Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography by Geoffrey Walford
Kidlington, Oxford UK: Elsevier Science Ltd. 2002. 214 pp. ISBN 0-7623-0906-7.Reviewed by Clifford Morris
Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography provides a first-rate introduction to the qualitative research school of educational ethnography from multiple contexts and theoretical perspectives. In all, eleven ethnographic researchers contributed to this book. I agree with Editor Geoffrey Walford, who states, at the outset of his Preface, that “ethnography has become one of the major methods of researching educational settings” (p. vii). I found the 214-paged book to be a well-arranged series of stories of post-graduate students who undertook a qualitative research study to complete their doctoral dissertations. Walford’s research foci are the relationships between central government policy and local processes of implementation, choice of schools, religiously-based schools, private schools and, for the purpose of this book review, qualitative research methodology. Walford successfully created an exciting collection of papers dealing with a central question often asked by qualitative field researchers, “What are some of the key research problems in my field site and how have they been managed?” I felt that the chapter authors well responded to that essential enquiry.
Throughout, they described their individual deliberations during their particular research process, how they gradually developed as changed individuals, including an assortment of technical experiences that they encountered as qualitative researchers each successfully completing a doctorate degree. Although all twelve chapters created a coherent whole as they presented their personal accounts, the individual chapters focused on particular issues and dilemmas that the different authors encountered. Perhaps the following comment, lifted from the book’s back cover, best sums up what this book is, in the main, all about:
This book draws together a series of semi-autobiographical reflexive accounts of the process of doing a doctorate using educational ethnography. The individual studies include research into school effectiveness, the experiences of Asian teenagers, sexual cultures in the primary school, mature students on Access courses, primary school management, the experiences of children with special educational needs, teachers' work intensification, the family and school experiences of Year 9 students and a Youth Training programme within English professional football. The range of topics shows how import ethnographic work has become in education.
I will now comment on each chapter, mention two limitations of the book and conclude my observations with some final statements.
The opening chapter of Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography is called On the Doctoral Endeavour by Ghazala Bhatti. Her report is essentially an impressive synopsis of the early 1990 ethnographic research behind her (unpublished) 1994 doctoral dissertation Asian Children at Home and at School: An Ethnographic Study. Bhatti describes her relationship as a doctoral student with her thesis supervisor, including various tensions dealt with by Asian female qualitative researchers. I am most impressed with her attention to academic and ethnographic detail. Throughout, she opens the window into a growing body of important knowledge of what it takes to be a successful woman ethnographer, today.
Of interest was how clearly her nineteen-paged narrative attempted to empathize with Asian teenagers’ experiences in and out of Cherydale (a pseudonym) secondary school located in Cherrytown (again, a pseudonym for a real place) situated in the south of England. Of greater interest was the fact that her study “was the first to open the discussion on possible reasons for the underachievement of Pakistani and Bangladeshi boys in Britain” (p. 17). Due to space limitations, that latter subject matter can not be discussed here. However, the more interested reader can peruse this discussion by reading the 292 pages of her 1999 book Asian Children at Home and at School: An Ethnographic Study.
To sum of this opening comment, On the Doctoral Endeavour is an excellent read and appropriately located as the book's first chapter. I would recommend her commentary to anyone contemplating a doctorate in educational ethnography, especially classroom teachers, parents or sectors of the larger society.
Chapter 2 is titled Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Researching Children's Sexual Cultures in the Primary School and was written by Emma Renold. Here, she engages in a conversation regarding the construction of Year 6 primary school children’s gender and sexual identities in ethnographic work. Throughout Renold’s account, she uses metaphors from science fiction as she explores the uncertainties of doing ethnographic research, including some of the problems of entering alien territory when commenting on children’s sexualities.
Chapter 3 is called Learning on the Job: Micropolitics and Identity Work in Teacher / Doctoral Student Research. Author Shereen Benjamin states that her dissertation “research was an ethnographic exploration of the ways in which such students construct a sense of themselves through the imbrication of systemic factors and school- and classroom-level micropolitics and microcultures” (p. 46). That is, her story is a description of how she researched the identity of students who had been formally identified as having special education needs. Her doctoral study was conducted in a girls’ comprehensive primary school in which she had previously been employed as a learning support teacher. Throughout her fifteen-paged commentary, she investigates the tensions as she struggled as an insider researcher who wore two identities in the same school, first as a classroom instructor and simultaneously as an ethnographic researcher.
