Mixed methods in ethnographic reseesesearch historical perspectives pertti j pelto, routledge, 2017 scan

Preface xiii Acknowledgements xix1 Mixed Methods Research in Ethnography, Qualitative and Quantitative 1 Ethnography in Earlier Centuries 2 Al-Biruni: A Remarkable Ethnographer 1000 Year

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 methodolo-gist Pertti Pelto, who first called for the integration of qualitative and quantita-tive 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 meth-ods 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

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 gram 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

pro-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

MIXED METHODS IN

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Series Editor: Janice Morse

University of Utah

Books in the Developing Qualitative Inquiry series, written by leaders in tive inquiry, address important topics in qualitative methods Targeted to a broad multi-disciplinary readership, the books are intended for mid-level to advanced researchers and advanced students The series forwards the field of qualitative inquiry by describing new methods or developing particular aspects of estab-lished methods

qualita-Other volumes in this series include:

Engaging in Narrative Inquiry

D Jean Clandinin

Engaging in Narrative Inquiries with Children and Youth

D Jean Clandinin, Vera Caine, Sean Lessard, Janice Huber

MIXED METHODS

IN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Historical Perspectives

Pertti J Pelto

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Preface xiii Acknowledgements xix

1 Mixed Methods Research in Ethnography, Qualitative and

Quantitative 1

Ethnography in Earlier Centuries 2

Al-Biruni: A Remarkable Ethnographer 1000 Years Ago 3

Bernardino de Sahagun (1499–1590) 5

Applied Ethnographic Field Work, Cultural Patterns, and Research

Methods 7

Applied Field Research: Many Disciplines, Many Players 8

The Histories of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Designs Are Different in Applied Field Research as Compared to Patterns of Study in Academic Disciplines 10

Disillusionment with Quantitative Surveys 11

The New Interest in “Mixed Methods” in the Social Sciences 12

Conclusions 14

References 16

A J Sjögren: The First Notable Finnish Linguist–Ethnographer 20 Mathias A Castren 20

Other Nineteenth-Century Finnish Ethnographer–Linguists 24

Vladimir Bogoraz (Waldemar Bogoras): Russian Ethnographer/Linguist/ Revolutionary 27

CONTENTS

Franz Boas: Promoter of Mixed Methods in North America 29

Concluding Comments 35

References 35

The QUAL versus QUAN Paradigm Debates 38

Many Problems in the Current Mixed Methods “Paradigm

Concepts” 42

How Did Qualitative Data Gathering Gain Acceptance in

Quantitative-Dominated Research Areas? 44

A New Wave of Mixed Methods 45

QUAN + qual, QUAL → quan: Let’s Get on with the Fun 46

More Complex, Multiple Methods Mixtures (MMM) 47

QUAL + quan and QUAL → quan Designs Are Very Common 48 The Traditions of Publishing Make a Big Difference for Mixing of

Methods 50

Summary and Conclusions 51

References 51

Life in a Mexican Village: A Study by Oscar Lewis and Associates 55 Personality Formation among the Navajo People 59

Acculturation and Culture/Personality Studies 60

Use of Projective Tests in Ethnographic Research 61

The “Newer” Culture and Personality Studies 63

The Instrumental Activities Inventory (Spindler and Spindler) 64

Acculturation, Self-Identification and Personality Adjustment in an

Inuit Village 66

Analysis of the Data 67

Farmers and Herdsmen in East Africa: Effects of Ecological Factors on Values, Attitudes, and Psychological Characteristics 68

Quantitative Scale from “Full-Scale Farming to Full-Scale

The Great Mix of Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative 82

The Ethnic Groups in Yankee City 83

“Yankee City” in Historical Perspective: Criticisms and Credits 84

“Public Health as a Career in Medicine”: Another Large-Scale Study 86 Summary and Conclusions 89

References 91

6 Ecosystems Theory, Adaptation, and New Directions in Research 92

An Early Applied Study of Upgrading Navajo Economy and Health 93 Massive Environmental Change: Ecosystem Effects of a Dam Project 96 Commentary 100

Pigs for the Ancestors: A Focus on Ritual as Ecological Regulator 101 Quantitative Data 102

Qualitative Data: Ethnography of Ritual 102

Discussion and Criticism Sparked by Pigs for the Ancestors 104

Structural Change in Northern Thai Rice Villages 106

Sarmela’s English Language Summary 107

Focus on Agricultural Adaptations in Rural Mexico 109

Discussion and Conclusions 111

References 114

Another Epidemic: Diphtheria Immunization in Thailand 117

Sorcery and Medicine in the Philippines 119

The Sociology of an Indian Hospital Ward 121

The Complex Varieties of Academic and Applied Medical Anthropology 123 Biological and Cultural Adaptations: The Ecological Framework 125 Anthropology and Mental Health: Psychosis in East Africa 126

Long-Term Multidisciplinary Research in Selected Study Populations 128 Multiple Research Methods in Complex Ethnography: West Africa 129

An Unusual Category: Combining Ethnography and Quantitative

Coming of Age in Samoa 1928: Margaret Mead’s Seminal Study 139

A Famous QUAL + QUAL → qual Study: Street Corner Society 142 Getting Started, Learning Field Research 142

Components of the Research Methods 143

“Doc,” the Most Famous “Key Informant” in Field Research

Literature 144

Sub-Project: Mapping the Social Interactions at the Club 145

Other Examples of Mixed Methods in QUAL Research: Mixed Methods

in Linguistic Research 146

QUAL → qual Triangulation 147

James P Spradley: “Grand Tour Interviews” and Other Special

An “Experiment” with Survey Research Methods in Africa 157

More Specialized Survey Research “Experiments” 159

Small-Scale Surveys: Other Variations on the Survey Model(s) 161

A Different Kind of Mixed Methods Research: Cultural Analysis of P-3 Pilot Error 161

The Study of High Concordance Domains 164

High versus Low Concordance Domains, and Sampling 165

“Tight” and “Loose” Societies 167

Cultural Consensus and Sample Sizes 168

Cultural Data, Key Informants, and Concordance 169

Summary and Conclusions 170

References 172

Studies of Food Distribution and Dietary Behaviors 174

Pilaga Food Distribution 176

Diet and Hunger in Northern Rhodesia 178

Hunger Months 180

The Monograph as a Classic Mixed Methods Study of Food and

Nutrition 181

Diet in the Mexican Town of Tepoztlan 181

A Diet and Nutrition Intervention in South Africa 183

Nutritional Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Mixed Methods Research 186

New Achievements in Mixed Methods Diet and Nutrition Studies 187 Research on Vitamin A Deficiency: A Multi-Site, Interdisciplinary

Major Finding: “Small Is Not Healthy and Happy” 196

Summary and Conclusions 197

Adaptive Strategies in the Åland Islands 213

Community Studies and Ecological Theory in More Recent Finnish Ethnographic Research 214

Concluding Discussion 215

References 215

Doctoral Dissertation Research in Finnish Lapland 218

The Upper Mississippi Research Project 222

Thinking about Research Methods 224

Thinking about Different Kinds of Societies 225

The Snowmobile Revolution: Technology and Social Change 226

Technology and Delocalization 228

Notes on Methodology 230

Varieties of Delocalization: Food and Diet 233

Conclusions: More Recent Developments 235

References 236

13 Triangulation and Descriptive Expansion: The Uses of Mixed

Exploring “Descriptive Expansion” and Related Purposes of Mixed Methods Designs 239

Understanding the Concept of Triangulation in Mixed Methods Research 241 Broader Definitions of “Triangulation” 244

