Critical Review of Ethnographic Reports

Abstract

In this paper, I compare and contrast the approaches of three ethnographers to give some idea of the range of possible reporting styles one can find. The texts I analyzed are The Man in the Principal’s Office, by Harry F. Wolcott, Street Corner Society, by William Foote Whyte, and The Color of Strangers, the Color of Friends, by Alan Peshkin. I compared five aspects of these three ethnographic reports, which I explained in detail as I discussed them: (1) the texture of description, (2) the roles and activities of the researcher, (3) the adequacy of evidence reported, (4) the texture of authorial voice in the report, and (5) the social theory perspective of the author. I covered each point independently, discussing all three texts together under each point.