Team Ethnography: Advancing Problem-Solving Sociology through a Rigorous, Multi-Investigator, Multi-Method Qualitative Methodology

• In Event: 30402 - New Insights from Multiple Methods and Measures

Abstract

Sociology in the 21st century has witnessed a dramatic increase in efforts to advance or clarify how to engage in rigorous, high quality qualitative methodology (e.g., Lareau 2021, Small and Calarco 2022, Tavory and Timmermans 2014). The motivation, in part, is so that sociological science can contribute to public policies that address the many social problems sociologists study (Small and Calarco 2022). With this methodological manuscript, we offer a different approach to strengthening the rigor of qualitative sociological research: team ethnography. This approach encourages multiple forms of qualitative “measurement,” through the multiple observers. It also leverages the advantages of researchers’ unique positionalities while guarding against some of the inherent limitations of having researchers involved in collecting, analyzing, and producing data. Our approach is grounded in our collective experiences with a community-engaged team ethnographic research project – the Social Worlds & Youth Well-Being Study (Social Worlds study) – which involved more than 10 field ethnographers, interviewers, and data analysts and multiple methodologies (ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys). The study took place in 12 public schools across two Colorado public school districts and aimed to improve suicide prevention strategies for schools. By reflecting on our research strategies and analyzing our own research experiences, we articulate the benefits and challenges of team ethnography and offer strategies researchers can implement to leverage this method to produce rigorous insights into important social problems. We pay particular attention to identifying strategies that facilitate data quality and harmonization and that support the free and respectful exchange of ideas and perspectives across team members with different degrees of power, different epistemological stances, and investment in the project’s outcomes.

Authors

• Anna S. Mueller, Indiana University Bloomington

• Seth Abrutyn, University of British Columbia

• Jienian Zhang, New College of Florida

• Loren M Beard, Harvard University

• Katie Beardall

• Olivia DeCrane, The Ohio State University

• Roberto David Ortiz, Indiana University-Bloomington

• Hillary Steinberg, US Census Bureau

• Robert Gallagher, Indiana University-Bloomington

• Sarah H. Diefendorf, Indiana University