12-Month Ethnographic Study of Urban Community Organizing

This is an exciting and ambitious ethnographic study! A 12-month timeframe allows for deep immersion and understanding of the dynamic world of urban community organizing. Below is a comprehensive plan addressing all your points, designed to be rigorous, ethical, and practical.

12-Month Ethnographic Study: Urban Community Organizing

Study Aim: To deeply understand the lived experiences, strategies, challenges, and internal dynamics of an urban community organizing group(s) through immersive participant observation and qualitative inquiry.

1) Design Participant Observation Protocol

Goal: Systematically observe and participate in the daily life, events, and interactions of the community organizing group(s) to understand the "how" and "why" of their work.

Phase 1: Broad Observation & Immersion (Months 1-3)

• Initial Focus: Observe everything without immediate judgment or deep participation. Aim to learn the rhythm, key actors, language, and culture of the organization.


• Activities to Attend/Participate In:


• Formal Meetings: Staff meetings, board meetings, strategy sessions, coalition meetings, town halls.


• Public Events: Rallies, protests, press conferences, community forums, outreach events.


• Direct Organizing Activities: Door-to-door canvassing, phone banking, one-on-one meetings with community members, direct actions.


• Internal Work: Office hours, administrative tasks, data entry, planning sessions, training workshops.


• Informal Gatherings: Coffee breaks, lunch with members, social events, after-meeting discussions.


• Key Observational Categories (The "What to Look For"):


• Actors: Who is present? Roles, hierarchies (formal/informal), demographics, relationships, alliances, conflicts.


• Actions & Practices: What are people doing? How are decisions made? How are tasks divided? What strategies are employed? How do they communicate?


• Interactions: Communication styles (verbal, non-verbal), power dynamics, emotional expressions, conflict resolution, consensus-building.


• Setting & Context: Physical spaces (meeting rooms, streets, community centers), time of day/week, material culture (posters, flyers, symbols, attire).


• Discourse & Narratives: Language used, recurring phrases, framing of issues, shared stories, values, ideology, "us vs. them" narratives.


• Rules & Norms: Explicit (e.g., meeting protocols) and implicit (e.g., how to challenge leadership, who speaks when).


• Emotional Labor: How emotions are expressed, managed, and mobilized in organizing.


• Challenges & Opportunities: Observed obstacles, setbacks, successes, strategic adaptations.


• Level of Participation: Gradually increase from peripheral (observer) to active (volunteer, participant in tasks) as rapport builds. Balance observation with participation to maintain analytical distance while gaining insider perspective.

• Deepening Engagement: Identify specific sub-groups, campaigns, or processes that require more focused attention based on emerging themes.


• Targeted Observation: Dedicate more time to specific roles (e.g., shadowing an organizer, following a specific campaign from start to finish).


• Refined Questions: Use emerging data to refine observational questions and identify specific interactions or events to prioritize.


• Documentation: Capture detailed sensory information (sights, sounds, smells, feelings) to enrich descriptive notes.

• Reduced Participation: Begin to gradually reduce active participation, focusing more on cross-referencing observations, conducting final interviews, and filling data gaps.


• Comparative Analysis: Observe similar activities in different contexts or with different actors to identify variations and commonalities.

2) Develop Fieldwork Entry Strategy and Gatekeepers

Goal: Gain access and build trust with the community organizing group(s) in an ethical and sustainable manner.

Pre-Entry (Before Month 1):

• Literature Review: Understand the historical and current landscape of urban organizing, common challenges, and key theoretical perspectives.


• Initial Scouting: Identify potential organizations that align with research interests. Look for groups with a stable presence, active campaigns, and a willingness to engage.


• Network Mapping: Identify any existing weak ties or connections that could facilitate an introduction (e.g., university alumni, community contacts).


• Preliminary Research: Familiarize yourself with the organization's mission, campaigns, and public presence (website, social media, news articles).


• Draft Initial Pitch: Prepare a clear, concise, and respectful explanation of the study's purpose, methods, time commitment (12 months), and what will be asked of them. Emphasize confidentiality and the potential benefits of the research for understanding and amplifying their work.

• Identify Primary Gatekeepers:


• Formal Gatekeepers: Executive Director, Board Chair, Communications Director, Head of Organizing. These individuals hold official positions of power and control access.


• Informal Gatekeepers: Long-standing members, highly respected community elders, key volunteers, or staff members who informally influence group dynamics. These individuals often hold social capital and trust.