Triangulation Studies for Assessing Informant Accuracy 245

Key Informant Reliability: Another Look at Interview Data 248

Triangulation and Informant Precision 249

Comparing Individual In-Depth Interviews and Group Discussion

Methods 251

Triangulation and Mixed Methods Research in Action 252

Triangulation with Multiple Quantified Data-Gathering Methods:

Alaska 253

Triangulation at the Level of Theory and Data Analysis 255

Informal Triangulation in Ethnographic Field Research 257

A Loose Use of the Triangulation Concept in Ethnographic Research 259 Triangulation in Qualitative Ethnographic Research: A Case of “Investigator Triangulation” 260

Triangulation Is Only One of Several Mixed Methods Research

Categories 262

Criticisms and Critiques of Triangulation in the Social Sciences 262

Summary and Conclusions 264

The Basic Lesson 265

References 265

The Technical Assistance Program: “Building Social Science Capacity for Research on Women’s Health in India” 270

QUAL-QUAN Mixed Methods Research Tools 272

Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Data Was Already Common in South Asia 273

Developing a Manual for Field Training and Guidelines for Data Gathering and Analysis 274

Other Developments in the Mid-1990s 274

Implementing a Reproductive Health Agenda in India: The Beginning 276 Reproductive Health in India: New Evidence 277

Ethnographic Field Research in South Asia 278

Women’s Perceptions of White Vaginal Discharge: Ethnographic Data from Rural Maharashtra 279

Evaluation of a Rural Community Health Program 280

Women’s Work and Child Health 281

Ethnographic Study of Sex Workers in a Red Light District in

Kolkata 282

Examples of Mixed Methods Research in Bangladesh 283

The HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Mixed Methods Research 285

HIV/AIDS and the Twenty-First Century in South Asia: Our Book of Research Results 286

Examples of Research on Sexual Behavior during the Technical Assistance Program 287

Other Noteworthy Studies in This Collection 290

Men’s Sexual Health Concerns in Mumbai 291

Women’s Reproductive Health in the Time of AIDS 293

Continued Research in Issues around Pregnancy, Childbirth, Abortion, and other Reproductive Health Matters 294

Summary: Mixed Methods Research in South Asia 295

References 298

Mixed Methods in Ethnographic Research: Early Times 302

New Pathways to Mixed Methods in the Twentieth Century 303

Multi-Disciplinary and Large-Scale Projects Often Led to Mixed

Methods 305

Interdisciplinary Research Teams: A Different Pathway to MM 306

Mixed Methods in Health Research 307

Ethnographic Publications Are Often in Books or Large Printed

in Qualitative Ethnographic Research 311

New Explorations in Qualitative Research Methods, Especially in

Developing Country Programs 313

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rapid Rural

Appraisal (RRA) 315

Focused Ethnographic Studies (FES) 316

Other Influences Favoring Qualitative Data Approaches and Mixed Methods 317

Influences from the Computer Revolution 318

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 320

Concluding Note 322

References 323

Index 325

I returned to the United States in 2014, after living and working in South Asia for nearly two decades During that period, beginning in the early 1990s, I was doing technical assistance, particularly with workshops and other training activi-ties focused on qualitative methods for research on reproductive health issues and programs The research groups I worked with were relatively familiar with the basics of quantitative (survey) data approaches, so the qualitative methods I pre-sented were intended to strengthen their utilization of qualitative ethnographic techniques These training and related technical assistance activities were primar-ily in India, in a program originally developed by the Ford Foundation I also had several sessions of training activities in Bangladesh and Nepal, particularly in con-nection with the campaigns for combating the spread of HIV/AIDS I describe some of those South Asian research projects and training activities in Chapter 14.When I returned to my home area in the United States, I found an impressive growth of interest in “mixed methods research approaches,” manifested in a num-

ber of recently published books, as well as a relatively new Journal of Mixed Methods Research (launched in 2007) The literature mainly defines “mixed methods” as the

combining of qualitative and quantitative research techniques and analysis, and treats this strategy as a relatively new development in the social sciences Indeed,

it does appear to be a “new thing” in some sectors of the social sciences On the other hand, I was amused in reflecting that I had strongly urged the combining

of qualitative and quantitative research methods in the book on methodology I wrote nearly half a century ago (Pelto, 1970)

Another very interesting marker of this methodological discussion is the use of abbreviations such as “QUAL,” “QUAN,” “qual,” and “quan”—combined in vari-ous ways to represent different research designs That practice, I thought, gave this new topic of methodological discussion a special brand of visibility I wondered

PREFACE

whether some commercial advertising people might have been involved in developing this system of “codes.”

In my professional career in anthropology, I encountered a great deal of mixed methods in ethnographic research, including studies carried out in the nineteenth century and earlier Throughout much of the twentieth century, in my experience, there was a steady growth of “mixed methods” in ethnographic research I also had the feeling that in various sectors of ethnographic studies there were many

examples of combining several different qualitative methods That was especially

notable among those ethnographers who combined detailed linguistic methods with ethnographic procedures—interviewing, direct observation, mapping, and other actions Those mixed methods studies were already common in the nine-teenth century, in some academic and non-academic realms

After some further exploration, particularly in the areas of ethnographic ects I had studied and discussed with my colleagues and graduate students over many years of academic work, I began to put these observations into chapters for this book My general impression was that the mixing of research methods in ethnographic studies was particularly common in applied, practical projects Also certain sub-areas of academic disciplines seemed more prone to the combining of qualitative with quantitative research methods

proj-Another strand in my thinking about this general topic of mixed methods

of research was that many ethnographic scholars and researchers in the speaking world did not have very much knowledge or access to some non- English scholarly works, such as those I was familiar with in northern Europe and (later)

English-in South Asia I felt that it would be useful for me to English-include, English-in some detail, English-mation about ethnographic researchers in Finland, particularly those pioneering, adventurous field researchers who carried out multi-year studies in Siberia in the nineteenth century

infor-Chapters 1 and 2 give some pieces of the early history of ethnographic research, beginning with the remarkable studies carried out by the Islamic scholar, Al-Biruni, 1000 years ago His ethnographic descriptions of Hindu Indian cul-ture, so many centuries ago, give us a sense that the ethnographic study of “other peoples and cultures” has very deep roots indeed The nineteenth-century Finnish scholars (Chapter 2), provide a further sense of the important early develop-ments in ethnographic studies Gradually, across several centuries, a wide range of researchers have lighted up, step by step, the mapping of the varieties of human communities in different parts of the globe

In Chapter 2 I have also introduced a new perspective on Franz Boas, who

is commonly regarded as having established the North American variety of nographic (and general anthropological) scholarship in the American university system He fits well into this chapter, with the Finnish scholars, because his aca-demic training and scholarly orientation was entirely European, not much differ-ent from the academic backgrounds of the Finnish researchers Those northern ethnographic researchers published many of their works in German, as did Boas

eth-in his earliest years Most important, however, is the fact that eth-in the course of my recent reading, I discovered more details of the depth of mixed methods in Boas’s extensive field research Most of his ethnographic research was qualitative, but with innovative mixing of different types of qualitative approaches.

