhibition I.
Come to class with your mounted pictures and be prepared to discuss the advantages and
limitations of photography for your particular ethnographic project
Picture exhibition II. (continued from Thursday)
NO CLASS Prof at the AAA meetings.
Begin to wrap up your fieldwork. You have two writing assignments due today.
 A draft of the sections of your proposal describing field site and methods.
Please deliver to my office or email by 4pm
 A five page reflection paper on what readings you found particularly helpful as
you undertook your fieldwork
Multi-Sited Ethnographic Research
JSTOR George Marcus “Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of MultiSited Ethnography” Annual Review of Anthropology 24(1995): 95-117
**Hand in literature review section of your proposal.
Writing, Reflexivity and autobiography
EM: Ch. 9
Final Presentations
Final Presentations. All portfolios and proposals are due today
\
4
DATE
Time Spent in Field
5
Time for write up
(date)