The Ethnographic Paradigm(s)

Abstract

This paper owes its inception to Fritz Mulhauser of the National Institute of Education who asked me to prepare a paper on the comparative uses of school ethnography as part of my activities as a member of NIE's Organization Research Study Group. Karl Weick, then chairman of this study group, encouraged me in this effort. Weick's metaphoric use of loose coupling to describe the structure of school bureaucracies reminded me of those days in anthropology when a well-turned metaphor did not compete with quantitative modes for communicating. At a conference on ethnographic methodology, sponsored by the Organization Research Study Group, Murray Wax gave additional shape to this paper when he spoke of writing up one's field notes as a kind of dialoguing with one's anthropological ancestors. John Van Maanen provided another important impetus when he suggested that I frame my views on the ethnographic craft in a historical perspective.