Apple Pie and Enchiladas: Latino Newcomers in the Rural Midwest

Appendix A. Methods Used in the Community Studies

222 A P P E N D I X A Methods Used in the Community Studies Ann V. Millard, Maríaelena D. Jefferds, and Ken R. Crane The community studies focused on employment and relations on the job, education and relationships at high school, and religion and relations to congregations. In addition, we also examined housing and politics (see Table A.1). To address these questions, Millard, as manager of the qualitative research component of the study, designed approaches based on the California study of Allensworth and Rochín (1999) to fit the Midwestern context and maintain comparability with their research. Methods Used in the Community Studies The methods we used to study community clusters included surveys, participant observation, interviews, focus groups, and reviews of written sources. Each community study focused on a cluster of two to eight communities defined according to the focus of the investigator and the local geography and economy. For example, in studying the relationships of Latino newcomers to public schools, Crane examined a high school and therefore focused on the communities in that school district. Selection of Communities We identified communities appropriate for this study by beginning with a quantitative analysis that showed which areas had relatively rapid growth of the Latino population and which had few or no Latinos. We then carried out brief regional surveys to pinpoint communities with rapid Latino population growth in the 1990s to study in detail. A researcher then visited a speci fic community to collect data over a period of two to six months. Each fieldworker began by trying to study one community, but we had not anticipated the extent to which rural people move among different towns and villages in their daily routines, to get from home to work, school, 10-T3109-APA 222 10-T3109-APA 222 9/29/04 6:57:44 AM 9/29/04 6:57:44 AM Methods Used in Community Studies 223 Table A.1. Foci and Methods in Community Studies Methods of Data Collection Focus Communities and Researchers for Each Study Communities with rapid Latino growth Housing of migrant Oceana County, Review of newspaper accounts farmworkers and Michigan and letters to the editor newly settled (Burillo, Millard) Latinos Employment of Latinos, Fox and Participant observation, working conditions, Mapleville, semistructured interviews wages; relations Michigan (Jefferds); focus groups with Anglo employ- (Jefferds, Millard) ers and fellow employees Education of Latinos; Wheelerton, Participant observation, relations with Anglo Indiana, area, interviews (Crane, Jefferds); teachers and with information focus groups (Crane, Flores, students from Fox and Millard; Jefferds, Millard) Mapleville, Michigan Religion, Latino congregations and Berryville and Participant observation, their relationship Ciderville, interviews (Crane, Jefferds) with Anglo churches Michigan, with and congregations information from Fox and Mapleville, Michigan, and Wheelerton, Indiana, area Politics, Latino Ligonier, Indiana Review of newspaper accounts newcomers as a and letters to the editor political issue (Crane) Corporate, mass- Columbus, Ohio, Interviews by phone with state production region workers, review of local agriculture newspapers and field trip (Chapa, Jefferds, Millard) (Continued on page 224) 10-T3109-APA 223 10-T3109-APA 223 9/29/04 6:57:45 AM 9/29/04 6:57:45 AM 224 Millard, Jefferds, & Crane and shopping. We then realized that investigating clusters of communities would provide a more accurate description of what we were doing as we collected the data. In addition to the detailed community studies, we also gathered data on communities with approximately 15 percent or more of the population in the agricultural labor force but no Latino residents. We wanted to see how such communities differed from those with a Latino influx. The researchers also examined printed sources of data, including local and national newspapers and the holdings of local libraries. Confidentiality and Exceptions in Cases of Public Events We have changed the names of people and places to protect the privacy of study participants. Where necessary to maintain confidentiality, we have Table A.1. (Continued) Methods of Data Collection Focus Communities and Researchers for Each Study Constructive Ligonier and Interviews, review of responses Wheelerton, newspaper accounts, letters Indiana, with to the editor, documents, information from and research literature rural Michigan (Crane, Chapa, Jefferds, Burillo, Millard) Communities with few Latinos General conditions Rising Sun, Interviews and site visits Indiana (Chapa) Amish commerce Various commu- Site visits and research and social life nities in Indiana literature (Chapa, Millard) and Ohio Egg farm Columbus, Ohio, Interviews with state workers...