Chapter 4 is titled Jet-Setting Postgrad -- Ethnographic Research in Two Countries. Author Franziska Vogt reflects on the technical hitches that international students stumble upon, especially the meticulous inconveniences that comparative research tends to generate. Vogt was an international student when she decided to begin her doctoral research. She “chose to undertake a project in primary school management that compared school in Switzerland with some in England” (p. 5). Throughout the chapter, she draws out the inter-relationships between the doctoral research process and personal factors. Her ability to alert the novice field researcher to a lesson that is well learned in a discipline that has for too long paid scant attention to producing work that is both easily read and understandable. She definitely makes the tale one well-worth reading. It is appropriate that field researchers learn this skill at the beginning of their journeys and carry it with them throughout their careers. In short, Jet-Setting Postgrad -- Ethnographic Research in Two Countries is an interesting chronicle and quite a stimulating chapter that is indeed well written.
In It's a White Knuckle Ride: Reflections From the PhD Experience, Lesley Pugsley raises fitting and significant questions about the commitment of a researcher with the social situations in which she is researching, especially from an ethnographic standpoint. Pugsley’s commentary delineates the emotional aspect of the research process. What is of special interest here is how her informative narrative discusses some of the ethical dilemmas that she faced. Pugsley well sums up her positive research experiences when she writes:
Choosing to embark on a qualitative project is both exhilarating and nerve wracking. It brings with it the frightening realization of the potential for conflict. The needs of the researcher and the researched have to be balanced, the risks and the thrills must be set against each other as you consider the possibilities inherent in data uncovered, stories told and lived realities explored. (p. 97)
The sixth chapter is titled Method in the Messiness: Experiencing the Ethnographic PhD Process. Here, author Geoff Troman presents the reader with an exceptional explanation of the overall ethnographic research process. While somewhat lengthy as a book review quote, I felt that the following biographical summary which was also included in his Ph.D. thesis (see Troman, 1997) summarized somewhat the methodological, emotional, experiential and theoretical baggage that he brought to his research studies. Here is only a clip of what Troman stated, at that time:
When I entered teaching in 1968 I was not a committed teacher nor had a particularly strong commitment to education. I did not have a strong sense of mission (Nias, 1989) neither did I want to change the world by revolutionary means! (Hammersley, 1984). Most of these things came later. Having failed the eleven plus, the early part of my secondary schooling was spent at a secondary modern school. Achieving some measure of academic success at this school enabled me to be transferred to the local grammar school where I took 'O' and 'A' level examinations in the space of four years. Having to study many subjects, some of which were completely new to me, in this short time-scale, resulted in my grades being too low to apply for university. Applying for teacher education enabled me to leave school at the same age as my peers, which seemed important at this time, and be able to enjoy a 'university type' education and life as a student. My first teaching post in a girl's secondary modern school in the North East of England made me aware, for the first time, despite my own experience, of the inequality of educational provision. Additionally, the messages of progressive education, I had received at college, stood in stark contrast to the formal authoritarian role I was expected to perform in my work in school. (pp. 101-102)
The seventh chapter of the book is another well-articulated account of a doctoral student who undertook ethnographic research to conclude his doctoral thesis. In Pressures, Problems and the PhD Process: Tales from the 'Training Ground, Andrew Parker outlines the almost identical tensions than Shereen Benjamin (see above) ran into. Throughout the sixteen-pages of this chapter, he also investigated the tensions as he struggled as an ethnographic researcher. More to that point, Parker “spent a full footballing season inside a prestigious English professional Football League club – as a football ‘apprentice’ – conducting research into the process and practice of Youth Training programmes within English professional football” (p. 6). However, unlike Benjamin, Parker became troubled about individual communications and how the circumstances of the research are at the heart of the ethnographic research course of action and how they can have some bearing on that process. Restated slightly differently, this chapter is another one of those stories that alerts the novice field researcher to a lesson that is well learned in a discipline that has, in my opinion, for too long paid scarce attention to producing work that is both easily read and understandable. It is therefore only appropriate that field researchers learn this skill at the beginning of their journeys and carry it with them throughout their research careers.
