Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [189]
I present this information for three reasons. First, it may help readers assess the quality, and limits, of these data. Second, it may relieve novice researchers to know that seasoned researchers make mistakes in the field; such knowledge may spur them to develop a more realistic view of field work. Third, I seek to use my experience as a springboard to reflect on broader methodological issues that confront many researchers. For example, the topic of longitudinal ethnography is relatively recent in the literature.3 I take up some of the problems that surface in longitudinal ethnography that, I believe, have not been sufficiently acknowledged. In particular, the follow-up to an ethnographic study is likely to rely much more on interviews than on observations; this form of data collection is severely limited. Also, ethnographic studies that are large and ambitious face more complications in a follow-up than do ethnographic studies that are more manageable in size.
Another area I address involves relations between the researcher and research participants. There is an extensive body of methodological writings on this topic.4 But little attention has been paid to the issue of sharing research results with research participants. Participants seem frequently to feel angry and betrayed when they read research results.5 This response needs stronger emphasis and more sustained discussion in methodological writings. As I explain below, I think conducting ethnographic research is important, and researchers should do everything possible to forewarn and protect study participants, including offering them assistance as they respond to social-science portrayals of their lives. But researchers also need to retain control over key aspects of their projects. It is a delicate process to forge meaningful relationships with research participants while simultaneously maintaining the critical analytic framework necessary to undergird an argument. There are neither easy answers nor one-size-fits-all guidelines. An essential first step for researchers, however, is to more directly acknowledge the emotional cost of ethnographic work for study participants.
THE LIMITS OF THE LONGITUDINAL FOLLOW-UP TO UNEQUAL CHILDHOODS
As noted, I kept in touch with the children over the years by sending an annual holiday card with five dollars tucked into the envelope. When, approximately ten years after the start of the original study, I decided to do a follow-up, some of the families were easy to reach.6 Others, particularly the McAllisters, were extremely difficult to find. Still, the many hours spent searching paid off: I tracked down everyone. I began reinterviewing the families in the spring and summer of 2003. I generally just called the house, spoke with the mother, and requested her son’s or daughter’s cell phone number and e-mail address. I contacted the young adults directly; now that they were older, they could decide for themselves if they wanted to be interviewed. I offered the youths a hefty honorarium ($75), since I felt it was critical that each one agree to participate in the follow-up. I also offered an honorarium of $50 to each of the other family members who agreed to an interview. In each family, I completed the family-member interviews after I had interviewed the youth. My sense is that all of the young people and family members would have participated in the follow-up without the incentive of an honorarium, but I cannot be certain of that. Since the book was not published until the early fall of 2003, the families had not read it at the time I first reestablished contact. Most seemed glad to hear from me. Some had given up on the possibility that a book would ever appear; they were pleased to hear it was coming out. Generally, people greeted me warmly,