Chapter 3 is devoted to examination of the “new language system” used for discussing the varieties of mixed methods research designs I feel that many peo-ple, especially in developing countries, have not been exposed to the special labels and terminology of the “mixed methods discussions,” so I include this little review

of these new usages

Culture and personality studies (Chapter 4) is the topical area that strongly influenced my early academic career Also, this sub-area of ethnographic research was one of the first sectors to develop strong tendencies for inclusion of quan-titative methods connected to qualitative data gathering In this chapter I point out that it was mainly the social psychologists, collaborating with anthropologists, who introduced the numerical methods that had become common research tools

in psychological studies Thus, I point out in this chapter, and some others, that multi-disciplinary studies have been especially likely to be the domains in which mixing of the tools of data gathering and analysis takes place most readily Culture and personality studies, in the first half of the twentieth century, were to a consid-erable extent built up from the inter-relating of qualitative ethnographic methods with the quantitative techniques for assessing personality characteristics

Chapter 5 is devoted to some famous old examples of very large, exploratory projects, involving many researchers during several years of data gathering Both the Hawthorne Research and Yankee City studies are well known in the liter-ature of the first half of the twentieth century, and they highlight the ways that longer-term field research practically always results in mixing of different research approaches

Ethnographic studies in various health/illness issues and projects are another area in which multi-disciplinary research teams have very often been the initi-ators of mixed research designs Chapter 6 presents a series of studies in which medical professionals are often teamed with ethnographic researchers—situations that, again, promote, or even require, multiple measurements of bodily conditions, counts of numbers of “cases,” and other numerical data, along with qualitative observations and verbal materials

Economic and ecological studies are the subject of Chapter 7, in which the issues examined often require quantitative methods, coupled with a wide range

of verbal descriptions In many of the studies in this topical area, qualitative descriptions of physical environments are essential parts of research design, but concepts of “economic development,” and peoples’ adaptations to environmental features, generally require measurements in terms of physical products, numbers

of people affected, and (quite often) measures of economic features in terms of monetary units

Chapter 8 introduces a deviation into the realm of qualitative combinations

of data gathering and analysis Two of the most famous ethnographic studies—

Margaret Mead’s study of Samoan adolescence, and William F Whyte’s Street Corner Society, are the main case examples that I use to illustrate the rich mixtures

of qualitative methods In the new system of terminology, these are QUAL + qual

anthro-Chapter 10 examines studies concerning “Food, Diet and Nutrition,” which is another domain of research that is very often multi-disciplinary, and thus highly likely to require mixed methods research designs Some ethnographers studied the food habits, including measurement of dietary intakes, among traditional soci-eties quite early in the twentieth century The study by Audrey Richards (1939)

in South Central Africa is often cited as an outstanding early model of that type

of study In parallel to studies linking public health issues with in-depth nographic data gathering, the development of “nutritionist-plus-ethnographer” research teams increased rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s Since then, it is hard

eth-to imagine (or justify) research that does not combine extensive qualitative field data with careful measurement of the nutritional results of the dietary practices

in study populations In some large-scale studies the medical (public health) issues are combined with diet and nutrition data gathering The multi-year study by John Cassel and associates is a particularly interesting early example, which I describe in detail in this chapter

I return to some more examples of Finnish ethnographers in Chapter 11 This

is partly to introduce some details about the context of ethnographic research within which I began my own major ethnographic fieldwork, in the 1950s Some

of the case materials that I deal with in this chapter also illustrate how tional political developments affect the directions of scientific programs Although

interna-I touch on these matters only tangentially here, the directions of ethnographic research in Finland shifted quite dramatically as a consequence of Finland’s gain-ing independence from Russia in 1917 The events around World War II also had significant effects on Finnish research directions, as their orientation to interna-tional scholarly contacts shifted toward greater contacts with English-language literature and intellectual communications

Part of my focus in this book is autobiographical, and in Chapter 12 I turn to describe some of my own participation in the developments of mixed methods research In my first major book on research methods (1970), I pointed to the need for developing rigorous mixing of qualitative and quantitative data gath-ering and analysis in ethnographic studies In this chapter I present some of my

own research, and my activities in training the newer generation of ethnographic researchers in effective mixed methods projects.

The final set of materials in this book—in Chapters 13, 14 and 15—are intended to link the historical perspectives that make up the main chapters of this book with the current, ongoing narrative of what we might label, “the new mixed methods dialogue.” Chapter 13 is devoted to examining the core intentions

of mixed methods, in which one major impetus for the multi-method strategy has been to strengthen the credibility and “validity” of ethnographic data by means of triangulation Some writers have perhaps exaggerated the centrality of this justifi-cation and motivation for mixing of different kinds of data gathering and analysis Most of the mixed methods I have included in this book have been intended

for expanding the reach of research methods into related areas of descriptive and

explanatory information In any case this chapter is intended to define and explore the core aspects of the multi-method studies reviewed in the previous chapters In the midst of this “pulling things together,” I include (Chapter 14) some detailed descriptions of my recent consulting and technical assistance in South Asia, which was largely devoted to strengthening the mixed methods research operations of

a variety of different non-government organizations (NGOs) and other research groups, in India, Bangladesh and Nepal The mixing of qualitative and quantitative research operations has been common practice in South Asia since the middle of the twentieth century, but they needed to develop more rigorous procedures in their qualitative research

The final chapter must of course put all the pieces of this complexity into some semblance of order It should be apparent to readers who are familiar with the current discussions dealing with “the new mixed methods research” that there seem to be two different histories The materials I have put together in this book represent the long history of mixed methods in ethnographic field research, while the discussions in the “new mixed methods” literature appear to be focused on a set of recent developments, particularly among sub-disciplines of the social and bio-social sciences in which the qualitative side of data gathering was not much recognized or considered important until quite recently

For Which Scholars, Researchers, and Other Readers Is This Book Intended?

Many of the studies I have reviewed in these chapters provide useful mation concerning applied, practical sectors of social and bio-social programs The studies in areas of public health and diet/nutrition are particularly nota-ble areas of research where mixed methods approaches have for a long time been of central importance The case materials in Chapter 14, dealing with HIV/AIDS, reproductive health programs, and related studies in South Asia, are particularly good exemplars of current research approaches in applied eth-nographic studies

infor-I have included numbers of examples of research by Finnish scholars in earlier decades, plus quite recent studies by research teams in South Asia, in order to increase the awareness, in both directions, of these large sectors of field research that seem to be less well known in the international research literature As a result

of the rapid advances in computerized availability of published and unpublished research information, I expect that the materials in these chapters will be of inter-est and usefulness for applied and academic audiences in developing countries, as well as enriching the range of research knowledge among European and North American social scientists and applied field research personnel

The training of social science and bio-social science students for professional careers should, in my opinion, include a strong component of historical per-spective concerning research methods and strategies Many of the studies I have described in these chapters include important lessons and guidelines for the younger generation of aspiring researchers to learn from Fortunately, due to very recent advances in technology and communications practices, aspiring researchers even in relatively remote areas can access some of the less well-known materials through the Internet

Although I assume that academic institutions, including specialized ment and non-government learning centers (universities, colleges, and research institutes) have the largest numbers of ethnographically active social scientists, there are growing numbers of active researchers in NGOs, international foun-dations, and other specialized research centers In recent years those non-aca-demic organizations have greatly expanded their ethnographic research activities The types of materials I have presented are especially useful in connection with the ever-growing need for a better quality of practical data gathering in pro-grams intended for improving the levels of economic and social well-being of the world’s diverse populations

govern-I must acknowledge my indebtedness to an extremely widespread, diverse array of people who have worked with me, and who have made possible the varieties of activities in which I have been involved during my professional career It will be possible to mention only a small part of those many colleagues, friends, mentors, students, and others.