• Initial Contact:


• Formal Approach: Send a well-crafted letter or email to the formal gatekeepers, introducing yourself, the university, the study's purpose, and requesting an informational meeting. Attach a brief (1-2 page) research prospectus.


• Warm Introduction (if possible): If a mutual connection exists, request an introduction to increase the likelihood of a positive response.


• The "Pitch" Meeting:


• Be Transparent: Clearly explain the purpose of the study (not to evaluate, but to understand), the methods (participant observation, interviews), and the duration.


• Emphasize Confidentiality & Anonymity: Detail how participant identities, locations, and sensitive information will be protected (pseudonyms, secure data storage).


• Address Concerns: Be prepared to answer questions about data ownership, how findings will be shared, and potential risks or benefits to the organization.


• Offer Reciprocity: Offer to volunteer time, share insights (appropriately and ethically), or present preliminary findings at the end of the study. Be genuine, not transactional.


• Build Trust: Listen actively, show genuine interest in their work, be patient, and respect their decision-making processes. It's crucial they understand you're there to learn from them, not about them in a detached way.


• Gaining Consent: Secure formal agreement from primary gatekeepers. This will likely involve a signed letter of agreement outlining the scope, terms, and ethical considerations.

• Consistent Presence: Show up regularly, be reliable, and follow through on commitments.


• Active Listening: Pay attention to what's said and unsaid.


• Learn the Ropes: Understand the organization's culture, jargon, humor, and social norms.


• Be Helpful (within reason): Offer assistance with tasks (e.g., setting up chairs, taking notes for them, making copies) without becoming an exploited resource or losing your research focus.


• Respect Boundaries: Recognize when your presence might be intrusive or when information is not for public consumption.


• Check-ins: Periodically check in with gatekeepers and key members to assess comfort levels and address any emerging concerns.

3) Plan Field Note Procedures (Descriptive, Reflective, Methodological)

Goal: Systematically document observations, thoughts, and research processes to create a rich and analytical dataset.

Timing & Tools:

• Jottings (During Observation): Brief, cryptic notes taken on a small notepad, phone, or tablet during fieldwork. Keywords, direct quotes, sensory details. These are memory aids, not comprehensive.


• Full Field Notes (Immediately Post-Observation): Expand jottings into detailed, narrative descriptions within 24 hours (ideally immediately after leaving the field). This is crucial for recall.


• Tools: Laptop or secure cloud-based word processor for full notes; small notebook for jottings. Audio recorder for interviews (with consent).

1. Descriptive Notes (The "What, Who, Where, When, How"):

• Objective: Capture empirical details as objectively as possible, like a camera.


• Content:


• Date, Time, Location: Specifics for each entry.


• Event/Activity: What happened? (e.g., "Tuesday evening coalition meeting").


• Participants: Who was there? Names/pseudonyms, roles, approximate number.


• Dialogue: Direct quotes (as accurately as possible) and summaries of conversations.


• Actions: What people did, how they moved, their gestures.


• Setting: Descriptions of the physical environment, sounds, smells, visual elements.


• Sequence: The order of events.


• Emotional Tone: Observed emotions (e.g., "speaker seemed frustrated," "audience appeared energized").


• Specific Details: The "thin description" of what occurred.

• Objective: Capture your immediate analytical insights, emerging themes, personal biases, and emotional responses. This is where you move from description to interpretation.


• Content:


• Initial Interpretations: Hunches, hypotheses, connections to theory, emerging patterns.


• Self-Reflection: Your feelings, biases, assumptions, preconceptions, and how they might be shaping your observations. ("I felt uncomfortable when X happened because Y," "My own political leanings made me initially dismiss Z").


• Questions: New questions arising from observations, areas for further investigation.


• Theoretical Links: How observed phenomena connect to existing sociological/organizational theories.


• Ethical Dilemmas: Any ethical challenges encountered or anticipated.


• Emotional Processing: A safe space to process the emotional impact of fieldwork.

• Objective: Document the research process itself, including decisions made, challenges, and adaptations.


• Content:


• Fieldwork Logistics: Entry challenges, changes in access, scheduling issues, missed events.


• Sampling Decisions: Justifications for who was observed or interviewed.


• Relationship Building: Progress in rapport, setbacks, critical incidents.


• Data Collection Issues: Problems with recording, note-taking, or interview dynamics.


• Ethical Considerations: Specific instances of navigating consent, confidentiality, or sensitive topics.


• Future Plans: "To-do" list for upcoming fieldwork, adjustments to the protocol.


