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Appendix A. Pounding the Pavement
- Cornell University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Appendix A Pounding the Pavement Research Methods The key question in this book concerns how cultures of participation in social change organizations (SCOs)—leadership development activities, explicit and implicit missions, decision-making processes, and their informal practices—influence or shape the external political strategies pursued by these organizations. I was interested in this because I wanted to credit organizers and member leaders for their creativity and ingenuity amid formidable political and resource constraints. Over the course of two years, I both explored the cultures inside SCOs and tracked how they approached external targets and public officials in their campaigns. Over time, I came to realize the utility of examining these organizational cultures as tool kits, as I describe in chapter 1. I simultaneously conducted data collection and developed my book’s theoretical framework, following an iterative case study process presented by Yin (1984), which allows the researcher to utilize multiple research methods, such as documentary analysis , interviews, and observation. Much of the required data could not be elicited through survey, since the risk of social desirability bias was rather high.Observation in a real-life context was necessary. In fact, many of the observed protocols and practices contradicted stated principles, and comments made during meetings often belied those made during interviews, and vice versa. As I conducted preliminary interviews , archival research, and literature reviews, I honed in on meaningful variables and exploring theories that appeared to be applicable.In keeping with MilesandHuberman(1994),Irefinedthetheoreticalframeworkasthe“current version of the researcher’s map of the territory being investigated”(20) until its delineated concepts, and the directional arrows between them, made sense. Validity and Reliability Specifically, I focused on the notions of validity that are appropriate for each phase,1 especially construct validity of measures toward the beginning, 208 Appendix A external and internal validity during analysis, and reliability throughout. I chose ways of evaluating culture that were both established in the literature and could be measured in the actual fieldwork. I chose a setting where there were many cases so as to hold the political context as constant as possible , and chose cases as to hold other potential confounding variables, especially high variance of resources, constant. In its analysis, this book relies upon “thick description” of the South Bronx context of my book in order to allow limited, nuanced generalizability and transferability to other settings .2 Each of the stages of my research, as well as the accompanying issues regarding validity, is described below. Stages of Case Selection and Data Collection I first conducted a literature review of grassroots organizing groups, especially those working on education issues, as well as the larger context of grassroots movements and democracy. I focused on the theoretical frameworks described in chapter 1—namely, that of social change organizations and their cultures. Concurrently, I spoke with experts (both academics and practitioners) in order to share and examine my research question, the robustness of my theoretical frameworks, and the rigor and practicalities of my methodology. In case selection, I followed a stratified strategy whereby case studies were purposive and reflected the required diversity of organizational tool kits among school reform SCOs in the Bronx.3 The participants recruited for each case were snowballed and triangulated, to gain data that was as in-depth and complete as possible. I held constant the time period of the investigation, the local political context, the overall type of organization, and the campaign issue. In addition, all of the organizations work with predominantly poor households. Partly because of the high poverty and school enrollment rates in the South Bronx, there are many groups working on education organizing in a small area, and the potential for rich, comparative case studies was great. By constraining the organizations’ geographical area, I was able to investigate how organizational practices differed when dealing with similar populations, demographic characteristics, and political context. While some variance exists, all of the organizations work with primarily Latino, African American, and African populations, in descending order by percentage. The South Bronx boasts of a relatively high concentration of grassroots organizations in a small geographical area. While all have initiatives for [3.17.150.163] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 21:40 GMT) Pounding the Pavement: Research Methods 209 school improvement, the groups vary according to affiliations, ideologies, and length of experience. I attempted to control for these variations and selected cases based on their activities and rituals, rather than on ideology per se.4 Several organizations...