First of all I should acknowledge the training I received from faculty and others at the University of California (Berkeley) in my years of graduate studies Those early mentors included Robert Lowie, David Mandelbaum, George Foster, Robert Murphy, David Schneider, and a number of other very helpful professors

At Cornell I was particularly indebted to the colleagueship and research ideas of John M Roberts and William Lambert At the University of Minnesota, Luther Gerlach and Frank Miller were particularly helpful colleagues At Connecticut there have been many very helpful colleagues, of whom I am especially indebted

to Robert Bee, Norman Chance, Robert Dewar, and Pamela Erickson

My Finnish colleagues and friends constitute a very long list indeed, and I will begin with listing some key persons in Lapland: Satu and Jouni Moshnikoff, Jaakko Sverloff, Artto Sverloff, Katri Jefrimoff, and Nikolai Killanen, although there were many others who contributed to my research over the years Among academic colleagues and mentors in Finland, I owe a great deal to the mentorship

of Kustaa Vilkuna and Kalle Nickul In the large list of colleagues, I should tion first my good friend and long-time colleague, the late Martti Linkola Of the many others, I especially acknowledge my indebtedness to Matti Sarmela, Pekka Sammallahti, Minna Säävälä, and Juha Pentikäinen

men-In South Asia, as elsewhere, I am indebted to a long list of persons, and can only list a few from that very large number I wish to particularly express my

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

appreciation for all the help and support of the following persons in India: Lakshmi Ramachandar, Saroj Pachauri, Ravi Verma, Jayashree Ramakrishna, Niranjan Saggurti, Archana Joshi, Renu Khanna, Shagufa Kapadia, M.E Khan, Shireen Jejeebhoy, R.K.Mutatkar, Vinay Kulkarni, Annie George, Akhila Vasan, Bella and Siddhi Ganatra, and Hemant Apte In Bangladesh: Ruchira Tabassum, Papreen Nahar, Sandra Laston, Abbas Bhuiyan, Lazeena Muna and S.M Nurul Alam Among the many helpful colleagues in Nepal, I especially express my grat-itude for the support, friendship, and collaboration of Anand Tamang and Mahesh Puri at the NGO, CREHPA Sri Lankan colleagues I wish to especially thank are Herbert Aponso, Tudor Silva, and Ananda Wijekoon (all at the University of Peradeniya), although there were many others who contributed to our interac-tions in that fascinating island society.

Other colleagues in North America to whom I owe special expressions of gratitude are Ludger Müller-Wille, Russ Bernard, and that long list of excellent students whose research has enriched my knowledge of cultures and peoples in so many parts of the globe My listing could go on and on, but here I will particularly express my deep indebtedness for the countless hours of editorial assistance and sage advice of Janice Morse, and the very expressive illustrating, helpful editing and other assistance from my daughter, Dunja Pelto

In 1857, the Finnish scholar–researcher Matthias A Castren gave a definition

of ethnography based on his own extensive research:

[Ethnography] is a new name for an old phenomenon It is understood to mean the knowledge of peoples’ religion, social conditions, customs and rites, living conditions, dwellings, in a word, all that belongs to their internal and external lives Ethnography could be regarded as a part of cultural his-tory, but not all nations possess a history in the higher meaning of the word, and their history consists precisely of ethnography (Castren, 1857 (IV):8; quoted in Niiranen 1992:23)

In his discussion of the terminology, Niiranen commented that the first use

of the term “ethnography” should be credited to W.F Edwards, “who in the late 1830s founded the first scientific society in this field in Paris [However] A Leipzig

encyclopaedia published in 1833 defines ethnography as part of geography and history: ‘Ethnography, i.e., the science dealing with the folk or peoples (Volkerunde),

is the part of geography which deals with the inhabitants of different countries, describes them on the basis of their physical and mental abilities and presents their customs, habits, and special features’” (quoted by Niiranen, p 23).

In his book, The History of Ethnological Theory (1937), Robert H Lowie stated

in his very first paragraph that: “Ethnography is the science which deals with the ‘cultures’ of human groups By culture we understand the sum total of what

an individual acquires from his society—those beliefs, customs, artistic norms, food-habits, and crafts ” (Lowie, 1937:3) In this book I use the word ethnog-raphy as referring especially to “field research” in human groups It is largely descriptive (inductive) in basic design, although there are ethnographic projects that include deductive, hypothesis-testing operations

The close relationship between geography and ethnography, in the nineteenth-century definition, is a reflection of the fact that in earlier centu-ries, both of these scientific activities were heavily invested in explorations in the unknown, or less well-known locations and peoples on Planet Earth As we will explore further in Chapter 2, the nineteenth century was a time when there were growing numbers of international expeditions, some of them aimed at political and economic exploitation of less developed regions such as Africa, arctic America, Siberia, and others; other expeditions were more intent on expanding geographi-cal, scientific information about the relatively uncharted parts of the world

Ethnography in Earlier Centuries

I do not intend to review a lot of earlier “proto-ethnography,” but it is useful to keep in mind that in earlier centuries there have been unusual individuals who studied the societies and cultures of “other peoples” in various ways, with the intention of presenting factual information that would be of use to other persons.Margaret Mead and Ruth Bunzel included some interesting examples of

earlier ethnographic reports in their compilation, The Golden Age of American Anthropology (1960) It is of considerable interest to note that Christopher

Columbus is included in this discussion of “proto-ethnographers.” Their tion includes a brief, very interesting article by Edward Gaylord Bourne enti-tled, “Columbus, Ramon Pane and the Beginnings of American Anthropology” (Bourne, 1906: 310–313) Bourne commented that: “Christopher Columbus not only revealed the field of our studies to the world but actually in person set on foot the first systematic study of American primitive custom, religion and folklore ever undertaken” (Bourne, 1960:18) Bourne went on to describe reasons why this aspect of Columbus’s activities has largely been ignored, and then mentions two important documents:

collec-The first [document] contains the discoverer’s own brief summary of what

he was able to learn of the beliefs of the natives of Espanola during the period of his second voyage, 1493–96, and the record of his commissioning

of Friar Ramon Pane who had learned the language of the islanders, ‘to collect all their ceremonies and antiquities.’ The second is Ramon’s report

of his observations and inquiries and is not only the first treatise ever ten in the field of American Antiquities, but to this day remains our most authentic record of the religion and folk-lore of the long since extinct Tainos, the original inhabitants of Hayti ” (Bourne, 1960:19)

writ-Al-Biruni: A Remarkable Ethnographer 1000 Years Ago

Al-Biruni stands out as a prolific “proto-ethnographer,” although his scientific achievements are best known in the fields of mathematics and astronomy His real name was Abu Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad, but he is known in the historical literature as Al-Biruni In addition to his work in mathematics and astronomy,

he was a gifted linguist, ethnographer, and all-around scientist He is believed to have written over 100 books (Saliba, 2015), but the publication of most interest

is his extensive description of the people, religious beliefs, caste system, languages, mathematics, and other cultural and social features of Hindu India His collection

of ethnographic descriptions is often known by the shortened title, Kitabu’l Hind

(Ahmad, 1983:xvi) Materials from that extensive compendium were translated into English by the German scholar Edward C Sachau in 1888, in two volumes,

with the title Alberuni’s India That publication was edited into a shorter, one ume edition, entitled India by Al-Biruni, edited by Qeyamuddin Ahmad (1983), a

vol-professor of history at the University of Patna in North India

Al-Biruni was born in A.D 973 in the Iranian territory of Khwarizm (now

in Uzbekistan) He was an Iranian Muslim, best known as an astronomer and mathematician, but deeply interested in Indian (esp Hindu) society and culture

In addition to his Persian and Arabic languages, he was fluent in Sanskrit and had communication with Indian scholars The translator/editor, Qeyamuddin Ahmad, wrote that “Al-Biruni was a great linguist and a prolific writer” (Ahmad, 1983:xvii) I am introducing Al-Biruni here because it is quite clear that he intended to present “just the facts,” and that the materials in his book cover a very wide range of cultural information, which must have required many years of study The editor described that Al-Biruni had contacts with many Hindu people

in his home area, and travelled to several parts of India He lived for some years

in the Punjab, in Northern India At many points in the text, he comments that

“Hindu people told me” (various cultural items) However, it appears that much

of his research was through careful study of the Sanskrit literature available to him