• Personal Well-being: Reflections on researcher fatigue, safety, or mental health.

• Dedicated Folders: Create digital folders for each type of note.


• File Naming Convention: YYYYMMDDEventNameTypeFieldNoteNumber.docx (e.g., 20240915CoalitionMeetingDescriptiveFN001.docx).


• Tagging/Coding: As notes accumulate, use qualitative data analysis software (e.g., NVivo, ATLAS.ti) to begin coding and categorizing sections of notes.


• Regular Review: Dedicate specific time each week/month to read through all types of notes to identify patterns, gaps, and emergent themes.

4) Design Semi-structured Interviews and Informal Conversations

Goal: Gather in-depth perspectives, personal narratives, and contextual information that may not be directly observable, complementing participant observation.

A. Informal Conversations:

• Purpose: Build rapport, gather quick insights, clarify immediate observations, identify potential interviewees, and detect emerging topics. These are the lifeblood of ethnography.


• Timing: Ongoing throughout the 12 months, opportunistic.


• How: Natural, unscripted chats during breaks, before/after meetings, while volunteering. "How did that meeting go for you?" "What was the biggest challenge today?"


• Recording: Rely on memory and discreet jottings, expanded into descriptive field notes as soon as possible. Do not record without explicit consent.


• Ethical Note: While "informal," the researcher still carries ethical obligations. If sensitive information is shared, confirm the participant's comfort level before including it in notes, and always ensure anonymity.

• Purpose: Delve deeper into specific issues, motivations, historical context, individual experiences, and differing perspectives.


• Sampling (Purposive & Snowball):


• Diverse Roles: Interview leadership, staff organizers, core volunteers, newer members, long-term community residents involved with the group, and potentially even individuals who left the group.


• Varied Experiences: Seek out people with different levels of experience, from different backgrounds, and involved in different campaigns.


• Snowball Sampling: Ask initial interviewees for recommendations of others who might have valuable insights.


• Interview Guide (Flexible): Develop a guide with thematic areas and open-ended questions, but allow for flexibility to follow tangents and explore unexpected insights.


• Key Thematic Areas (Examples):


• Personal Trajectory: How did you get involved in organizing? What's your personal stake in this work?


• Organizational Identity: What does this organization mean to you? What are its core values, strengths, and weaknesses?


• Campaigns & Strategies: Describe a significant campaign. What were the goals, tactics, successes, and challenges? How are decisions made?


• Community & Power: How does the organization engage with the broader community? Who holds power (internally/externally)? How are power dynamics navigated?


• Challenges & Resilience: What are the biggest obstacles you face? How do you deal with setbacks, burnout, or internal conflict?


• Vision & Future: What are your hopes and fears for the future of the organization and the community?


• Impact: How do you measure success? What impact do you believe the organization has had?


• Logistics & Ethics:


• Informed Consent: Verbally explain the study, its purpose, confidentiality, right to withdraw, and how data will be used. Obtain signed consent forms before starting the interview.


• Recording: Request permission to audio-record the interview. Explain that it ensures accuracy and allows you to focus on the conversation. Offer to turn it off at any time. Take backup notes.


• Environment: Conduct interviews in a comfortable, private, and quiet setting where the participant feels safe to speak openly.


• Time: Respect their time; clearly state the expected duration.


• Transcription: Transcribe all recorded interviews accurately and promptly.


• Post-Interview:


• Write brief analytical/reflective notes immediately after each interview, highlighting key takeaways, themes, and your impressions.


• Assign pseudonyms to participants and any identifying locations.

5) Consider Researcher Positionality and Ethics

Goal: Acknowledge and manage the researcher's influence on the study, ensure participant protection, and maintain research integrity.

A. Researcher Positionality:

• Self-Reflection: Continuously reflect on your own social identities (e.g., race, class, gender, age, education, political leanings, prior experience with activism), beliefs, values, and assumptions. How might these influence your observations, interpretations, and interactions?


• Acknowledging Bias: No researcher is objective. Understand your subjectivity and how it shapes your "gaze." Are you an "insider" or "outsider" to this community/movement, and what are the implications?


• Transparency (Strategic): Be transparent about your role as a researcher. While you don't need to share every personal detail, acknowledge your positionality when relevant. For example, if asked about your political views, you might state you're here to learn from their perspective.


• Impact on the Field: Recognize that your presence changes the dynamics of the group. How might people alter their behavior because you are there? How does your participation affect the work? Document these reflections in your methodological notes.


