You are going to take us through an ethnographic research study of your choice. TO CLARIFY: You are picking a topic of your choice and taking me, hypothetically, to how you would plan on conducting your ethnographic research project.

What are you going to study? Why? What questions do you hope to answer? (You may want to search through your textbook for ideas or identify something sociological to study in your own world). What information can you find about your area of research (this would be a good place to use your credible sources!)  How would you go about conducting your ethnography? How would you gain access and develop rapport? What challenges might you face while doing his research? How might your identity (i.e., race, class, gender) shape the ethnographic process? Do you have any biases? What might be the benefits of being an “outsider”  or “insider” while conducting your ethnography? Limitations? Please focus on the ethnographic methods process and include material from videos, lectures, and readings to bring your ethnography alive! In Module 2 we are focusing on research methods. It is very important that for this forum, with its focus on ethnography, you pay special attention to 1) Chapter 4 in Sociological Perspectives 2)Matt Desmond’s research on Eviction and the Adler’s research on upper-level drug smuggling 4) any explanation on ethnography in our online textbook.