It is interesting to note that one thousand years ago there was a fairly rich ture in Sanskrit available for gaining extensive information about Hindu culture

litera-Some of the chapters in the compilation called India: by Al-Biruni include:

“On that which especially concerns the Brahmans, and what they are expected to

do during their whole life” (p 223); “On the rites and customs which the other

castes besides the Brahmans, practice during their lifetime” (p 228); “On what

is allowed and forbidden in eating and drinking” (p 237); and, most ominously:

“A description of the four yugas, and of all that is expected to take place at the end of the fourth yuga” (p 175) The abridged version of Al-Biruni’s ethno-graphic production runs to about 80 chapters! The publication contains many chapters about astronomy, mathematics, and other scientific topics, in addition to the descriptions of cultural practices of Hindu peoples

One of the most striking pieces of evidence concerning the depth of his knowledge of India is the fact that he described several different alphabets used in the writing of different languages in India (“Notes on the Writing of the Hindus,

on their arithmetic and related subjects ” [pp 79–88]) Of course, he was ticularly deeply immersed in learning about Hindu mathematical work, because mathematics and astronomy were his main special areas of scientific interest One section is called, “On the constellation of the Great Bear” (p 180)

par-The editor of the Al-Biruni book, Qeyamuddin Ahmad, took his masters and doctoral degrees at Patna University in northern India (Bihar State), in 1950–1962, and was a professor of history at the University of Patna in the years after completing his doctorate He noted that “It has been suggested that a feel-ing of shared adversity brought Al-Biruni and the Hindus close to each other” (p xix) For that comment he references Sachau, and then goes on to note that

“ Al-Biruni was deeply interested in astronomy and mathematics since an earlier period of his life, and he must have taken full advantage of the opportunities of direct contact with Indian scholars during his stay in Ghazni [also] while liv-ing in Ghazni he got additional opportunities for securing first-hand information

by personal contact with Indians and by direct study of Sanskrit sources As we know, he paid visits to and lived in different parts of the Punjab ”(p xix)

In the editing of Al-Biruni’s writings, Ahmad was deeply impressed with the scholar’s attempt to understand Hindu culture (and science) from the insider’s perspective He commented that “Also, very significant is Al-Biruni’s conclud-ing remark that his book was meant for those who wanted to discuss with the

Hindus the questions of religion, science or literature, on the very basis of their own civilization.” He goes on to comment that “ Much stress is nowadays being laid

by Western scholars to try to understand Oriental cultures on their own terms and on the basis of the indigenous sources It is a measure of Al-Biruni’s greatness that he made such an attempt, fairly successfully, about one thousand years ago In fact, it is this discerning and basically appreciative approach to the understanding

of an alien culture on its own terms which lifts Al-Biruni’s account much above anything else written on India in the medieval period.” (Ahmad, 1983:xxxi)

We can piece together a loose, composite inventory of the mixed methods utilized by Al-Biruni in producing this impressive ethnography Certainly he depended to a considerable extent on the large Sanskrit and Arabic literature available to him Various writers, including Professor Ahmad and other histori-ans, have described Al-Biruni’s life in connection with the Islamic invader forces,

giving something of a mixed message: of a privileged, “royal court” lifestyle, yet

to some extent a prisoner, with some limits placed on his freedom of movement

In his first chapter, Al-Biruni discussed at length the difficulties of Sanskrit language, and made it clear that he directed his great linguistic skills to mastery of that language as the key to learning about Hindu culture and society He wrote that “I do not spare either trouble or money in collecting Sanskrit books from places where I supposed they were likely to be found, and to procuring for myself, even from very remote places, Hindu scholars who understand them and are able

to teach me ” (Al-Biruni, 1983:11) He went on to describe that he was not entirely free to come and go wherever he wanted to, but was thankful to Allah for all he was able to accomplish

His descriptions do not provide any details of his interviewing techniques, and I did not find any mention of his taking notes during travels or attendance at special events Nonetheless, it is quite clear that across his many years in India he had plenty of opportunities to observe firsthand some of the economic activities, religious ceremo-nies, geographic features, and other aspects of life in India There is plenty of tangential evidence that one of his research methods was in working with Hindu astronomical data, and mathematical materials, in order to understand and critique their contents

I would characterize Al-Biruni’s extensive ethnographic work as an example

of QUAL + qual mixed methods research, in which the linguistic component,

based on thorough knowledge and use of Sanskrit written materials, was a core methodology Direct observation of places, people, and events was very much a secondary, supplemental element in his mixed methodology

con-On arriving in Mexico he immediately learned Nahuatl, the language of the people among whom he was to spend his life During most of these years [until 1578!] he taught at the Convent of Tlatelulco where he could command the assistance of young bilingual students He had with him in the pueblo of Tepeapulco, during the period of intensive work, some ten or twelve native Indians well versed in ancient lore, who had lived under the Aztec empire before the conquest The old men dictated texts in Nahuatl which he wrote out and had interpreted by his young Spanish-speaking informants, former students of the Convent He also had his old men write out portions of text in Nahuatl hieroglyphics and had these inter-preted (Bunzel, 1960:47)

The singular ethnographic accomplishment over Sahagun’s lifetime was

the massive History of the Things of New Spain The most famous extant

man-uscript of [his ethnographic and historical production] is the Florentine Codex It is a codex consisting of 2400 pages organized into twelve books, with approximately 2,500 illustrations drawn by native artists using both native and European techniques The alphabetic text is bilingual in Spanish and Nahuatl on opposing folios, and the pictorials should be considered a third kind of text It documents the culture, religious cosmology (world-view), ritual practices, society, economics, and history of the Aztec people; and in Book 12 gives an account of the conquest of Mexico from the Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco point of view In the process of putting together

the Historia General, Sahagún pioneered new methods for gathering eth nographic information and validating its accuracy The Historia General

has been called “one of the most remarkable accounts of a non-Western culture ever composed, and Sahagún has been called the father of American ethnography (Wikipedia, 2016)

The impressive ethnographic productions of Al-Biruni and Bernardino de Sahagun stand out as exceptionally thorough, important, and informative ethno-graphic works from earlier centuries There are, of course, many other interesting ethnographic products from those earlier times, but precious few can match the levels of scholarly and scientific quality of these two exemplars When we explore the literature we can find a great many detailed narratives from travellers (such

as Marco Polo), and some of the early Jesuit missionary studies among North American native peoples But most of those studies are far less comprehensive, and often less credible, than these two ethnographic products

Just to mention one more “famous traveller”: perhaps no other world turer in earlier centuries can match the total kilometres travelled and number of different peoples visited by the famous Muslim, Ibn Battuta (1304–1369) The Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilization in the United Kingdom has

adven-published a colorful biographical sketch of Ibn Battuta in their Muslim Heritage

series, in which they include the following, concerning the more ethnographic aspects of his travels:

Ibn Battuta was interested in political conditions and glories of foreign rulers; in economic factors, in all sorts of strange customs, such as those

of marriage and burial; in the construction of Indian beds and the kind of fuel used in China; in strange inventions, such as wagons in the Crimea or supposed way of getting rid of vermin; in remarkable animals, minerals, and

to a greater degree, trees and plants, especially those useful to humans And all these aspects help us today to understand life in all these diverse places in

those times (Muslim Heritage, 2016)

The writings of Ibn Battuta, and some other “travellers” contain a great deal of interesting information, but I do not regard them as “real ethnographers,” because their observations about cultural and social features are highly selective, and are usually based on relatively short-term observations in each of those many places their travels took them Thus, their interesting travel adventures are much less ethnographically useful than the works of Al-Biruni and Sahagun.

