Interrogating ethnography : why evidence matters / Steven Lubet.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lubet, Steven, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Research.

Ethnology.

Ethnology--Methodology.

Ethnographic informants.

Evidence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Summary:

"In this comprehensive review of urban ethnography, Steven Lubet encountered a field that relies heavily on anonymous sources, often as reported by a single investigator whose underlying data remain unseen. Upon digging into the details, he discovered too many ethnographic assertions that were dubious, exaggerated, tendentious, or just plain wrong. Employing the tools and techniques of a trial lawyer, Lubet uses original sources and contemporaneous documentation to explore the stories behind ethnographic narratives. Many turn out to be accurate, but others are revealed to be based on rumors, folklore, and unreliable hearsay. Interrogating Ethnography explains how qualitative social science would benefit from greater attention to the quality of evidence, and provides recommendations for bringing the field more closely in line with other fact-based disciplines such as law and journalism"--Publisher's website.

Contents:

Introduction : the ethnographic trial

Testimony

Opinion and documentation

Unreliability

Credulity

Selectivity

Rumors and folklore

Anonymity

Criminality

Conclusion : toward evidence-based ethnography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed November 14, 2017).

ISBN:

0-19-065570-4

0-19-065569-0