RESEARCH DESIGN – CHARTING THE COURSE
5.11 Writing data as an ethnographic case study
“It is difficult to separate the activities of data collection, analysis and report writing in qualitative study” (Creswell, 2007, p198) and in order for the reader to make sense of these activities and in keeping with the ethnographic tradition, I have written up the study in narrative format (Creswell, 2007). This approach is apt as “how we write reflects who we are as researchers” (Creswell, 2007, p179), and the format enables readers to have a better understanding of me, the researcher, and the lens through which I view the data, events and settings. In writing up an ethnographic case study, there are a number of aspects that I need to be mindful of. These include considering who my audience is, the themes of the case study, writing a case study and writing it as ethnography and stylistic attributes (Creswell, 2007;
Humphreys & Watson, 2009; Richardson, 1990; van Maanen, 1995).
The audience for this research includes academics, small business owners, workplace/adult learning and education practitioners and participants from the research site. In order to accommodate this spectrum of audiences, I have disclosed my position in this chapter and continue to do so in coming chapters. I provide rich descriptions of the data, events and settings and I use a writing style that is “personal, familiar, perhaps ‘up-close’, highly readable, friendly and applied for a broad audience” (Creswell, 2007, p182). These techniques as well as a thematic approach to writing assist with the readability of the study across a range of audiences.
I have taken a thematic approach to writing up the data based on the themes that emerge from the research questions. I have also presented the data and findings in a chronological order based on the two different periods that I spent at the research site (Creswell, 2007). These two periods are presented in Chapters Six and Seven. In both chapters, I am self-disclosing about my role in keeping with the ethnographic case study tradition (Creswell, 2007).
For the purposes of this study, a case study can be seen as a description of a case which presents themes, assertions or interpretations of the researcher and includes a thick description of the
case, a presentation of issues (or themes) and confirming and disconfirming evidence of these issues (Creswell, 2007).
In writing the case study as ethnography, a description of the culture is included to assist the reader, and researcher, to understand “what is going on here?” (Creswell, 2007, p192). Data is presented, analysed, evaluated and interpreted in order to arrive at findings “both within the context of the researcher’s experiences and within the larger body of scholarly research on the topic” (Creswell, 2007, p193). Ethnographers are able to write “a good story” in which they are able to draw close to people and events, and write about what they learned in situ (Creswell, 2007; van Maanen, 1995).
The narrative is a feature of ethnography in which “we weigh and sift experiences, make choices regarding what is significant, what is trivial, what to include, what to exclude. We do not simply chronicle ‘what happened next’ but place the ‘next’ in a meaningful context”
(Richardson, 1990, p10). I have employed enhanced ethnography which includes descriptive scene settings, dialogue, the author as a character in the narrative, including my and the participants’ emotional responses and their perspectives in order to understand ‘the story’
(Humphreys & Watson, 2009).
Ethnography also allows for certain stylistic considerations. In order to protect the identification of individuals’ identities and responses of various research transcripts, Humphreys & Watson (2009, p59) suggest that field notes and the researcher’s impressions merge to construct a voice of what a fictional character might say. This approach allows for anonymity but also constructs a fictitious character as a container, or holder, of the voice of participants. I, however, have included individual responses as there are divergent voices. I protected identities by not including names of respondents, instead using pseudonyms. Truth claims are mainly in correspondence terms and describe more-or-less what happened (Humphreys & Watson, 2009), as opposed to a definite. This also allows for the researcher’s lens to be viewed by the reader, understanding that the claim is as I, the researcher, saw it, or understood it to be.
In summary, in writing up this ethnographic case study, a single case has been examined and the data presented in narrative format based on themes in a chronological order. The story that unfolds is one in which the participants’ voices can be heard and the settings understood as seen through my, the researcher’s, lens, as I disclose it. The story follows…
5.12 Conclusion
Having completed a perusal of maps and navigation aids, and inspected the seaworthiness of the vessel, I am now ready to have the anchor raised and set sail.
The methods I have planned should contribute to a fair and accurate assessment of the sustainability of the vessel and learning disciplines practised by the crew. However, I am mindful of a major influence on the assessment that I will make and that is of myself, the researcher, as instrument.
This chapter has outlined the design of the study and provided insight into my philosophical assumptions and the research paradigm adopted. An ethnographic case study approach was adopted that incorporates an interactive model in its design. Observations, documentation, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups were used to collect data and also enabled triangulation of data, contributing to the validity and trustworthiness of the study. Limitations and validity threats have been considered as well as how these can be minimised. Data analysis employs a process of examining, sorting, categorising and coding data in order to evaluate, compare, synthesize and review the data and the reporting of data is written up as an ethnographic case study.
I am now ready to employ my instruments and am curious about the results of the study and what the findings will be, all the while hopeful that the vessel is sustainable and will not sink, at least not while I’m on board!