Applied Ethnographic Field Work, Cultural Patterns, and

Research Methods

Although we do not have truly detailed descriptions of the research methods and designs employed by the ethnographers of the distant past, there are some out-standing features of field research that seem pervasive and largely defining of the main characteristics of this scholarly work I introduced the examples of research

by Al-Biruni and Fray Bernardino de Sahagun in order to highlight some of the centuries-old characteristics of this kind of research

A central feature in most discussions of ethnographic research is the importance

of mastering the language (or languages) of the study population Although there are many competent ethnographic studies that include extensive involvement of translators/interpreters, the effective utilization of local language in relation to understanding the interpretations of cultural patterns and decision-making by individual actors has appeared consistently in discussions of effective ethnographic understanding Truly effective ethnographic studies almost always include exten-sive use of local “native vocabularies and language use,” in order to give “the peoples’ perceptions” and specialized local definitions of “reality” in descriptions

of cultural actions and normative prescriptions

Particularly in the earlier centuries of proto-ethnographic studies, the close relationships with geography were very important, and in many studies some mapping activities have been essential supplemental research methods Another major supplemental data-gathering operation has been the use of particularly knowledgeable members of the study populations for the production of data, including having community members collect and write descriptions of ritu-als, festive occasions, local mythological lore, and other cultural information That method of data gathering was evidently the “core ethnographic method” for Sahagun, described earlier; and it was a centrally important supplemental method in the extensive ethnographic research of Franz Boas, which I describe

in Chapter 2

It is important to note here that in many instances of “proto-ethnography” in earlier centuries, and particularly in the nineteenth century, the mixtures of meth-ods often featured only qualitative data gathering The development of ethno-graphic mixed methods with strong quantitative components is a more recent development, originating in the late nineteenth century

Applied Field Research: Many Disciplines, Many Players

Most discussions about mixed methods and the special features of quantitative versus qualitative paradigms have been focused at the micro-levels of data gath-ering and analysis, plus the excursions into abstract philosophies of “knowledge,”

“science,” and “history.” It is also important to explore some major developments

in the larger panorama of applied, practical research Certainly the micro-level transformations in data-gathering methods have been influenced by major devel-opments in technology (particularly in computer hardware and software), as well

as changes in the politics and economics of applied research systems Other factors influencing the various shapes of practical research include special “events” such

as the advent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic All these macro-level processes are part of the complex history of social and behavioural research, impinging on the grassroots-level transformations in mixed methods studies

In 2009–2010 I was consulting for a large-scale applied research project in the

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states in India The ambitious study was labelled Shaping Demand and Practices to Improve Family Health Outcomes in Northern India, directed

by M.E Khan of the Population Council (India), and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Khan et al., 2012) The project focused on specific behaviours affecting neonatal and maternal health, such as antenatal check-ups, childbirth conducted by trained birth attendants, exclusive breastfeeding, immu-nizations, complementary feeding after six months, and other components of childbirth and infant care This was a “mixed methods study” on a massive scale (The analyses of the data and presentations of results are published separately for the two states, so my comments here will deal only with some of the details from Uttar Pradesh) M.E Khan and his colleagues described:

The formative study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data on the barriers and facilitating factors to each of the eight target behaviours In the quantitative study, a large sample survey was conducted covering 4,754 households spread over 12 districts and 225 villages The qualitative study generated comprehensive data to complement the infor-mation gathered in the survey The qualitative study documented the role

of family dynamics in influencing the adoption of the target behaviours, the role of frontline health workers and the challenges they face in promoting behaviour change, and the potential role of local private practitioners

A total of 24 villages and 308 in-depth interviews were covered in the qualitative study ” (Khan et al., 2012:7)

That statement about the contents of quantitative and qualitative data makes the intent of the qualitative component clear: to expand the programmatic under-standing of factors that affect people’s decision-making regarding the interactions

of family members with health care providers As far as I know, Dr Khan and his colleagues had not been aware of the discussions about “mixed methods” in the North American research literature

I am not going to explore here the data results of that massive study My purpose in introducing this project is to highlight the many-sided complexity of the team involved in the study The contributors to the published report are only part of the network of persons connected with the project, but they show the rich diversity of backgrounds in the “core group.” Their academic backgrounds include four persons with doctoral or master’s degrees in population sciences; three individuals with degrees in social work; three in public health; and two from sociology Other contributors (one each) have degrees in mass communica-tions, food and nutrition, MBA/engineering, English literature plus information management, and advertising and public relations, and one has a doctorate in

“Corporate Social Responsibility” (Khan et al., 2012:381–386)

Although qualitative ethnographic research was a major component of the project, there were no anthropologists in the team Therefore, as a consultant, I was responsible for training the field team in ethnographic interviewing In addition, I helped in planning the sampling and design of interview protocols

Several of the research groups in South Asia with which I have been involved for technical assistance, research training, and other consulting over two decades (1990 to 2010) had similar mixtures of educational backgrounds In many instances, research team members had received little or no field research training

in their academic studies, because their advanced education was in subjects for which field research is not usually considered relevant The various field teams therefore received their field training from the NGOs in which they worked, sometimes with technical assistance from visiting consultants such as myself

In Bangladesh in the 1990s, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR) established a Social and Behavioural Sciences Programme within their Community Health Division That programme was headed for a time by James L Ross, an American anthropologist At the time of my associa-tion with that research group, the field research team included one person with

a background in home economics, one from sociology with an advanced degree

in health policy and planning, and one woman from public administration Some other applied research teams that I met in Bangladesh had an anthropologist, with other persons from sociology, social work, public health, and other fields

Although there are anthropologists involved in many applied research groups—

in North America and other continents—the general picture in the fields of health research, education, agricultural and community development, marketing, and other fields, is the proliferation of qualitative, ethnographic research activities carried out

by individuals from a very wide range of different disciplines This means that large numbers of research groups—non-government organizations (NGOs), various institutes of higher learning, government agencies, and community-based organiza-tions (CBOs)—have taken up qualitative data gathering in addition to their long-term acquaintance with quantitative data gathering, in the form of surveys plus detailed recordkeeping of their programmatic operations Many research groups include individuals with experience in quantitative survey research, but learning about qualitative research methods is a fairly new, on-the-job experience for many

The Histories of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Designs Are Different in Applied Field Research as Compared to Patterns

of Study in Academic Disciplines

It is useful to go outside the academic, discipline-based research models in order

to understand some of the history of methodological developments in the second half of the twentieth century I suggest that one of the major factors account-ing for the recent upsurge of interest in “mixed methods” has been in certain important experiences in applied programs, particularly in developing countries Some of the increased interest in the late twentieth century in mixing QUAL + QUAN research operations came about when experienced field researchers demonstrated that certain innovative qualitative methods produced excellent results more quickly than the traditional quantitative surveys Disillusionment with purely quantitative data approaches emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, as posi-tive features of qualitative approaches began to be appreciated in studies regarding health issues, education programs, rural development, and perhaps most notably

in business and marketing (Baba, 2006)

In some sectors of applied research, attention to mixed methods has come about in part because ethnographic (qualitative) data gathering has become acceptable as “supplemental information” to the earlier practices of questionnaire surveys and other quantitative methods