• Reflexivity: Engage in ongoing, critical self-examination throughout the study. This is not a one-time exercise but an iterative process of questioning your assumptions, interpretations, and interactions.

• 1. Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval:


• Mandatory First Step: Obtain full ethical approval from your university's IRB before any data collection begins. This process will guide your ethical planning.


• 2. Informed Consent:


• Ongoing Process: Consent is not a single form but an ongoing dialogue. Participants must understand:


• The study's purpose and nature.


• Their right to participate or decline at any time without penalty.


• The specific activities they will be asked to do (observation, interview, etc.).


• Confidentiality measures (pseudonyms for individuals, organizations, locations).


• How data will be used and stored.


• Potential risks (e.g., emotional discomfort, breach of confidentiality) and benefits (e.g., contributing to knowledge, amplifying their voice).


• Assent for Minors: If interacting with individuals under 18, obtain both parent/guardian consent and the minor's assent.


• 3. Confidentiality and Anonymity:


• Pseudonyms: Use pseudonyms for all individuals, and potentially for the organization and specific locations if necessary to protect identities or sensitive information.


• Secure Data Storage: Store all data (field notes, audio recordings, transcripts) on password-protected, encrypted devices or secure cloud servers.


• Data Masking: Aggregate or generalize sensitive details in publications to prevent identification.


• 4. "Do No Harm":


• Protect Participants: Ensure the research does not cause physical, psychological, social, or economic harm.


• Avoid Exploitation: Do not exploit participants' time, labor, or stories.


• Sensitive Topics: Be prepared to handle sensitive topics with care and offer resources if participants become distressed.


• 5. Power Dynamics:


• Researcher-Participant: Be mindful of the inherent power imbalance. Avoid imposing your agenda or assumptions.


• Organizational Context: Understand internal power dynamics and ensure your research doesn't inadvertently exacerbate conflicts or expose vulnerabilities within the group.


• 6. Data Dissemination:


• Transparency: Be clear about how findings will be shared (e.g., academic publications, conference presentations, public reports).


• Negotiate with Gatekeepers: Discuss sharing initial findings with the organization before public dissemination. Offer to present findings to them. Be prepared to address concerns or requests for clarification, without compromising academic integrity.


• Accessibility: Consider creating accessible summaries or reports for the community if appropriate.

6) Plan Ongoing Data Analysis (Memo Writing)

Goal: Integrate data collection and analysis iteratively to develop theoretical insights and organize findings throughout the 12 months.

Principle: Ethnographic analysis is not a separate phase; it begins on day one and runs concurrently with data collection.

A. Memo Writing (The Core Analytical Tool):

• What: Memos are analytical essays, notes, or short reflections on ideas generated from the data. They are the bridge between raw data and developed theory.


• When: Daily or weekly, immediately after writing field notes, transcribing interviews, or during periods of reflection.


• Types of Memos:


• Coding Memos: Elaborate on the definition, properties, and examples of specific codes you are developing. Explain why a certain segment of data was coded in a particular way.


• Theoretical Memos: Explore emerging concepts, potential relationships between codes, connections to existing theories, or initial hypotheses. Start to "build" theory from the ground up.


• Methodological Memos: (Overlap with methodological field notes) Reflect on challenges in the research process, adaptations made, and their implications for data collection/analysis.


• Comparison Memos: Compare and contrast different events, interviews, groups, or individual experiences. What are the similarities? Differences? Why?


• Analytic Memos: Broader reflections on emerging themes, patterns, surprises, and unanswered questions across your entire dataset. These can become outlines for chapters or sections of your final write-up.


• Purpose:


• Forces Engagement: Memos compel you to move beyond description to interpretation.


• Develops Categories: Helps in refining codes and grouping them into broader categories and themes.


• Identifies Gaps: Reveals where more data is needed or where a particular line of inquiry needs to be pursued.


• Prevents Overwhelm: Breaks down the daunting task of analysis into manageable chunks.


• Structures Write-up: Provides a ready-made bank of analytical insights and conceptual frameworks for the final thesis/publication.

• Open Coding (Months 1-6):


• Read through field notes and interview transcripts line-by-line.


• Identify key concepts, events, feelings, and actions.


• Assign descriptive labels (codes) to segments of data. Don't worry about overlap initially.


• Example: "door-knocking script," "community meeting conflict," "organizer frustration," "bureaucratic hurdle."


• Axial/Selective Coding (Months 4-10):


• Group open codes into broader categories and sub-categories.


• Look for relationships between categories (causal, temporal, associational).


