Opening up one's everyday negotiations to inspection: The internal politics of “embedded” ethnographic research

Abstract

Purpose

This paper reflects on the output of four ethnographic research projects examining the implementation of the Dutch Inspection for Work and Income. These four reports were to open up the “black box” concerning the everyday negotiations involved in implementation and particularly focused on the actual contribution of various participants to this process.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an analysis, a political re‐reading of four reports, examining the underpinning questions and assumptions behind the work of the ethnographic research.

Findings

The paper raises questions about the role of ethnographic researchers. It analyses, for instance, the ways in which researchers framed the “objects of concern” they investigated on behalf of the inspection and the political effects of their fieldwork choices, including the selection of their respondents and the ways they dealt with them throughout the research.

Originality/value

In the context of evaluative reports that are to be made public as part of a political process, the inadequate or unequal representation of particular actors has wider political consequences. Researchers need to explicitly engage with these issues raised in their reflections on the process and their findings.

Citation

Gastelaars, M. (2009), "Opening up one's everyday negotiations to inspection: The internal politics of “embedded” ethnographic research", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 46-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513550910922397