The recent spread of ethnographic data-gathering techniques in the cial marketing fields is of special interest, as it has happened in disciplines and organizations that would seem far removed from involvement in ethnographic

commer-field research The May 2014 Marketing Week (London) had an item on

ethno-graphic research for product development, in which they described several ples of successful innovations arising from the new approaches to data gathering:

exam-Spending a weekend sitting in someone else’s house reporting when, why and how much they ate, drank, bathed, watched TV or used their mobile phone isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, but for a marketer it is one of the best ways to gain deeper customer insight The process, often referred

to as ethnography, can result in breakthroughs for brands, offering an insight into what people are really like, rather than what they want researchers to think they are like

The writer added:

Market researcher Ipsos MORI [sic] says ethnography allows “deep insight

into the contradictory nature of much of human behaviour: the focus is on what people really do versus what they say they do.” In other words, it is about identifying hidden needs – and this is where the real breakthroughs

can occur (Marketing Week 2014)

Disillusionment with Quantitative Surveys

One theme in the complex story of research programs over the past century has been the increasingly dominant role of quantitative data processes in many research areas in the social sciences With the significant exception of anthropo-logical studies, much of the research conducted for policy development, begin-ning at the end of the nineteenth century, developed an ever-increasing focus and reliance on quantitative data In retrospect, it appears that, especially in developing countries, the actual procedures of numerical data gathering were often poorly designed, with little understanding of the social, cultural, and economic systems they were intending to describe and understand

Some writers have noted that quantitative survey research developed at least

in part as a tool for European and North American colonial powers to develop information about dependent populations under their control That perspective about survey research adds a negative tone to some methodological discussions Duncan Pederson, from Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC) noted that the industrialized nations’ uses of quantitative surveys in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have been for purposes:

related to the process of domination, control and the exploitation of resources It is quite clear that the first colonial nations, and later the coun-tries of the North, needed specific base line information about native pop-ulations—demographic data and information about what people say or do, have or have not—for purposes of planning and executing administrative functions, and in this way to establish the terms for economic and cul-tural exchange, or religious and ideological imposition or domination The

implicit purpose of the surveyors was to collect information from those who had no decision-making powers in order to make decisions for them (Pederson,

1992:40, emphasis in original)

Although Pederson cited serious problems concerning validity, reliability, and cost effectiveness in the use of quantitative surveys (particularly in developing countries), he went on to advocate mixing quantitative and qualitative research methods, stating that:

there is a gradient of possible combinations of quantitative and tive methods, both supporting each other and enhancing the credibility of study results In the health field in general, and epidemiology in particular, there is growing consensus that applying both sets of methods in an inter-active mode can increase the reliability of data and lead to a more complete understanding of the phenomenon under study (p 44)

qualita-That statement from Pederson was from a major conference in 1990, focused on new approaches to qualitative data gathering Since then, in many applied research sectors, including the World Health Organization, various food and nutrition

programs, research in education, and many other domains, there has been continued expansion of ethnographic and related qualitative procedures, usually in combi-nation with quantitative surveys and strengthening of quantitative recordkeeping.

The New Interest in “Mixed Methods” in the Social Sciences

I have been surprised in recent years to read references to “mixed methods” as a

“new paradigm.” Some writers have suggested that “mixed methods”— particularly the mixing of qualitative and quantitative data gathering and analysis—was devel-oped only in the past 25 or 30 years For example, Teddlie and Tashakkori wrote:

“The MM [mixed methods] research tradition is less well known than the rate] QUAN and QUAL traditions because it has emerged as a separate orienta-tion during only the past 20 years” (Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2009:7) However, a few lines later, they seem to contradict that assertion, saying: “In fact, throughout the 20th century, social and behavioral scientists frequently employed MM in their studies, and they continue to do so in the 21st century ” (p 7)

[sepa-Just to cite one further example of this view of the newness of mixed

meth-ods: on the first page of his book, A Concise Introduction to Mixed Methods Research

(2015), John Creswell wrote: “The best way to begin, I believe, is to reach an understanding of the basic characteristics of mixed methods research As a field

of methodology about 25 years old, this approach has common elements that can

easily be identified That is not to say that there is no disagreement about the core meaning of this approach” (Creswell, 2015:1, emphasis in the original)

As I wrote in a recent article entitled “What Is So New about Mixed Methods?”

“ some anthropologists and sociologists (and others) have used mixed methods

in fieldwork during the past 80 years, and there are studies from early in the tieth century that clearly fall within the definition of “mixed methods.” (Pelto, 2015:abstract) The examples I have mentioned in this introductory chapter point

twen-to the presence of mixed methods field research in much earlier times

The recent surge of interest in discussions of mixed methods research gests, however, that there is “something new” going on, despite the fact that we can easily enumerate many examples of mixed methods research dating back to earlier centuries This “new history” of mixed methods is visible in the form of considerable numbers of books and articles that have appeared in just the past two

sug-decades The manifestation includes the Journal of Mixed Methods Research, initiated

in 2007 The spate of new writing about this aspect of research methodology has given rise to some new elements of vocabulary, such as the use of “words” such as QUAL and QUAN, with the concept, “mixed methods” frequently given simply

as MM Also, it does appear that the mixing of quantitative and qualitative research operations is fairly “new” in some areas of research, particularly in social science domains that earlier had been dominated by quantitative methods—particularly quantitative surveys (including telephone surveys), questionnaires, and the analysis

of written quantitative records

For some disciplines and domains of study the mixed methods approach does

appear to be a “new thing.” An article in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education

described that very recently the strict guidelines for acceptable scientific research

in counseling and criminal justice studies appear to be changing:

Within criminal justice/criminology exists a host of available research methods that generally default along qualitative and quantitative lines Studying crime and justice phenomena, then, generally involves choosing one approach or the other Although this binary tradition of qualitative

vs quantitative has predominated, our field’s methodological infrastructure has recently demonstrated a willingness to adopt more inclusive practices The purpose of this study is to discuss the nascent yet probable transforma-tion of re-orienting our field toward a new paradigm of inclusiveness that acknowledges the use of mixed methods research as being both legitimate and beneficial (Brent and Kraska, 2010:abstract)

It seems that there are quite many domains of social sciences research in which that same transformation is occurring In some topical areas, including some areas

of health research, the dominant and “acceptable” approach to research has been quantitative, mainly hypothetical deductive methodology Other sectors of aca-demic research, particularly in publishing research results, have accepted both the QUAN and the QUAL, but the concept of mixed methods is seen as a new and untested area

The history of research designs in social sciences, as well as more broadly in other areas of science, is actually very complicated; and we should be aware of the fact that mixing of qualitative and quantitative data operations has a very long history We need also to examine this recent “renaissance” of mixed methods, to understand how it comes about that a research design that has a deep history has come to be considered a recent development

In the current discussions about mixed methods it appears that many writers are limiting their definitions of “mixed methods” to include only studies that contain integration of quantitative and qualitative methods That limited view

of “mixing methods” apparently came about because of the earlier philosophical debates concerning the supposed logical incompatibilities of the qualitative versus quantitative paradigms—the so-called “paradigm debates.” In my use of the con-cept, I will include, under mixed methods, the integrating of several qualitative data operations, and also studies that are mixtures of several quantitative methods

In the following chapters I will be discussing examples of mixed methods research from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which we can consider the broader history of ethnographic and related field research operations My inten-tion is to sort out what I believe to be some of the main pathways to mixed meth-ods research, particularly in applied ethnographic studies in the twentieth century Some of the examples from earlier studies are well known, interesting studies that involved a mixture of different qualitative ethnographic data operations

In the concluding chapter I will return to the question of “what is different” about the current high level of interest in mixed methods research Particularly important will be the examination of some of the recent historical influences leading to this “new wave” of interest in mixed methods studies.

