The Ethnographer’s Way guides researchers through the exciting process of turning an initial idea into an in-depth research project. Kristin Peterson and Valerie Olson introduce “multidimensioning,” a method for planning projects that invites scholars to examine their research interests from all angles. Researchers learn to integrate seemingly disparate groups, processes, sites, and things into a unified conceptual framework. The handbook’s ten modules walk readers step-by-step, from the initial lightbulb moment to constructing research descriptions, planning data gathering, writing grant and dissertation proposals, and preparing for fieldwork. Designed for ethnographers and those working across disciplines, these modules provide examples of multidimensional research projects with exercises readers can utilize to formulate their own projects. The authors incorporate group work into each module to break the isolation common in academic project design. In so doing, Peterson and Olson’s handbook provides essential support and guidance for researchers working at all levels and stages of a project.
- Cover
- Contents
- Tables,Examples, Figures, and Formulas
- Prelude: Why and How to Use This Handbook
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Multidimensional Concept Work
- Designing with Connectivity, Intuition, Curiosity, and Congruence
- Beginning with the Research Imaginary
- Getting out of Vertical Scaling and into Multidimensional Space
- Identifying a Multidimensional Object (MO)
- Relating Multidimensional Zones of Inquiry
- Project Listening: Attending to What’s There and What’s Possible
- Overview of the Multidimensional Design Elements and Processes
- Interlude 1: Create a Collective Concept Workspace
- Prepare for Design Work
- Personal Needs Assessment for Collective Concept Workspaces
- Make Collective Agreements
- Module 1: Imagine the Research
- Write Your Research Imaginary in Four Days
- Create Your Key Concepts Table
- Research Project Grid 1
- Collective Concept Workspace 1
- Module 2: Focus on Literatures
- Use Your Project Concepts to Find Three Key Literatures
- Assess How Your Project Engages with Conversations within Key Literatures
- Include Literature-Based “Other Concepts”
- Create and Listen to the Literatures Diagram
- Make a Preliminary Reading List with Timelines
- Research Project Grid 2
- Collective Concept Workspace 2
- Module 3: Map Concepts
- Prepare to Work Graphically and Archive Your Creations
- Make a Concept Map with Connections
- Assess Your Map’s Ethnographic Specificity
- Listen to and Explain Your Map
- Research Project Grid 3
- Collective Concept Workspace 3
- Module 4: Create Multidimensional Concept Combos
- Place Key Concepts within Literatures
- Create Your Concept Combos
- Do Concept Combo Literature Searches and Assessments
- Identify the Most Promising Concept Combos
- Revise Your Key Concepts Table and Concept Map
- Research Project Grid 4
- Collective Concept Workspace 4
- Module 5: Describe Your Research
- Project Listening: Admiring Successful Ethnographic Descriptions
- Warm Up to Communicating Your Project
- Understanding Research Description (RD) Structure
- Draft a Baseline RD and Identify Key Descriptors
- Interrelate Key Descriptors
- Finalize your RD
- Research Project Grid 5
- Collective Concept Workspace 5
- Module 6: Perceive Your Multidimensional Object
- Revise Your Key Concepts Table, Concept Map, and RD
- Pause to Feed Creativity
- The RD-MO Relationship and Multidimensional Tensegrity
- Perceive and Create Your MO
- Feel into Your MO
- Research Project Grid 6
- Collective Concept Workspace 6
- Interlude 2: The Inquiry Zones
- Module 7: The Scoping Zone
- Prepare to Define Your Scope
- Attune to Curiosity and Not-Knowing
- Draft a Scoping Question
- Identify Disciplinary and Social Significance
- Confirm the Scoping Question and Significance Relationship
- Research Project Grid 7
- Collective Concept Workspace 7
- Module 8: The Connecting Zone
- Identify Your Process Clusters
- Define Data Sets
- Pose Data-Gathering Questions
- Research Project Grid 8
- Collective Concept Workspace 8
- Module 9: The Interacting Zone
- Establish Your Data Collecting Interactivities
- Define Questions for Your Observational Interactivities
- Compose Questions for Your Conversational Interactivities
- Account for the Archive
- Conceptualize Nonstandard and Other Methods
- Ensure That the Connecting and Interacting Zones Are Congruent
- Research Project Grid 9
- Collective Concept Workspace 9
- Module 10: Mobilize Your Research Project Grid
- Make a Whole-Project Congruence Check
- Develop an Ethics Review Board Application Plan
- The Opening Paragraph of the Project Description
- The Literature Review Section
- The Methods Section
- Maintain Multidimensional Concept Work during Field Research
- Postlude: Resting, Reflecting, Preparing to Begin Anew
- Appendixes
- 1. Scheduling the Modules for Academic Quarters and Semesters
- 2. Wilkinson’s Partially Filled Research Project Grid
- Glossary
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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