This methodology is strictly qualitative and does not use statistics or graphs. For decades, other social scientists have been suspicious of ethnographic research methods because they fear that it does not produce objective work. We ethnographers respond that we don t presume to select random samples because any individual who is a member of a culture, is well suited to inform us about that culture. Furthermore, we recognize that no two ethnographers would make the same observations in the same setting due to their life experiences that they bring with them into their fieldwork. In addition, as an Armenian who is studying her own community in Glendale, my position as a native anthropologist has been questioned because it further creates suspicion of a subjective and biased perspective.
Many contemporary ethnographers respond that no observer is objective.
As a native anthropologist, I am well aware of my personal and political interests in my project. But even the most disinterested outside observer has personal and political interests. Because my methodology was constantly questioned and challenged, I felt as though I had been placed in the wrong area group. I became defensive but started to reflect on my experiences as an outsider in the bounded category of social science. As I drew on these experiences, I found many parallels between my own research and the problems I was facing in this program.