Remaining an Outsider

Abstract

Taking on the characteristics of the group being observed and becoming an insider is sometimes not only impractical but a disadvantage to the research process. This article analyzes the research identities negotiated by a female researcher in her study of Chicano gang members and the girls who hung around with them at the park. It is argued that these identities are not only shaped by epistemological and ethical concerns, but by the data to be collected and the interaction of the characteristics of the researcher and those of the setting and its members. Negotiating multiple identities and relationships untypical of those in the research setting and awareness of the content and consequences of these identities allows the researcher to use the appropriate identity to collect different kinds of data and to avoid some difficult situations that membership might make necessary.