Quick Ethnography

Quick Ethnography (QE) is an easy-to-read guide to the rapid collection of high quality ethnographic data for use in research, policy analysis, and decision-making. It addresses the needs of social scientists grappling with complex cultural social interactions and cultural change occurring in communities around the globe by offering a comprehensive, integrated multi-method approach that will increase research productivity. Handwerker provides step-by-step procedures for producing lots of data very quickly, outlining how ethnographers must control field preparation, data collection, and methods of data analysis. The rigorous QE approach allows greater precision and subtlety of ethnographic description and explanation that is not always possible in applied contract work (known as Rapid Assessment Procedures). The author, an anthropologist who has been teaching and consulting on fieldwork methods for over 25 years, includes extensive examples of research design and management that are valuable for the novice as well as for experienced researchers in all social science disciplines.

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