Homeless Ethnography
The article that I choose as the one for deeper study was the article, “Writing and Retelling Multiple Ethnographic Tales of a Soup Kitchen for the Homeless”. The reason that I choose this article is because it relates to my own area of interest Ethnography and the study of culture-sharing groups. By taking this study I began to break it down into the characteristics of qualitative approaches:
Focus: The article is very successful in defining who the target group for the study is to the reader. This study presents our perspective on writing an ethnography using Van Maanen’s (1988) realist, confessional, and critical tales. But our narrative is more than these three tales-we have found that another dimension has added to our understanding …show more content…
Several studies address problems associated with this population, such as depression, alcoholism, schizophrenia, and substance abuse (Bachrach, Santiago, Berren, & Hannah, 1987; Johnson & Barrett, 1995; Johnson & Parsons, 1994; Parsons, Johnson, & Barrett, 1993; Toro & Wall, 1991). Other studies explore the general assistance given to the homeless population (Rogers-Dillon, 1995), and the myths and stereotypes people ascribe to this group of individuals (Mowbray, 1985; Ostrow, 1995). More specific studies examine subcultures of the homeless population and sites where these individuals congregate (Burt & Cohen, 1989; Dordick, 1996; Kramer & Barker, 1996) (Miller,1998, p.470).
This article looks at different sociologic study to gain insight into the homeless culture to try to better understand what was going on.
Unit of Analysis: This article also looked at other groups to study to better understand the homeless that they were studying: …show more content…
Data Analysis:
The data analysis from this article is mainly with the interviews that were conducted by the researcher for this project. Their observations also played a factor in their analysis of data.
We constructed a cultural analysis of the soup kitchen from an emerging description of the guests, their stories, the setting, and the patterns of behavior. We identified three cultural themes to gain a deeper understanding of this cultural site: the rituals of the noon lunch hour, insider/outsider perspectives, and stories. (Miller, 1998, p. 474).
They looked at the different themes that were found within the group of people who they were researching. By looking at the rituals of this facility they were better able to do an analysis of this place.
Written
Focus: The article is very successful in defining who the target group for the study is to the reader. This study presents our perspective on writing an ethnography using Van Maanen’s (1988) realist, confessional, and critical tales. But our narrative is more than these three tales-we have found that another dimension has added to our understanding …show more content…
Several studies address problems associated with this population, such as depression, alcoholism, schizophrenia, and substance abuse (Bachrach, Santiago, Berren, & Hannah, 1987; Johnson & Barrett, 1995; Johnson & Parsons, 1994; Parsons, Johnson, & Barrett, 1993; Toro & Wall, 1991). Other studies explore the general assistance given to the homeless population (Rogers-Dillon, 1995), and the myths and stereotypes people ascribe to this group of individuals (Mowbray, 1985; Ostrow, 1995). More specific studies examine subcultures of the homeless population and sites where these individuals congregate (Burt & Cohen, 1989; Dordick, 1996; Kramer & Barker, 1996) (Miller,1998, p.470).
This article looks at different sociologic study to gain insight into the homeless culture to try to better understand what was going on.
Unit of Analysis: This article also looked at other groups to study to better understand the homeless that they were studying: …show more content…
Data Analysis:
The data analysis from this article is mainly with the interviews that were conducted by the researcher for this project. Their observations also played a factor in their analysis of data.
We constructed a cultural analysis of the soup kitchen from an emerging description of the guests, their stories, the setting, and the patterns of behavior. We identified three cultural themes to gain a deeper understanding of this cultural site: the rituals of the noon lunch hour, insider/outsider perspectives, and stories. (Miller, 1998, p. 474).
They looked at the different themes that were found within the group of people who they were researching. By looking at the rituals of this facility they were better able to do an analysis of this place.
Written