Are Stories from the Field Really Useful? Advantages and Drawbacks of Ethnography : Strengths and Weaknesses of Direct Observation
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2007
- ISIDORE Id: 10670/1.8c60f4...
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Scientific research Science research Science--ResearchCiter ce document
Daniel Bizeul, « Are Stories from the Field Really Useful? Advantages and Drawbacks of Ethnography : Strengths and Weaknesses of Direct Observation », Revue française de science politique, ID : 10670/1.8c60f4...
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Telling the story of field research, with its hazards, setbacks, strokes of luck, tactics, has become a specific genre in ethnographic production. A few temptations come with it : taking the idea of « hard places » as a fact, although in most studies it reflects the social background and privileges of the researcher ; taking the authenticity of the research, with its contacts and hardships, as a test of quality for a study ; taking direct observation as the decisive solution for all research problems. Ethnography has obvious advantages, as shown by many reports ; but we should know exactly what is new and convincing in each study to be entitled to affirm its epistemological necessity.