In The Novice Researcher: Expectation Meets Reality, author Karen Johannesen Brock engages the reader into quite an informative conversation regarding some of the down-to-earth predicaments that she had to deal with as a first time researcher, including the ever-present worry that a doctorate dissertation must make a vital contribution to knowledge via the discovering of something original. Although her ethnographic research was carried out in three elementary schools in the United States of America, schools that had been involved in extensive school reform, she obtained her doctoral degree in England. Brock became especially interested in exploring the differences between the reality and the expectation that she experienced as a beginning ethnographic researcher. Throughout the chapter, she clearly documents and explains to a great degree how she used the interview method as her primary means of collecting data from educational assistants, office staff members, parents, school principals and practicing classroom teachers. Perhaps the following quote best sums up her entire ethnographic experiences. Brock states:
The research process exposed me to definitions and settings past my personal experiences exposed me to new and different constructs for education and expanding my understanding of education and the complexities of reform. The process taught me that by (at least partially) stepping away from my personal definitions, I could be free to begin to explore differences in a manner that added to my own personal “learning” – which I have found, is the primary benefit of “doing research (p, 158).
To sum up, The novice Researcher: Expectation Meets Reality is an interesting and intriguing chapter that is quite well written … another chapter of immense value for anyone considering a doctorate in educational ethnography.
As I reread the main (eleven) chapters of the book for this review, it became, once again, most evident that several of the authors reflected, amongst numerous other ethnographic research predicaments, on the loneliness state derived from the process of doing a doctoral study. In Alone in a Crowd or Going Native? A Doctoral Student's Experience, author Gill O'Toole reinforces this solitude experience as she discusses how she came to grips with her feelings and anxieties encountered throughout her research journey. As I cannot match O'Toole’s prose, I shall cite exactly from her report:
Undertaking fieldwork as a doctoral student is both a learning process and a very personal experience, one that is at the time unique to you and in which you are quite alone. This is regardless of the level of support a supervisor extends. I received good support from my supervisor throughout the process. However, useful as it was, it did not prevent the feeling of inadequacy and insecurity in the field. I feel this is partially due to a supervisor not experiencing the situation as you experience [it]. However, I consider the more crucial aspect is the relationship of power, and lack of authenticity and recognition I experienced, as a doctoral student, in the role of researcher (p. 171, italic in original but emphases are mine).
A major strength of this chapter, as well as the book more generally is how these authors referred to the doctoral development as an extremely lonely progression. Thus, it is most appropriate that field researchers learn that such solitude is normal at the beginning, middle and at the end of their of their research journey. To repeat what I have stated often and elsewhere, I believe that this chapter will be of immense value for those who are thinking of doing a doctorate, for others still struggling through the complicated process and for their supervisors.
In The Influences of Personal Biography on the Doctoral Research Process, Caroline Hudson appraises her doctoral research as a life-altering encounter. She comments that:
Doing a doctorate is life-changing, in both positive and negative ways. The negative aspects encompass loss and uncertainty, and there is no doubt that at times the negative aspects can seem to predominate over the positives. For instance, in order to do a doctorate, many mature students have to leave a career, which in some cases will have been well-established. (p, 184)
Hudson also considers the importance of writing a personal biography as a means of reflecting on the data. That is, she gives special prominence to the place of writing in the doctoral process and its place in reflecting on the data.
In the final chapter of the book, Researching the Ineffable -- That Which Cannot be Expressed in Words, John Lilly discusses how continuous engagement with the literature throughout his project helped him focus and develop his understanding of the data. One of the more remarkable dimensions of the chapter involves the way he describes how his research was linked “to his previous experiences in several schools, being head teacher of two and involvement in various other educational activities”. (p. 7)
If the book has a major weakness, it lies within the final few chapters. Here, editor Walford stumbles somewhat in his overall attempt to address one of the most important notions of practicality, namely being able to offer concrete advice, helpful encouragement and down-to-earth solutions to those thinking of doing doctorate studies in educational ethnography. His inability to have his authors weave ethnographic theory to practical doctoral applications is especially evident. While the beginning authors of the book build up an exceptional effort to outline the forthcoming chapters, the final chapters fail to offer the reader realistic ways for future ethnographers to develop their own mythological ways for doing qualitative research investigations. In short, a concluding chapter by the editor on this issue would have been helpful. As a first-time reader, I was also disappointed that he failed to request his eleven contributors to conclude each chapter with a "Practical Application" section.
