Comprehensive Field Work Instructions: A Review of Applied Ethnography. Guidelines for Field Research

This book provides extended information and concrete guidelines for applied ethnographic research. It is rich in methodological advice, applicable empirical instruments and tools. The work will be helpful for advanced researchers, academic and non- academic people involved in complex international programs, lectures and graduate students planning to conduct ethnographic research for their dissertation. It includes research examples in education, marketing, community health, nursing, geography and more. The empirical fields of Pelto are slightly removed from the focus on Euro-American academic research and include reflections of working in the developing countries such as South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and more

Exploring the Russian Online Gift-Exchange Communities: The Results of Nethnographic Approach

This paper reports on a two-week nethnographic (online) observation of four online gift-exchange communities – virtual platforms, where participants conduct barter exchange of different daily objects such as books, children\u27s products, furniture, home ware and others. These communities as case of informal economy initially do not have formal attributed rules. It is essential to find out (1) which rules and mechanisms exist in this type of economy; (2) what motivates people who are not acquainted with another to exchange gifts; and (3) understand the way this community exists. The conclusion is drawn that social capital is the basic engine of investigated communities. The social capital accumulated by users increases the community commitment and cohesion by interpreting gifts as a set of resources to distribute fairly. The giving, the receiving and the exchanging are forms of communication that cause further communication and interworking outside of gift-giving situations. These gift-exchange communities are mainly based on the communication and consumption solidarity among individuals

Biography as a “Tree of Choices”: Discovering the Life Trajectories of Young Entrepreneurs in Russia

The article reveals the life trajectories of Russian entrepreneurs in the context of four modern institutions of socialization which determine individual career paths—family, education, social environment and professional experience. Our empirical data were 20 semi-structured narrative interviews with entrepreneurs analyzed based on grounded theory (open and axial coding). We analyzed individual life trajectories as “trees of choices,” where the main branches are institutions of socialization, and the subsequent branches—individual life features. Finally, we showed the meanings of each institution and found out the determining role of gender and the city of socialization. The empirical output is a model of life trajectories, which we plan to test in a future survey using the strategy of mixed methods research

Ethnographic Case-Study Design for Discovering Identities in Russian Post-Industrial Neighbourhoods

In the 20th century of industrialization, case-study research design was related to organizations, however in the 21st century of deindustrialization the post-industrial neighborhoods could serves as an indicator of neo-liberal policies and as a reference space for identity studies. However, the instruments of these studies are still poorly described, which limits this type of research design and the comparative analysis of similar neighborhoods in the global context. This paper describes the methodology and insights from three ethnographic case-studies of neighbourhoods—a type of field research focused on detailed inquiry with multiple methods of data collection. This paper follows the Chicago School of Sociology (Park, 1967), understanding a neighbourhood as a field laboratory where social and transformational processes occur, and the social nature of these changes is exposed. The identities were elaborated by secondary data, different types of interviews, observations, and visual data. The paper demonstrates the importance of visual data and the contextualization of the groups studied in the space of the neighborhood, other residents, and changes in the material and social landscapes (the historical, material, and spatial contexts). Data from photographs and videos revealed the material context of transformation, exposing the rigidity of changes in the capital case, and the actualization of inequalities in the regional case. The analysis of the mental maps of the regional neighborhood demonstrates that the workers still perceived this area as an industrial place and the factory is still the core of the workers\u27 identity. Thus, the visual materials expose the multiple layers of identities and new aspects of inequalities. The visual data formed the basis for a research exhibition and a film that shows the ambivalence of post-industrial processes and the multivoicedness of neighborhood residents to different publics

Exploring the Russian online reciprocal communities: the results of an ethnographic approach

Actuality. The dynamic nature of the Internet increases the level of social mobilization, and makes social networks more flexible, resourceful and numerous. Over the past few years (after the crisis of 2008, when money was lacking), reciprocal communities where previously unknown people share presents (products, items) on a non-repayable basis, have expanded: experts proclaim an increase in their number and a significant growth in the number of participants

Kinship and Social Security (KASS)

To work with this survey you need to visit our Secure Data Center in Cologne, Germany (unless you are a former member of the KASS research team, in which case special rules apply)! Family structures, kinship networks, general circumstances of life and patterns of mutual support. Income; intra-family transfer benefits. Practical support from state and officially supported social insurance. Topics: recording of the genealogical links of all relatives by descent or marriage, including deceased ancestors and distant links through descent or marriage. For each member of the network the following information was asked: place of birth and current residence, economic situation, level of education, general state of health, an indicator of living standard. Similar information on the respondents themselves, including their own economic and health situation, information on the frequency and type of social contacts with each member of the network of known kin (including ritual relations such as godparenthood). Information on the scope and network of support relations, help for third parties, or of help persons themselves received from members of the network of friends and kin; specific information on the type of help, e.g. help with shopping, childcare, leaving an inheritance, covering health or education costs. Similar information was asked on neighbours and friends, with whom the respondents had support relations. For major items of support, help patterns were recorded for the entire life. The influence of parents and relatives and friends on decisions concerning the choice of life partners and family size planning.Diese Studie kann nur vor Ort in unserem Secure Data Center in Köln bearbeitet werden! (Für ehemalige Mitglieder des KASS Forschungsteams gibt es eine eigene Regelung.) Familienformen, Verwandtschaftsnetzwerke. Allgemeine Lebensumstände und Muster der gegenseitigen Unterstützung. Einkommen; Innerfamiliäre Transferleistungen. Praktische Unterstützung von staatlichen und offiziel anerkannten Versicherungen. Themen: Erfassung von genealogischen Verbindungen von allen Verwandten durch Abstammung oder Heirat, darunter nicht mehr lebende Vorfahren und entfernte Verbindungen durch Abstammung oder Heirat. Für jedes Mitglied in diesem Netzwerk wurde erfragt: Geburtsort und derzeitiger Wohnort, wirtschaftliche Lage, Bildungsniveau, allgemeiner Gesundheitszustand, Indikator des Lebensstandards. Ähnliche Informationen über die Befragten selbst, einschließlich der eigenen wirtschaftlichen und gesundheitlichen Umstände, Informationen über die Häufigkeit und Art der sozialen Kontakte mit jedem Mitglied des Netzes der bekannten Verwandten (darunter rituelle Beziehungen wie Patenschaften). Informationen über Umfang und Geflecht helfender Beziehungen, Hilfe für Dritte oder selbst empfangene Hilfe von Mitgliedern des Netzwerks von Bekannten und Verwandten; konkrete Angabe der Arten von Hilfe, z.B. Hilfe beim Einkaufen, Kinderbetreuung, Hinterlassen eines Vermächtnisses, die Zahlung von Gesundheitskosten oder Bildungskosten. Vergleichbare Informationen wurden erfragt über Nachbarn und Freunde, mit denen der Befragte helfende Beziehungen hat. Bei wesentlichen Unterstützungsleistungen wurde das Muster der Hilfe über das ganze Leben erfasst. Die Rolle der Eltern und von Verwandten und Freunden bei Entscheidungen über die Auswahl der Partner und die Planung der Familiengröße