Researching `at Home' as an Insider/Outsider: Gender and Culture in an Ethnographic Study of Social Work Practice in an Arab Society

This article discusses aspects of the socio-cultural context of an organizational ethnographic study of social work practice — the impact of culture and gender on researching social work practice in Jordanian hospitals. The authors analyse and discuss aspects of the complexities of gender and the socio-cultural context and their influence on strategies for negotiating insider/outsider status when carrying out ethnographic fieldwork in an Arab society. This study of hospital social work in Jordan illustrates how gender, culture and strategies of insiders and outsiders shape participant observation in the field setting. We reflect on ways of negotiating access and interacting more freely with respondents of differing status and gender within the social constraints of Arab societies