WHAT IS THE PLACE OF SAFETY IN SCIENCE?
An Experiment in Group Ethnography
PROJECT SUMMARY

A number of early classics in ethnographic sociology were produced by research in teams. With the recent resurgence of interest in ethnographic research, we again see some projects conducted in multi-sited teams, although by and large ethnographers still more often go into the field alone. Whether individual or team endeavors, some ethnographic scholars continue to press for methodological strategies that allow for the development of sociological claims that are generalizable, and specifically propose steps to replicate or return to sites of investigation over time. The work proposed here seeks to explore whether the team model of ethnographic fieldwork improves the validity of ethnographic fieldwork. Specifically, I propose a study that includes three modes of ethnographic fieldwork (alone, collaboratively, and in a team) to assess whether doing fieldwork and analysis in teams improves the reliability and validity of qualitative data collection and analysis.

This exploration of ethnographic methods is being developed specifically to respond to the recent interest to strengthen qualitative research methods (Ragin, Nagel, and White 2004; NSF 2005). The experiment will assess the differential ability of fieldworkers, as a function of participation in a research collaboration or team, to collect descriptively accurate information about laboratory practices, provide valid inferences about the significance of hazard and safety to the researchers, offer theoretically sound and testable explanations for different practices, and finally, identify necessary and sufficient conditions for generally shared practices.

This quasi-experiment will be conducted as part of an ongoing study of the development of a system for managing environmental, health and hazards in scientific laboratories. The research project compares the presence and consequences of a surveillance and audit system in different scientific fields to address questions about the role of law and processes of organizational and cultural diffusion in varying scientific cultures. The project addresses questions at the interface of the sociology of organizations, science, and law: Might the creation of a management system specifically designed to accommodate the particular cultures of research laboratories create consistent conformity with environmental regulations? What will be the effect on the relationships within laboratory work groups? If equal employment opportunity law has produced relative homogeneity in personnel practices in American workplaces because the responsible professionals have become astute interpreters of their organizations and imaginative legal innovators, will the introduction of environmental health and safety officers into scientific laboratories produce similar organizational changes? Finally, if the system is introduced under a single risk management mandate with a staff supervised under a single office, how will it be experienced within different laboratories, laboratories that vary by research methods and by department?

This project is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0535780. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

 ETHNOGRAPHY GROUP

Sheila Kamunyori (2007)
Kiri Gurd (2007-2008)
Poulomi Chakrabarti (2007)
Jovonne J. Bickerstaff (2007)
Jacqueline Cooke Rivers (2007)
Styliani Kounelaki (2007-2009)
Crystal Flemming (2006)
Amy Moff (2006)
Joelle Evans (2006 - present)
Courtney Feldscher (2006)
Hille Bruns (2006-2007)
Laurel Braitment (2006)