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`Getting Out' in Ethnography

A Seldom-told Story

University of Pennsylvania, USA, riversen{at}sp2.upenn.edu

In ethnography and related qualitative research that relies on naturalistic observation or fieldwork, `getting in', or accessing a research population or site, receives considerable attention, as do data collection and analysis and writing-up. Yet despite the recent increase in ethnographic publications and methodological sophistication across the globe, scant attention is paid to `getting out', or leaving the field. The exploration in this article stems from unexpected challenges to `getting out' that a team of nine researchers experienced during a five-year, five-city ethnographic research project in the USA. Given the growing emphasis on reflexivity in ethnography, the expanding mandates of institutional review boards, and the vigorous theoretical and methodological debates taking place in many countries, increased attention to `getting out', from multiple theoretical and epistemological perspectives and locations, could enrich the ethnographic research enterprise.

Key Words: ethnography • `getting out' • leaving the field • postmodern perspectives • reflexivity

Qualitative Social Work, Vol. 8, No. 1, 9-26 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1473325008100423


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