Another major drawback to the book lies in the appearance and quality of the typed text of some of the authors. Even though " ... most of the contributors are still at the early stage of their academic careers ... "(see back cover), the quality of their penmanship leaves much to be desired. These graduate students have made it to the doctoral stage of learning. That numerous sentences are incorrectly formed, run-on and often vague as to meaning, is inexcusable. One of the worst examples by far surfaced in Shereen Benjamin’s Learning on the Job: Micropolitics and Identity Work in Teacher/Doctoral Student Research. Just to give you a taste, try deconstructing the following three passages, all taken from the same section of the chapter:
I had worked in the school as a learning support teacher prior to starting the research, and I continued teaching with a much diminished timetable when I began my PhD Looking back at this paragraph, and several other similar ones, the familiar sense of not knowing where I belonged, and not knowing where exactly my loyalties should lie, comes flooding back to me. (pp. 45-46)
In a related vein and near the middle of the page:
To identify with Madge would also have felt like a betrayal of those other academic feminists, my supervisors and research student colleagues, who had chosen an academic path for themselves and were supporting me in my first steps along it. (p. 46)
And finally, near the bottom of the same page:
Was I, and should I be, the teacher, expert in a field that I had (almost-but-not-quite) decided to leave, or the research student, apprenticed to a world that I could not quite make up my mind to join? (p. 46)
Due to space limitations, it would be impossible for me to explore in depth, here, the remainder of similar such inaccuracies. Such a manuscript should never have been accepted for book publication. In short, was the manuscript ever edited? Hopefully, the second edition will have each and every oversight rectified.
In spite of these limitations, overall, I conclude Volume 7 of Studies in Educational Ethnography to be a noteworthy book for anyone executing ethnographic doctoral studies and for supervisors of students pursuing such similar studies. Is Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography worth reading? Absolutely yes! All of the contributors put forward an excellent comparative overview of the trials and tribulations of successfully completing doctoral dissertation studies in the field of educational ethnography, outlining multicultural and multidisciplinary perspectives. This is a serious volume that will prove to be of immense practical value for those graduate students already pursuing ethnographic studies and a book that I consider should become essential reading for anyone new to the field derived findings.
Is Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography worth having on your bookshelf? Again, I would immediately respond in the affirmative. The book should especially be read by those who do not consider educational ethnography to be of importance in investigating or evaluating current classroom issues and school management and to those who want to understand why policy makers should pay proper attention to this research methodology.
Finally and to sum up all of the above, I found this collection of stories of doctoral students, as assembled by editor Geoffrey Walford, to be of particular importance for those learning the wonderful research field of educational ethnography. Used in combination with a text that speaks more to the nuts and bolts of fieldwork, it would make a unique and needed contribution to the novice ethnographer. Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography will alert introductory field researchers to the problems they will face in both the field and the writing of their research a very important contribution to the research field of educational ethnography indeed.
Nias, J. (1989) Primary Teachers Talking: a study of teaching as work. London, Routledge. Troman, G. (1997). The Effects of Restructuring on Primary Teachers' Work: A Sociological Analysis. Unpublished PhD thesis. The Open University, Milton, Keynes.
Selected References
Hammersley, M. (1994) 'The Researcher Exposed: A Natural History', in Burgess, R. G. The Research Process in Educational Settings: Ten Case Studies. Lewes: Falmer Press.* * * * * * * * * *
Doing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography is available in Europe, in the Middle East and in Africa, at:
Elsevier Science Ltd.
Customer Service Department
Linacre House, Jordan Hill,
Oxford, United Kingdom OX2 8DPDoing a Doctorate in Educational Ethnography is also available in Canada and in the USA, at:
Elsevier Science Ltd.
Customer Service Department,
11830 Wesline Industrial Drive,
St Louis, MO, USA 6314.
This site was last updated on Friday, 12 May, 2006
Copyright © 2006 by Clifford Morris