Escape from the Laboratory: Ethnographic Methods in the Study of Elder and Family Court Mediation

Abstract

The randomized control trial and pre/post research designs are commonly used in applied research and provide common standards for mediation evaluation research. These approaches have many benefits, particularly for evaluating whether mediation as an experimental intervention works or not. Scholars and practitioners, however, want to know not only whether mediation can work as expected but also how it works in a range of real‐world contexts over time. In these contexts, ideal experimental conditions are less likely to occur. Challenges include such circumstances as the following: the number of cases suitable for statistical comparison is insufficient; researchers lack control over how mediation is implemented; researchers lack clear, objective variables to measure; and the variability of mediation outcomes when studied over time makes it difficult to draw conclusions about them. My research has involved each of these challenges, and I have used ethnographic research as a way to evaluate mediation in these contexts. In this article, I explain ethnographic methods and present two studies as examples of mediation evaluation research that began with a standard program evaluation design, and then incorporated ethnography to allow more complete data collection and analysis. My purpose here is not to argue that experimental methods in mediation evaluation research should be displaced but rather to demonstrate how ethnographic methods can be used when the conditions necessary for standard evaluation cannot be met. The two studies used as examples are from an elder mediation study in Ghana and a family court mediation study in the United States.

Troubling solutions through anthropological fieldwork: Mediation research in Ghana, Australia, and the United States

“…Social work texts may note that mediation as a general practice precedes professional attention, and was “discovered” through field research on dispute resolution across cultures (Crampton, 2006; Gulliver, 1979). However, the scientific evidence given weight as a “gold standard” is the randomized control trial (RCT) rather than field-based study (Crampton, 2016; Emery, 2011). Positive results from these experiments are then used to support expansion and institutionalization.…”

“…My initial ADR research design used a program evaluation approach commonly found in social work (Crampton, 2016). The goal was to test the basic mediation model as applied to two areas of social work practice using field-based research.…”

Psychiatry of Radicalization and Terrorism in the Lone Wolf, Children, and Women: An <i>E</i>-ethnographic Approach for Analysis

“…Indeed, ethnography is a research method based on observation as visual data can catch aspects and degrees of social exchanges in the original environment more than words or transcribed accounts [10]. Aim of ethnographic research is to understand via observations and interactions with the community under analysis what is true in the native culture aiming to an informative validity over time [11].…”