Maneuvering the Stormy Waters of Ethnography in an Inner-City School: Reflections from the Field

This chapter outlines methodological difficulties and ethical dilemmas encountered during my fieldwork at a high-poverty, high-minority U.S. inner-city school. Using a qualitative research design informed by the “new” sociology of childhood and constructivist grounded theory, I conducted child-centered research at the school for four months, including participant observations and interviews with 50 students. This chapter argues that good ethnographic research not only depends on solid research design but also requires researchers to be flexible, adaptable, and diplomatic. Especially regarding the “least adult” role, the dilemma of objectivity, lying in interviews, and the ethical predicament of students sharing sensitive information, I argue that ethnographic studies often require the researcher to act more like a diplomat maneuvering the stormy waters of contradictory interests than the objective observer described in the methodological literature. First-hand accounts of research exploring children’s own perspectives are scarce. Particularly difficulties and dilemmas encountered in the field are often mentioned only in passing, if they are mentioned at all. Novice researchers thus struggle to find information to guide their own endeavors and may set themselves up for frustration if they expect their research to be as predictable as the methodological literature suggests. The paucity of discussion of real-life difficulties encountered in the field also hinders scholarly dialog and obstructs the advancement of methodological and ethical questions surrounding research with children. This chapter hopes to help fill this gap.