Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [249]
34. As I have already explained, the Yanellis and I did repair our relationship. I doubt that would have been possible, however, if I had published the gist of the analysis after knowing their objections. I continue to send holiday cards to Billy, as well as to the other young adults and families that wish to remain in touch with me (and for whom I have addresses). I now send food or tuck a somewhat larger bill ($20) into the envelope; and, if the young adults have children, I send gift cards from a store such as Target for them.
35. The phrase of finding a balance that is “right for them” is from Shana Maier and Brian Monahan, “How Close Is Too Close?”
36. Some publishers now demand to know whether respondents gave written permission for the interviews or field notes to be published, particularly if the respondents’ identities could be deduced by readers. As a result, consent forms should include an explicit statement that study participants are giving permission for the information to be published and that while every effort will be made to keep the information confidential, the participants understand that there is always the possibility that someone could recognize them in the publication.
37. Of course, persons portrayed in newspaper articles or, for that matter, on reality television, often are livid about those portrayals. Arlene N. Morgan, a dean at the Columbia School of Journalism, reported from her career as a reporter that it was “good common sense to meet with a person and give him or her a chance to write a letter to the editor or come in to meet with the editors in charge.” She adds, “Being more proactive to signal what is in a story is . . . [what] I would recommend. . . . Prepare and prepare some more and if it does not damage the story, think hard before you publish.” Personal communication, October 27, 2010. For the journalist code of ethics, see Gene Foreman, The Ethical Journalist. For an example of one family’s reactions to a reality show, see Jacques Steinberg, “One Show’s Unexpected Lessons in Reality.”
38. Participatory research is an exception. In that tradition, research participants are involved in each of these steps. See Whitehead and McNiff, Action Research, as well as, in a somewhat different vein, Binaya Subedi and Jeong-eun Rhee, “Negotiating Collaborating across Differences.” On the role of the researcher in conducting the research and reporting on it, see, among others, Maier and Monahan, “How Close Is Too Close?”; Cassell, “Risks and Benefits to Subjects of Fieldwork”; Katherine Irwin, “Into the Dark Heart of Ethnography”; Jack Katz, “On the Rhetoric and Politics of Ethnographic Method”; John Van Maanen, Tales of the Field. There are also many efforts to create new forms for the presentation of ethnography, including poetry and performance art. See Michal M. McCall and Howard S. Becker, “Performance Science”; Carl Bagley, “Educational Ethnography as Performance Art.”
39. Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics, 2nd ed., pp. xviii, xvi–xvii.
40. Researchers seek to resolve this complex ethical dilemma in various ways. Duneier, for example, has allocated his royalties from Sidewalk to the men profiled in the book. But the actual amount is very modest, often less than $25 per man per year. In addition, introducing a payment after the research is over for work done earlier changes the relationship between a researcher and participants. In When a Heart Turns Rock Solid, Timothy Black directly labels ethnographic research as a form of exploitation. Compared to sociologists, anthropologists have a much richer literature on methodological dilemmas in fieldwork. See, for example, Paul Rabinow, Reflections on Doing Fieldwork in Morocco; Margery Wolf, A Thrice-Told Tale.
41. See Arlie Hochschild, The Second Shift. If I continue my research