The Ethnographically Contextualized Case Study Method: Exploring ambitious achievement in an American Indian community.

Abstract

This article demonstrates the empirical viability of the Ethnographically Contextualized Case Study Method (ECCSM) for investigating interrelationships between cultural and psychological processes. By juxtaposing two relevant forms of data--original interview material from a single respondent and existing ethnographic evidence--the inherent idiographic limitations of the case study approach for pursuing the psychological study of culture might be transcended. Adoption of the ECCSM for the exploration of cultural ideals among an elderly Native American respondent revealed both the personal and cultural significance of ambitious achievement within this tribal community, calling into question the conventional wisdom within multicultural psychology that Native Americans are culturally disposed to passive, submissive and noncompetitive psychological orientations. This application of the proposed methodology demonstrates how important empirical insights may be obtained in unusually efficient and nuanced ways at the confluence of culture and psychology.