Liberman1999a

From emcawiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Liberman1999a
BibType ARTICLE
Key Liberman1999a
Author(s) Kenneth Liberman
Title From walkabout to meditation: craft and ethics in field inquiry
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Research Methods, Craft, Ethics, Fieldwork, Data management
Publisher
Year 1999
Language
City
Month
Journal Qualitative Inquiry
Volume 5
Number 1
Pages 47–63
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/107780049900500103
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

Download BibTex

Abstract

Craft and ethics in qualitative field research are vitally related to each other in that the satisfaction of the demands of each is closely dependent on an honest engagement with the local contingencies of fieldwork, which includes a willingness to keep oneself and one’s research agenda open to transformation by these contingencies. Similarly, craft and ethics in fieldwork compel the researcher to provide considerable epistemological space to one’s subjects; when these epistemological obligations are fulfilled, a sound moral relationship with one’s field subjects can develop. Three professional obligations are discussed—an obligation to the integrity of the corporate life of the people one is investigating, to the individual persons one is researching, and to the value of one’s own research. Certain distinguishing features of ethnographic craft are identified.

Notes