Ethnography

Sifting through notepads filled with illegible scrawl, listening to hours of tape recordings, labeling and organizing piles of photographs and slides, and cross-referencing disks of data are all too-familiar pictures to the ethnographic researcher. How does one manage a mountain of data and make meaningful statements? By using the new, updated Ethnography that has proved so reliable to thousand of researchers. This edition takes a step into a new frontier -- the Internet -- one of the most powerful resources available to ethnographers. The book now provides insights into the uses of the Internet, including conducting searches about topics or sites, collecting census data, conducting interviews by "chatting" and video-conferencing, sharing notes and pictures about research sites, debating issues with colleagues on listservers and in online journals, and downloading useful data and analysis software. Maintained from the First Edition is coverage of the nature of fieldwork, the equipment needed to conduct research, the analysis of data, the differences and similarities between qualitative and quantitative approaches, and writing the report. Throughout the book, author David M. Fetterman provides insights into putting people at ease, research ethics, and sensitivity to other cultures. Popular with readers for the friendly and accessible style of writing, this new edition will be an indispensable resource for doing ethnographic research.

Booknews

Stepping into a new frontier<-->the Internet<-->the second edition discusses conducting searches about topics or sites, collecting census data, conducting interviews by "chatting" and video-conferencing, sharing notes and pictures about research sites, debating issues with colleagues on listservs and in online journals, and downloading useful data collection and analysis software. Maintained from the first edition is coverage of the nature of fieldwork, the equipment needed to conduct research, the analysis of data, the differences and similarities between qualitative and quantitative approaches, and writing the report. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

David M. Fetterman is a Consulting Professor of Education and the Director of Evaluation, Career Development, and Alumni Relations at Stanford University. Formerly, he was the Director of the MA Policy Analysis and Evaluation Program in the School of Education at Stanford University. He was Professor and Research Director at the California Institute of Integral Studies; Principal Research Scientist at the American Institutes for Research; and a Senior Associate and Project Director at RMC Research Corporation. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in educational and medical anthropology. David is a past president of the American Evaluation Association and the American Anthropological Association's Council on Anthropology and Education. He has conducted extensive multisite evaluation research on local, state, and national levels. Recognized for his contributions to the development of ethnography and ethnographic evaluation, he has recently focused on developing empowerment evaluations--to help people help themselves--throughout the United States and in South Africa. They include a Hewlett Packard Philanthropy Digital Villages project, an Arkansas State Department of Education project, and a Hewlett Foundation One East Palo Alto community revitalization project.  David was elected a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology. He received the Paul Lazarsfeld Award for OutstandingContributions to Evaluation Theory and the Myrdal Award for Cumulative Contributions to Evaluation Practice; the George and Louise Spindler Award for outstanding contributions to educational anthropology as a scholar and practitioner; the Ethnographic Evaluation Award from the Council on Anthropology and Education; the President's Award from the Evaluation Research Society for contributions to ethnographic educational evaluation; and the Washington Association of Practicing Anthropologists' Praxis Publication Award for translating knowledge into action. He has consulted for a variety of federal agencies, foundations, corporations, and academic institutions, including the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Mental Health, Centers for Disease Control; U.S. Department of Agriculture; W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Rockefeller Foundation; Walter S. Johnson Foundation; Annie E. Casey Foundation; Marin Community Foundation; universities throughout the United States and Europe, as well as foreign agencies and ministries, such as the Ministry of Education in Japan. Fetterman is the General Editor for Garland/Taylor and Francis Publication's Studies in Education and Culture series. He has contributed to the International Encyclopedia of Education, the Encyclopedia of Human Intelligence, and the Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods, and the Encyclopedia of Evaluation. He is author of Foundations of Empowerment Evaluation; Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-Assessment and Accountability; Speaking the Language of Power: Communication, Collaboration, and Advocacy; Ethnography: Step by Step, Second Edition; Qualitative Approaches to Evaluation in Education: The Silent Scientific Revolution; Excellence and Equality: A Qualitatively Different Perspective on Gifted and Talented Education; Educational Evaluation: Ethnography in Theory, Practice, and Politics; and Ethnography in Educational Evaluation.  He recently coedited Empowerment Evaluation: Principles in Practice.