• Identify core categories that seem central to the phenomenon of urban organizing.


• Example: From "door-knocking script" and "organizer frustration" might emerge "Tactical Challenges in Outreach."


• Thematic Analysis:


• Identify recurring themes, patterns, and overarching ideas across all data sources (notes, interviews, documents).


• Look for not just what is explicitly stated but also what is implied or unspoken.


• Diagramming and Mapping:


• Visually represent relationships between concepts, actors, events, or processes.


• Create organizational charts (formal/informal), network maps, timelines of campaigns.


• Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Software:


• Utilize tools like NVivo, ATLAS.ti, or Dedoose to manage, code, and retrieve data efficiently. This is invaluable for large ethnographic datasets.


• Analytic Log: Maintain a separate document to track your evolving analytical thoughts, methodological decisions, and "ah-ha!" moments.

7) Address Trustworthiness (Prolonged Engagement, Member Checking, Triangulation)

Goal: Ensure the findings are credible, transferable, dependable, and confirmable, enhancing the rigor of the qualitative research.

A. Prolonged Engagement (12-Month Plan Already Helps!):

• Definition: Spending sufficient time in the field to gain deep understanding, build trust, and overcome surface-level impressions.


• How the 12-Month Plan Ensures It:


• Deep Immersion: Allows you to become intimately familiar with the social setting, culture, and complexities of the organizing group.


• Relationship Building: Develops strong, trusting relationships with participants, leading to more candid and nuanced data.


• Observation of Cycles: Witnessing the ebb and flow of campaigns, successes, failures, and internal dynamics over different seasons and political cycles.


• Identifying Typicality: Distinguishing routine patterns from exceptional events, ensuring you capture representative rather than anomalous data.


• Overcoming Bias: Provides time for the researcher to move past initial assumptions and biases, leading to more informed interpretations.


• Data Saturation: Continue collecting data until new information no longer adds to your understanding or reveals new insights.

• Definition: The process of taking data, preliminary findings, or interpretations back to participants to solicit their feedback on accuracy, resonance, and comprehensiveness.


• How to Implement:


• Interview Transcripts: After transcribing interviews, offer participants the opportunity to review their own transcripts for accuracy and to add or clarify anything.


• Preliminary Findings: Share draft summaries of themes, conceptual models, or analytical insights (e.g., small sections of early chapters, or bullet points of key findings) with a selection of key participants (gatekeepers, core members).


• Focused Questions: Ask specific questions: "Does this resonate with your experience?" "Do I have this right?" "Am I missing something important?" "Are there any alternative interpretations?"


• Openness to Revision: Be genuinely open to their critiques, clarifications, and alternative perspectives. It's not about seeking "the truth" but about ensuring your interpretations are recognizable and meaningful to those whose lives you are studying.


• Documentation: Document feedback received and how it informed revisions in your methodological notes.


• Ethical Consideration: Frame member checking as a collaborative effort to ensure accuracy, not a test of the participant's memory or a challenge to their narrative.

• Definition: Using multiple sources, methods, or perspectives to corroborate and cross-verify findings, strengthening the credibility of the research.


• Types of Triangulation for this Study:


• Data Triangulation:


• Field Notes (Observations): What you saw and heard directly.


• Interview Transcripts: Individual perspectives, experiences, and narratives.


• Document Analysis: Reviewing organizational documents (meeting minutes, flyers, internal reports, newsletters, social media posts, press releases, strategic plans).


• Purpose: Does what people say in interviews align with what you observe them doing or what documents state? Are there discrepancies, and why?


• Methodological Triangulation:


• Participant Observation: Gaining an insider perspective and understanding context.


• Semi-structured Interviews: Eliciting in-depth personal narratives and interpretations.


• Informal Conversations: Providing spontaneous insights and building rapport.


• Purpose: Each method offers a unique lens, and their combined insights provide a more holistic and robust understanding.


• Investigator Triangulation (if applicable): While this plan focuses on a single researcher, if working with a team, multiple researchers analyzing the same data independently and then comparing interpretations can enhance trustworthiness.


• Theoretical Triangulation (Optional but Recommended):


• Viewing the data through different theoretical lenses (e.g., social movement theory, organizational theory, critical race theory, feminist theory) to see if different frameworks illuminate different aspects or lead to similar conclusions.

This comprehensive plan provides a robust framework for your 12-month ethnographic study. Remember that ethnography is inherently flexible and iterative; be prepared to adapt your strategies as you learn more about the community and organization. Good luck!