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Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
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The Benefits of Being There

Evidence from the Literature on Work

Daniel Tope

The Ohio State University, Tope.14{at}osu.edu

Lindsey Joyce Chamberlain

The Ohio State University

Martha Crowley

The Ohio State University

Randy Hodson

The Ohio State University

This study draws on the sociology of work to extend discussions of informational yield in ethnographic research. The authors examine the existing population of English-language workplace ethnographies and find that relative to interviews, observation and especially participant observation consistently yield more information. Participant observation provides greater informational yield as well as more detailed descriptions of workplace behaviors and group dynamics. Interviews, however, are more likely to provide information on basic organizational characteristics, such as organization size and product market conditions. The authors’ findings have important implications for university institutional review boards, which have in recent years made it increasingly difficult for projects based on participant observation to receive human subjects clearance. Our conclusions caution against bureaucratic and legalistic curtailments of embedded field observation.

Key Words: workplace ethnography • participant observation • informational yield • institutional review board • interviews

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 34, No. 4, 470-493 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0891241605276692
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