2 At the same time, certain essential features have marked the core of graphic work Mastery of the local language(s) has always been a central issue, for which the best solution for the ethnographic researcher has always been

ethno-to learn the local language, and make extensive use of the local ies and styles of speaking in the recording of the data Another long-stand-ing quality of effective ethnographic field research has been the need for a long time frame of data gathering Most of the studies that I describe in the following chapters required many months, and sometimes several years, to achieve their goals

vocabular-3 One solution to the pressing requirements of language competence, and long-term involvement in data gathering in some studies has been to develop the strong involvement of local persons who are bilingual, fully conversant with local cultural practices and beliefs, and willing to work with the “foreign visitor,” as research assistants

4 Important changes have taken place in the second half of the twentieth century in applied ethnographic field research Ethnographic research has expanded from the disciplinary domain of anthropology to a much more diverse array of researchers and disciplines The people doing applied eth-nographic field studies have backgrounds of study in many different social sciences, as well as other topical areas such as business administration and marketing, history, and sectors of the biological sciences

5 Most communities and peoples in the world have experienced rapid technological changes, of which the advent of personal computers and

(more recently) development of complex mobile telephones have been the most visible and far-reaching in their impacts on people’s daily lives Even for people who don’t use personal computers, there are many ways in which the technology has affected patterns of daily living These technological trans-formations, and others somewhat less widely known, have had direct effects

on the processes of ethnographic data gathering and analysis, as well as on the perceived needs for certain types of applied research Some of the tech-nological changes—in both hardware and software—have greatly changed the means of recording and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data Those technological developments have encouraged combining qualita-tive and quantitative data processes in ethnographic fieldwork Examples of applied field research in later chapters will illustrate some of the impacts of portable computer technology on field research design

6 The accumulated effects of the various ongoing changes (and many other influences that require further study) have promoted the rapid increases in mixed methods in applied ethnography, as well as in other sectors of research

In many topical areas and disciplines, developments have consisted of ing various qualitative components to the hitherto dominant quantitative research designs On the other hand, in the field of ethnographic research, the growth of mixed methods has largely consisted of increased use of quan-titative methods, including more complex statistical analysis, added to the long-standing qualitative core of ethnographic methodology

add-7 I should make it clear at this point that in this book I am using a broader definition of “mixed methods” than simply the combining of qualitative and quantitative data operations In the following chapters, I will be referring

to examples of mixing more than one qualitative method (QUAL + qual)

as well as mixing of two or more quantitative methods In Chapter 3, I will include some definitions and examples of the uses of those labels that have become popular in recent discussions concerning mixed method research

Much of my writing in the following chapters will focus on the sectors of ethnographic research that have been particularly favourable to developing mixed method approaches Some subjects draw on the interests of two or three different disciplines, thereby facilitating the mixing of the different research methods and traditional data-gathering styles of the multi-disciplinary partnerships Similarly, longer-term research projects are naturally likely to result in the introduction of different data-gathering operations, as well as multiple methods of data analy-sis Large-scale, multi-site research projects also exhibit the same multi-method tendencies

The examples that I discuss in the chapters of this book are not intended to

be a complete and representative inventory of the vast and complex array of field ethnographic studies across the many decades from the nineteenth century to the present day The selections that I discuss have come to my attention during

various phases of my own professional career Some of the research projects that I discuss are from my own history of participation in a variety of research projects, sometimes as a consultant, as partner in the research, and in some instances, as a solo ethnographic field researcher.

One source of influence favouring the use of multiple methods in ethnographic research has to do with styles and conventions of publication Organizations and individuals involved in ethnographic field research tend to favour presentation of ethnographic studies in the form of books and other extensive descriptive reports When an ethnographer publishes her (or his) major research results in a book or monograph, there is a greater possibility for the publication to include descrip-tions of several different data-gathering procedures

In this book I will explore some of the research situations and topical areas

in ethnographic field research that have particularly encouraged mixed methods data gathering and analysis, beginning with some examples from the nineteenth century While most of my chapters are aimed at examining and understanding some of the dynamics of these long-term developments around the mixing of research methods, I will return to the interesting questions raised by these recent discussions about the “new paradigm of mixed methods.”

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of local languages, and extensive gathering of ethnographic data and “folklore,” as well as collection of local material cultural items for museums (Estlander, 1929; Niiranen, 1992) Those ethnographers in the early part of the nineteenth century were not unschooled adventurers For example, practically all of the well-known Finnish ethnographers were dedicated, well-educated scholars, whose studies were at a high professional level by the standards of that era.

One indicator of the development of ethnographic–geographic field research professionalism is in the formation of scholarly organizations focused in areas of ethnological research and publication activities Finnish anthropologist Niiranen

stated that “the first ethnological society, the Société d’ethnologie, was founded in Paris in 1839 Three years later America gave birth to its Ethnological Society, which

began publishing a yearbook in 1845 In 1848 a society by the same name was founded in London and likewise began to publish its own journal” (Niiranen, 1992:36)

Although Niiranen refers to the French Société as the first ethnological society,

he could easily have claimed that “honor” for Finland The Finnish Literature Society was founded in 1831, and their range of scholarly interests included eth-nographic research and publications One of their first publications was the epic

folkloristic poetry collection, the Kalevala, compiled by Elias Lönnrot, based on

his extensive ethnographic field research A note in the jacket of the book edited

by Matti Räsänen states:

The Finnish Literature Society was founded in 1831 and has from the very beginning engaged in publishing It nowadays publishes scientific literature

in the fields of ethnology, folkloristics, linguistics, literary research and ture history (Rasanen, 1992:jacket note)

cul-“In Russia, the Russian Geographical Society and its Department of Ethnography were set up in 1845 …” (Sokolova, 1992:9) It is also interesting to note when ethnographic and linguistic studies appeared in European universities Arven Luts commented that “The teaching of ethnography at the University

of Tartu (Esthonia) began back in the nineteenth century The first record of a course in ethnography … dates from 1807… Lectures were regularly held in the subject from the 1820s onwards, when it belonged in geography” (Luts, 1992:77)

M A Castren lectured on ethnographic–ethnological and linguistic topics at the University of Helsinki beginning in 1850–1851, until his death in 1852 Niiranen stated that, “When he [M A Castren] was appointed professor of Finnish lan-guage and literature in 1851, the chair also covered Finno-Ugrian ethnography” (Niiranen 1992:24) The development of those various scholarly organizations in different countries gives evidence of a rather extensive development of interest in ethnographic field research early in the nineteenth century

Of course, there were some “proto-ethnographic” writings in earlier centuries Studies of the Lapland Saami people include the work of Johannes Schefferus, whose

book, Lapponia, was published in 1673 Schefferus was a professor at the University of

Uppsala in Sweden The book covered “a very comprehensive history of Northern Scandinavia, topology, environment and Saami living conditions, dwelling-places, clothing, gender roles, hunting, child raising, shamanism and pagan religion” (Wikipedia, 2015b) Schefferus did not himself carry out field research among the Lapland Saami people His “research method” consisted of giving detailed instruc-tions to the priests residing in various locations in Swedish Lapland, requesting them

to collect those cultural details on various topics, which Schefferus then compiled into his famous book (Wikipedia, 2015c) We can consider that publication to be

a mixed method product, based on the fact that the descriptions of Saami reindeer herding and other cultural practices were based on compilations of data from a number of different “researchers” working in various locations in Swedish Lapland

My review of a small portion of this early history of geographic/ethnographic fieldwork, with special emphasis on mixed research methods and objectives, is focused mainly on examples of Finnish researchers, because these are materials with which I am familiar, and also because they were among the first examples

of well-educated scholars commissioned to carry out longer-term research with specific scientific objectives The list of nineteenth-century Finnish ethnographers