Trading places: the ethnographic process in small firms' research

Ethnography has gained increasing acceptance as a valuable means of analysing the dynamic nature of life in small enterprises. This paper focuses on the process of ‘exchange’ between researcher and researched, which emerged as a key issue in a year-long ethnographic investigation of employment relations in three small firms. ‘Exchange’ has connotations of trading, bargaining and negotiation. Although these practices have been implied in previous studies using ethnography, they were central to the research reported on here. The paper considers how the intensive level of involvement during the research was managed, the various modes of ‘exchange’ that were negotiated, and their contribution to shaping an understanding of employment relations in the case study firms. A number of implications arise from the exercise. First, the ‘exchange’ process can act as an important ‘facilitator’ of research in the often-unpredictable arena of the small firm. Hence, it should be acknowledged and analysed accordingly rather than seen as ancillary to ‘sound’ research. Second, managing fieldwork roles in such contexts is as much a creative act as it is a ‘scientific’ procedure. Finally, theorizing these processes can deepen understanding of substantive research issues, which is perhaps the key contribution of ethnographic work.