This new Collaborative Research Methods course invites Guttman students to build upon the ethnographic skills and experiences acquired in Ethnographic Methods at Work, and the qualitative and quantitative methods skills acquired in FYE and other courses, by working collaboratively over a semester on one ethnographic research project. This collective, generative project is underpinned by the guiding question posed by the Urban Ethnography Lab (UEL) at the University of Texas at Austin: “How do we cultivate a shared understanding of an ethnographer’s work and identity as one based on interdependency—not just dependency on research subjects but on a dense interweaving with other ethnographers?” (Ortega, Jensen and Auyero 2024). 

Over weeks 1-4 of the semester, the students will go through a process of deliberating over and crafting one research topic and question that captures their collective interests; they will then write a research plan detailing how and where in New York City this research will be collectively undertaken. During this time, students will also deepen their understanding of core ethnographic fieldwork methods through practice fieldwork activities, selected readings and guest workshops by Guttman faculty ethnographers, which will all explore the advantages and limitations of collaborative ethnography.

In weeks 5-8, the students and myself, working together as co-researchers, will immerse ourselves in the field site(s) as participant-observers – writing field notes and memos, writing ethnographic vignettes and ethnographic poems, making maps, conducting semi-structured interviews, undertaking surveys, carrying digital ethnography, recording videos, documenting and collecting cultural artifacts, and undertaking archival and historical fieldwork. This month of intensive fieldwork will provide the students with the opportunity of in-depth fieldwork in one field site, in contrast to their experiences of often one-off fieldwork experiences in EMW. Through working as a collective the students will expand beyond the vantage point of the sole ethnographer to integrate the experiences and perspectives of differently positioned ethnographers. The students will each conduct around 6 hours/week of fieldwork, with some of that being done together as shared experiences, and some of that undertaken individually. Each week, in class, we will be processing and reflecting on our fieldwork experiences. In addition, during this month of fieldwork we will also be critically reading and discussing ethnographic articles and monographs that engage relevant concepts and theories to our research focus as a means to develop a literature review. 

In weeks 9-12, through joint analytical reflexivity and a fine-tooth dialogical analysis, we will collectively interpret the ethnographic data and findings we have collected. The interpretive frameworks used by ethnographers we have read and learned from throughout the semester will offer models to draw from. During this process of coding and analysis, we will also decide what forms of ethnographic representation we want to focus on producing for varying publics – e.g. scholarly articles, podcasts, narrative portraits (written, audio, video). 

In weeks 13-15, we will create the ethnographic forms of representation we have collectively decided upon. These forms will not be finished products, and after the semester I will continue to work on them with those students who are interested in doing so. In the final week of class, we will share our findings and ethnographic creations at an event with the wider Guttman community.