El Narcotraficante: Narcocorridos and the Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Appendix 1. Research Methodology and Sample Interview Guides

Appendix 1. Research Methodology and Sample Interview Guides Summary of Research Methods The study design was, of necessity, a case study (see Bernard 1988). Because it was exploratory in nature and funded only as a pilot, an experimental or quasi-experimental design was not feasible, or desirable, at this stage. There was no ‘‘testing’’ of any sort of intervention or specific hypotheses, but we attempted to gain some preliminary insight regarding a set of research questions. Generally, the research followed an ethnographic process, seeking to build data inductively around a general set of questions and to utilize the following broad steps: A. An initial list of contacts/key informants and a process for gaining entry into the study community and becoming familiar with the general situation with respect to social circumstances (community characteristics, employment and poverty, housing) and attitudes (toward drug use, narcotra fficking, U.S.-Mexico issues, etc.); B. Progressively more specific, iterative interviewing, broadening the contact network, and conducting participant-observation to assess knowledge gained through interviews and situate that knowledge in context, ‘‘in its natural setting’’; C. Informal interviews (with no set agenda and used to identify directions or themes to pursue), semistructured interviews (with an agenda of topics or questions, open-ended, narrative response format), and focus groups (group discussion with an agenda) (see below for examples of interview guides used); D. Tape-recording of interviews where feasible; otherwise 132 El Narcotraficante recording responses and observations on specific forms or as field notes; and E. Analysis of interview and observation data for commonalities and themes vis-à-vis research questions. A number of individuals and groups (noted in the Acknowledgments ) offered significant assistance in data collection and interpretation . Again, however, I express my deep gratitude to all of them for their for their assistance, interest, and insights. Sample In the initial plan, the primary data collection sample was to be structured as a quota sample (as defined in Bernard 1988), with quota criteria and proportions determined following initial research activities in which the composition of the narcocorrido listener population was to be clarified. (The sample was to include individuals who were producers as well as consumers of the narcocorridos .) In fact, the sample was more of a convenience sample, though guided by quota criteria.The realities of fieldwork with limited resources simply precluded a rigorous attempt to recruit for interviews by quota.The attempt was made to do so, but it was conditioned by the availability of respondents at any given time, and by the naturally imprecise process of setting up and conducting interviews through individuals and organizations who work in the community . During the study period, the following interviews and observations were conducted: • Interviews with seventeen youth in Juárez (mostly male), and ten in El Paso (five male, five female), age ranges about twelve to early twenties. In addition, two focus groups: one in a Chicano studies class (fifteen students) at UTEP; one in a social work class at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (about eight students). Youth interviews included persons interviewed in various Juárez colonias, the juvenile jail, and an El Paso gang prevention program; • Interviews with about twenty-eight adults on both sides of the border, including four individuals from radio stations in Juárez that play norteño music (including corridos), two members of a popular border-area norteño music group in Douglas, Arizona, two adults involved with an alcohol and substance use program in El Paso, a support group (of five men) in El Paso who were recently released from jail or Research Methodology and Sample Interview Guides 133 prison, three officials at the Juárez prison, three inmates, three individuals who worked at maquilas (one of whom had left to start his own business), a man who was a member of the Rio Grande River Commission, staff at a public health program called Compañeros (Juárez), and several instructors at UTEP (in Chicano studies); • In Los Angeles, interviews with two individuals from the marketing department at a major record company’s Latino music subsidiary (sponsor of major narcocorrido performers Los Tucanes de Tijuana) and three individuals at a smaller recording studio. (In addition to recording, the studio produced and distributed tapes and CDs.) A site visit was conducted to the latter operation (in Long Beach, California); • Observation of a major narcocorrido performance (by Los...