This assignment will discuss the benefits of ethnographic research, analyze the Alice Goffman’s case study and provide solutions to the challenges in this form of research. The main challenge of this type of research is that there is a discrepancy between what is outlined in the legal requirements and what is found on the real ground. Many ethnographers relate with this challenge. The solution to this problem is to revise the rules and regulations governing the ethnographical research and still maintain the value and ethics of research. This type of research is highly beneficial because it provides in-depth, reliable and firsthand information that other research designs cannot provide.
Introduction
Ethnographic research is a qualitative research that involves studying of people’s culture, habits, customs and mutual differences (Atkinson, 2009). It involves the researcher living among the subject of study for a considerable amount of time to understand the culture and customs. The researcher will be required to take notes and learn through observation without interfering with the natural state of the subject of study. It is a non-experimental type of research that does not control or interfere the environment of the subject study. The participants act independently of the researcher (Atkinson, 2009). This means that the respondents should act the same way in the presence or absence of the researcher. If the same study is carried out by other researchers, it should yield similar results.
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When carrying out the ethnographic research, there are no questionnaires or inventories used to gain information from the study population (Atkinson, 2009). The human becomes the main instrument of data collection. The role of the researcher is to describe aspects such as basic assumptions and biases of the study, the expectations of the study and the experiences and credentials of his or her qualifications for conducting such a study. The research should also keep a journal throughout the study to fill in relevant information and protect the information from reaching the unauthorized people.
The researcher should see relevant permissions and authorizations to conduct the study since he or she will be living among people (Atkinson, 2009). The researcher will become a full participant in the social-cultural activities of the community. The research may not be effective if the researcher is an outsider. He or she will need to become part of the community and carry out the study within the community as they participate in various activities. The researcher will be asking question randomly and listens to the answers during conversations. However, the researcher should be careful with the choice of words to avoid raising concerns from the participants which can affect the success of the study.
The other factor that the researcher should consider is the integrity of respondents (Atkinson, 2009). The integrity of the respondents should be respected, and the researcher will be required to erase all names in any materials that were used during the research and discard any information that is directly pointing to a specific individual. Any recorded information should preserve the anonymity of the participants. Therefore, any necessary alterations should be made to ensure that no individual is directly linked to the information given.
This research paper will evaluate the benefits and challenges of ethnographic research. One of the main challenge of this type of research is that if the researcher observes all the research protocols and ethics, it might be impossible to succeed in the research. There is a great discrepancy between the formal requirements and the realities in the field.
The Statement of Problem
There is a discrepancy between the formal protocols and guidelines and the realities in the field. As a result, ethnographers are ‘low-level cheaters’ because it is difficult to address all the formal requirements of the research. For instance, informing the participants about the research study may affect their normal and usual behavior. This will affect the outcome of the results because the results will be biased. Sometimes gaining the consent of the participants may instill fear among them and may not be willing to share or answer any questions, especially in a situation where human rights abuse has been happening for a long time. As a result, many ethnographers prefer to hide their profile and motive to make sure that the respondents act as usual. For a successful research, the participants should act the same way, whether in the presence or absence of the researcher.
Case Study: Alice Goffman’s recent Ethnographical Work in inner-city Philadelphia
For Alice to compile and write the book ‘On the Run,' she has to spend a lot of time in the inner-city Philadelphia (Betts, 2014). To succeed in this research, Goffman had to live a double life of being an Ivy Leaguer at daytime and a home girl at night. Her friends during the stay became her research subjects. In her book, she explains the dangers she faced and the violence she saw in the city. There were a lot of addictions and major crimes including murder that was happening within the neighborhood. She witnessed the buildup of fear among the young men who were constantly being arrested by the policemen. She mainly explains about the black life in the inner-city Philadelphia and highlights major social activities that were affecting the young men like crimes, drug addiction, murder, and robbery.
According to her ethnographic research, the police raids were being overused and were not effective because the crime rate among the young people was not decreasing. Goffman used to witness some of his friends committing crimes, but he could not submit the information to the policymakers. She maintained the anonymity of the research project as a way of protecting the ethics of ethnographic research. She also witnessed another friend who was trapped in drug addiction and was not able to lead a normal life.
She witnessed a lot of criminal activities happening within the black life during her stay in Philadelphia (Betts, 2014). Even though it appeared as if she was covering criminal activities among his friends, it would have been against the ethical requirements of his research study. It was important to make the research results anonymous without quoting any names or presenting images of the subjects.
Goffman retained ethical and neutral stance by not sharing personal information of the subject study that would show the identity and names of the individuals. She protected the anonymity of the subject study throughout and even in her book he does not mention the real names of the subject of the study. She also maintained a neutral stance by becoming an insider and part of the community. She succeeded in the information collected about the black life by acting normal with the neighbors and hiding her identity in the six years. To achieve the best results in the ethnographic study, it is important to remain neutral and to hide the identity of the subjects.
Based on Goffman’s work, the social problems of the inner-city Philadelphia were mainly drug addiction, selling of drugs and crimes like robbery and murder. The young men were being arrested by the police because of performing such crimes. For her work, she identified a woman who was addicted to cocaine and had three children from different fathers. Violence and criminal acts were part of the daily activities in the inner-city Philadelphia.
The research was possible because of using the qualitative research study. Maintaining her cover for six years helped her gained a lot of useful information that she used to compile the book. Even though she did not reveal any information that could be linked to the individuals and friends that she used as subjects during her study. Any other research type would have been difficult to achieve the objective of the study. She properly documented her final results in a book and hid all personal information about the subjects.
Experts’ View
The experts in ethnographic share the same problem of the discrepancy between the legal requirements and the realities in the field. Most of the experts agree that it is not easy to observe all the rules and regulations of ethnographic research and still succeed with the research. Especially the part of making the subjects know who you are and your objectives. It will make the respondents uneasy, and they will not act as usually when around the researcher. Gaining the information without their knowledge makes work easier.
There is nothing yet that has been done to solve this problem. Some formal responses arising from the case study is that the Goffman does not reveal the information of the FBI who introduced a special technology in tracking the criminals in the inner-city Philadelphia. According to the public, positive information should be revealed.
The alternative solution to this problem is to revise the policies governing the ethnographic research. This is to ensure that there is a match between what is found on the real ground and what is in the requirements. The negative consequence of this solution is that it may give the ethnographers more freedom that may affect research ethics. Therefore, the regulations should be well evaluated and adjust policies that would still govern and protect the values and ethics of research.
Conclusion
The benefits of ethnographic research are that it provides an in-depth understanding of the study, it provides firsthand information that cannot be found in secondary sources, it involves identification of social behaviors and interactions, and it reveals the qualities of the social group in a way other research cannot reveal. Therefore, there is the importance of revising the ethnographic rules and guidelines. For the society in the case study, the young people should be mentored and trained. They should be taught on how to become productive members of the society rather than selling drugs, abusing drugs and practicing criminal activities.
References
Atkinson, P. (2009). Ethics and Ethnography. Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences , 17-30.
Betts, D. (2014, July 10). The Stoop Isn’t the Jungle. Slate.com. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/07/alice_goffman_s_on_the_run_she_is_wrong_about_black_urban_life.html
