Mixed Methods in Ethnographic Research: Historical Perspectives(Developing Qualitative Inquiry)

Mixed Methods in Ethnographic Research: Historical Perspectives captures the dynamic history and development of mixed methods research in a narrative of personal discovery, growth, and experience. Distinguished ethnographer and methodologist Pertti Pelto, who first called for the integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods nearly half a century ago, establishes a direct line between the earliest examples of ethnographic research and the ongoing mixed method discussions in academic institutions throughout the world. By bringing together such distinct historical perspectives with his own reflections on mixed methods research, Pelto offers a rare and endlessly enriching account that will satisfy the ever-growing need for a better quality of practical data gathering and give researchers a foundation for promoting mixed methods in the future.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1. Mixed Methods Research in Ethnography, Qualitative and Quantitative Ethnography in Earlier Times Al Biruni Bernadino de Sahagun (1499-1590) Applied Ethnographic Field Work, Cultural Patterns, and Research Methods Applied Field Research: Many Disciplines, Many Players The Different Histories of Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Applied Field Research and Academic Research Disillusionment with Quantitative Surveys The New Interest in "Mixed Methods" in the Social Sciences Chapter 2. Mixed Methods in 19th Century Ethnography J. Sjogren, Finnish Linguist-Ethnographer Mathias A. Castren Other 19th Century Finnish Ethnographer-Linguists Vladimir Bogoraz, Russian Ethnographer/Linguist/Revolutionary Franz Boas: Promoter of Mixed Methods in North America Chapter 3. The Developing Discourse of Mixed Method Research The QUAL versus QUAN Paradigm Debates Many Problems in the Current Mixed Methods "Paradigm Concepts" How Did Qualitative Data-Gathering Gain Acceptance in Quantitative-Dominated Research Areas? A New Wave of Mixed Methods QUAN+qual, QUAL à quan; Let’s Get on with the Fun More Complex, Multiple Methods Mixtures (MMM) QUAL+quan and QUAL à quan designs are very common The Traditions of Publishing Make a Big Difference for Mixing of Methods Summary and Conclusions Chapter 4. Culture and Personality Studies: Plenty of Mixed Methods Life in a Mexican Village; A Study by Oscar Lewis and Associates Personality Formation among the Navaho People Acculturation and Culture/Personality Studies The "Newer" Culture and Personality Studies Acculturation, Self-Identification and Personality Adjustment in an Inuit Village Analysis of the Data Farmers and Herdsmen in East Africa: Effects of Ecological Factors on Values, Attitudes, and Psychological Characteristics Quantitative Scale from "Full-Scale Farming to Full-Scale Herding" Discussion and Conclusions Chapter 5. Large Multi-Year, Multi-Site, Multi-Disciplinary Research Projects The Hawthorne Study: Mixed Methods in an Early Applied Project Yankee City Series: Volume IV. "The Strike: A Social Analysis" The Big Strike The Great Mix of Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative The Ethnic Groups in Yankee City "Yankee City" in Historical Perspective: Criticisms and Credits "Public Health as a Career in Medicine:" Another Large-Scale Study Phase Two Summary and Conclusions Chapter 6. Ecosystems Theory, Adaptation, and New Directions in Research An Early Applied Study of Up-grading Navaho Economy and Health Massive Environmental Change: Ecosystem Effects of a Dam Project Commentary Pigs for the Ancestors: A Focus on Ritual as Ecological Regulator Quantitative Data Qualitative Data: Ethnography of Ritual Discussion and Criticism Sparked by Pigs for the Ancestors Structural Change in Northern Thai Rice Villages Sarmela’s English Language Summary Focus on Agricultural Adaptations in Rural Mexico Discussion and Conclusions Chapter 7. Medical Anthropology and Mixed Methods Research Another Epidemic: Diphtheria Immunization in Thailand Sorcery and Medicine in the Philippines The Sociology of an Indian Hospital Ward The Complex Varieties of Academic and Applied Medical Anthropology Biological and Cultural Adaptations: The Ecological Framework Anthropology and Mental Health: Psychosis in East Africa Long-Term Multidisciplinary Research in Selected Study Populations Multiple Research Methods in Complex Ethnography: West Africa An Unusual Category: Combining Ethnography and Quantitative Experiment Intervention: Development and Testing of a Model MCE Program Conclusion Chapter 8. QUAL+qual and QUAL à qual Studies: Common Practices in Ethnography Coming of Age in Samoa 1928: Margaret Mead’s Seminal Study A Famous QUAL+QUALà qual Study: Street Corner Society Getting Started, Learning Field Research Components of the Research Methods "Doc," the Most Famous "Key Informant" in Field Research Literature Sub-Project: Mapping the Social Interactions at the Club Other Examples of Mixed Methods in QUAL Research. Mixed Methods in Linguistic Research QUALà qual Triangulation James P. Spradley: "Grand Tour Interviews" and Other Special Methods Extensive Participation: Sometimes It Is A "Supplemental