Abstract
Relatively little research in community psychology has explicitly focused on groups whose world views, values, and practices diverge from mainstream North American and social science culture. Furthermore, when research does include members of subcultural groups, the same research methodologies used to stydy mainstream populations tend to be employed. In the current article, it is proposed that a linked ethnographic—empirical methodology is critical for culturally anchored research of rarely studied subcultures which differ markedly form the dominant culture. The use of a linked ethnographic—empirical methodology in the study of a nontraditional religious subculture is described, and the study's primary findings summarized. Respective and combined contributions of the ethnographic and empirical (i.e., quantitative) research components in seven key areas are discussed: (a) selection of phenomenon to study; (b) generation of hypotheses; (c) culturally anchored measure development; (d) sampling; (e) analyses; (f) interpretation of findings; and (g) social action. Limitations of the linked methodology are discussed.
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The author thanks Julian Rappaport, Chris Murphy, Robert Serpell, three anonymous reviewers, and the editors of the special issue for their valuable feedback.
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Maton, K.I. A bridge between cultures: Linked ethnographic-empirical methodology for culture anchored research. Am J Commun Psychol 21, 747–773 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00942246
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00942246