Concordance Between Ethnographer and Folk Perspectives: Observed Performance and Self-Ascription of Sibling Caretaking Roles

This paper compares field observers' perceptions of role performance with culture members' reports of what their roles are. Children's and field observers' judgments concerning child caretaking in Honolulu, Hawaii, were compared. The results show (1) statistically significant concordance between the two sets of reports; (2) fairly low (50%) agreement on who cares for the child; and (3) fairly high (80%) agreement on children's reports of being a caretaker. The concordance between children and caretakers is influenced by children's age, sex, and the social setting. Situational factors associated with sibling care (mother absence, distance from home, and numbers of children present) increased agreement on the caretaker role, but not on being cared for by others. Girls tend to overreport that they are caretakers and charges, and boys tend to underreport. There is a pattern of partial and systematically variable agreement with field observers' judgments. Concordance refers to folk and observer agreement on clusters of behaviors occurring in a social context; this differs from the related issues of reliability, veracity and accuracy of report, or validity.