Method" Concluding Comments Chapter 9. The Development of Quantitative Methods in Ethnographic Research British Ethnographers Started Doing Surveys Early in the 20th Century An "Experiment" with Survey Research Methods in Africa More Specialized Survey Research "Experiments" Small-Scale Surveys: Other Variations on the Survey Model(s) A Different Kind of Mixed Method Research: Cultural Analysis of P-3 Pilot Error The Study of High Concordance Domains High versus Low Concordance Domains, and Sampling "Tight" and "Loose" Societies Cultural Consensus and Sample Sizes Cultural Data, Key Informants, and Concordance Summary and Conclusions Chapter 10. Food, Diet and Nutrition Studies Studies of Food Distribution and Dietary Behaviors Diet and Hunger in Northern Rhodesia Hunger Months The Monograph as a Classic Mixed Methods Study of Food and Nutrition Diet in the Mexican Town of Tepoztlan A Diet and Nutrition Intervention in South Africa Nutritional Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Mixed Methods Research New Achievements in Mixed Methods Diet and Nutrition Studies The Role of Fruits and Wild Greens in the Shambaa Diet in Tanzania A Study of Malnutrition in Mali Research on Vitamin A Deficiency: A Multi-Site, Interdisciplinary Study Hypothetical Scenarios for Getting Data on Night-Blindness and Other Symptoms Multi-Year, Multi-Disciplinary Mixed-Methods Study in Central Mexico Major Finding: "Small is Not Healthy and Happy" Summary and Conclusions Chapter 11. The Rise of Community Studies and Ecological Theory: Paradigm Transitions in Finland Hilma N. Granqvist: Ethnographic Study of a Palestinian Village, 1925-1931 Research in Lapland: Kalle Nickul’s "Discover" of the Skolt Saami Community Mapping and Other Mixed Methods Research in Suenjel (Kola Peninsula) Kai Donner: Another "Early Modern" Contributor to Paradigm Change Community Studies and Ecological Frameworks: Later Trends in the 20th Century Adaptive Strategies in the Aland Islands Community Studies and Ecological Theory in More Recent Finnish Ethnographic Research Concluding Discussion Chapter 12. My Explorations in QUAL+quan Research Methodology Doctoral Dissertation Research in Finnish Lapland The Upper Mississippi Research Project Thinking about Research Methods Thinking about Different Kinds of Societies The Snowmobile Revolution: Technology and Social Change Technology and De-localization Notes on Methodology Varieties of Delocalization: Food and Diet Conclusions: More Recent Developments Chapter 13. Triangulation and Descriptive Expansion: The Uses of Mixed Methods in Ethnographic Research Exploring "Descriptive Expansion" and Related Purposes of Mixed Methods Designs Understanding the Concept of Triangulation in Mixed-Methods Research Broader Definitions of "Triangulation" Triangulation Studies for Assessing Informant Accuracy Key Informant Reliability: Another Look at Interview Data Triangulation and Informant Precision Comparing Individual In-Depth Interviews and Group Discussion Methods Triangulation and Mixed-Methods Research in Action Triangulation with Multiple Quantified Data Gathering Methods: Alaska Triangulation at the Level of Theory and Data Analysis Informal Triangulation in Ethnographic Field Research A Loose Use of the Triangulation Concept in Ethnographic Research Triangulation in Qualitative Ethnographic Research: A Case of "Investigator Triangulation" Triangulation is Only One of Several Mixed-Methods Research Categories Criticisms and Critiques of Triangulation in the Social Sciences Summary and Conclusions The Basic Lesson Chapter 14. Two Decades of Mixed-Methods in South Asia The Technical Assistance Program: "Building Social Science Capacity for Research on Women’s Health in India" QUAL-QUAN Mixed-Method Research Tools Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Data Was Already Common in South Asia Developing a Manual for Field Training and Guidelines for Data-Gathering and Analysis Other Developments in the Mid-1990s Implementing a Reproductive Health Agenda in India: The Beginning Reproductive Health in India: New Evidence Ethnographic Field Research in South Asia Women’s Perceptions of White Vaginal Discharge: Ethnographic Data from Rural Maharashtra Evaluation of a Rural Community Health Program Women’s Work and Child Health Ethnographic Study of Sex Workers in a Red Light District in Kolkata Examples of Mixed Methods Research in Bangladesh The HIV/AIDs Pandemic and Mixed Methods Research HIV/AIDs and the 21st Century in South Asia: Our Book of Research Results Examples of Research on Sexual Behavior during the Technical Assistance Program Other Noteworthy Studies in this Collection Men’s Sexual Health Concerns in Mumbai Women’s Reproductive Health in the Time of AIDs Continued Research in Issues around Pregnancy, Childbirth, Abortion, and other Reproductive Health Matters Summary: Mixed Methods Research in South Asia Chapter 15. Two "Histories" of Mixed Methods Research Mixed Methods in Ethnographic Research: Early Times New Pathways to Mixed Methods in the 20th Century Multi-Disciplinary and Large-Scale Projects Often Led to Mixed Methods Inter-Disciplinary Research Teams: A Different Pathway to MM Mixed Methods in Health Research Ethnographic Publications are often in Books or Large Printed Reports Quantitative Research Approaches Have Often Been Inductive The "Other History" of Mixed Methods and the Recent Spread of Interest in Qualitative Ethnographic Research New Explorations in Qualitative Research Methods, Especially in Developing Country Programs Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rapid Rural Appraisal (RR) Focused Ethnographic Studies (FES) Other Influences Favoring Qualitative Data Approaches and Mixed Methods Influences from the Computer Revolution The Big Picture: Mixed Methods Approaches Are Essential Because Each Individual Method Has Weaknesses. But There Is More: There Are Multiple Sectors of Data in the Real World

