Appealing work: An investigation of how ethnographic texts convince

Text Exploration

In this text, the authors identify the mechanisms used by researchers, in written research documents, to convince a reader of value.

The authors begin by juxtaposing the data gathered from qualitative research methods with that gathered from more traditional positivist methods. Scientists work to convince their audience of the believability of their work. Traditional “hard science” texts follow a format that is recognized as credible; ethnographic texts have a different format to show credibility, one that leverages unique forms of rhetorical devices including authenticity, plausibility, and criticality.

Authenticity is “the ability of the text to convey the vitality of everyday life encountered by the researcher in the field setting.” This is about convincing a reader that the ethnographer was actually “there” and that the writing is genuine to what was experienced while in context. This genuineness needs to show that the researcher understood the world as experienced by those who were studied.

Authenticity is developed in a text by “particularizing everyday life,” showing small details that would only be apparent if one were really in context. A text can also show authenticity by highlighting how a researcher “navigated while in the field,” often showing the complexity necessary to observe a certain set of people in a certain context. Showing a “genuine” view comes from showing a rigorous and disciplined data gathering process, and by qualifying potential bias.

Plausibility is “the ability of the text to connect two worlds”—the world of the reader, and the world of those studied. There is an asymmetry between the two; the goal of plausibility is to ensure that the gap is “just right,” so what is presented does not seem obvious, but also not fantastic.

One way plausibility is emphasized in an ethnographic text is by making a unique or unorthodox methodology seem normalized, through structures in text that may be familiar to readers. Another is to treat the reader as part of the “team,” using “we” to be inclusive. Plausibility can also be encouraged by “smoothing the contestable” slowly, anticipating where a reader might become skeptical and addressing it progressively. Texts can be “made more plausible” by showing a gap in the research, and then filling it.

Criticality is the way a text provokes a reader to reconsider what they know and believe, and potentially change their perspectives and views. This “offers the greatest potential for ethnography to become provocative to its readers.” Criticality can be encouraged by overly challenging a reader’s view, but in a way that allows them to re-examine their view and embrace the text as a part of its reassembly. Another way to encourage criticality is to help a reader imagine a new possibility that they hadn’t previously considered.