About the Author :
Pertti J. (Bert) Pelto, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, where he played a major role in developing the program in applied medical anthropology. He has also served as a consultant for many international health organizations, providing training in mixed methods ethnographic research for community-based applied projects. Best known for his groundbreaking book on research methods (Anthropological Research: The Structure of Inquiry, 1970), Professor Pelto was recently (2016) honored by the Society for Applied Anthropology with the establishment of the biennial "Pertti Pelto International Travel Award," in recognition of his contributions to training in applied field research methods in international contexts.

Review :
Prime architect of the methodology of employing mixed methods in ethnographic research, Pertti J Pelto, traces it's historical evolution globally. His personal narrative provides practical, experiential learnings for obtaining nuanced answers to complex research questions. Through decades of work with research networks and communities in India and other developing countries, Pelto succeeded in legitimizing the once suspect qualitative techniques. It is because of his untiring efforts that integrating qualitative with quantitative methods has become the norm today. Saroj Pachauri, MD, PhD, DPH, Distinguished Scholar, Population Council Only Pertti Pelto could have written this history –a tour de force of erudition. The book makes clear that anthropology is and has always been about mixed methods, but social scientists of all stripes will find wonderful material here for teaching mixed methods. H. Russell Bernard, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Florida; Director of the Institute for Social Science Research, Arizona State University In his latest book, Pertti Pelto takes us on a captivating, personal and historical tour of the use of mixed methods in social science research. His narrative style and stories from the from the field make this both a fun read and an important reference for students and researchers who want to gain a broader understanding of past and present developments in ethnographic research methods. Patricia Hudelson, PhD, Anthropologue médicale, Consultation transculturelle et interprétariat, Département de médecine communautaire, de premier recours et des urgences, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève In this immensely insightful, rich and readable ‘story’ of ethnographic research in the use of mixed methods, Professor Pelto reminds us how important is the historical perspective concerning research methods and strategies. In the absence of this clarity, social scientists and public health researchers are likely to polarize the discourse of qualitative versus quantitative methods and fail to take cognizance of various nuanced ways in which multi-method approaches enhance our knowledge creation. I can hardly overemphasize the timeliness of this book Ravi Verma, PhD, Regional Director, Asia, International Center for Research on Women Mixed Methods Research captures a wide and throughout picture of ethnographical research methods. It brings interestingly together the historical development and Pelto’s personal reflections on interaction of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Pelto’s wide experience of ethnographical research makes this book is an enjoyable reading and important guide for students as well as professional scholars all over the world. This book answers to a growing need for a practical guide in data-gathering. Inker-Anni Linkola, Senior Officer, Sámi Archives, Sajos Even in constructing his comprehensive and complex work on the application of mixed metholodologies, Pertti J. Pelto is a lively and engaging academic narrator, who succeeds to interpret deep issues and problems which have occupied generations of anthropologists. He weaves into the discussion his intensive long-term personal knowledge and experiences in multiple disciplines in various cultural settings, from the Skolt Sami in northernmost Europe to rural communities in South Asia. Pelto provides researchers and other actors, such as non-governmental organizations, with insights, strategies, and tools to apply mixed methodologies to health and social issues or economic and ecological understanding in an easily accessible manner." Veli-Pekka Lehtola, Professor for Sámi cultural studies, Giellagas Institute, University of Oulu