Max Yarosh, Mariam Abdullah, Andrew Chevez

Professor Anna Bialas

ENGL297

03/13/17

Ethnography Project Proposal

This project is an ethnography that examines Dr. Cindy Clement, the Director of

Undergraduate Studies in Economics at the University of Maryland, in order to understand the

role that technical writing plays in economics. More specifically, our group will assess how

professionals in economics translate the fields complex ideas into lucid writing for unfamiliar

audiences. Our group will employ research methods such as interviews, observational field

notes, and analysis of Dr. Clements professional work with fellow leading economists in order

to gather more information about technical writing in economics. This research will help us

understand how to clearly communicate with audiences who are unfamiliar with our field.

The principal question for our project examines how best to convey economic jargon,

concepts, and ideas to other students and individuals unfamiliar with the intricacies of

economics. Since this topic is very broad, we will refine our topic of interest by examining the

ways in which Dr. Cindy Clement has accomplished this in the past and how she currently does

this, as well as methods she has found effective and why. We will also examine other methods of

conveying economic concepts beyond those prescribed by Dr. Clement by examining related

economic research papers. This topic is of significance because it enables those unfamiliar with

or uncertain about the world of economics to understand and conceptualize these ideas that one

usually undergoes years of training and specialization to learn and understand. This will
contribute to our groups overall development as technical writers and economists by

understanding how to effectively communicate with others through our economic writing. We

will also gain the advantage of understanding how to convey these complex ideas to people not

in the field which will help us increase our value in the job market.

Our research subject, Dr. Cindy Clement, has spent time in the Caribbean analyzing the

impact of the justice systems of various Caribbean countries on their respective economies and

furthermore how they can be reformed for a higher level of economic development. She also has

a great deal of experience acting as a translator of sorts both in teaching complex topics to

unfamiliar students and in interacting with a variety of different individuals while employed as a

researcher. As an advisor and professor at the Department of Economics on campus, her

communication is primarily conducted through emails, PowerPoints, and meetings. However, as

a former researcher, Dr. Clement has communicated not only through emails, but also through

research papers and reports. Due to Dr. Clements extensive field experience and her experience

as an academic, administrator, and professor, we find her to be an ideal subject for our

ethnographic research project. The kinds of work she does are directly in line with our route of

inquiry.

Our data collection methods will revolve around figuring out how to best to convey

economic logic and concepts in laymans terms, which we hope to do by examining Dr.

Clements writing. We have already met with Dr. Clement to discuss the assignment and obtained

her consent regarding her involvement in the project. She has agreed to provide us with several

primary sources, a few of which we have already obtained. To begin with, she lent us a copy of

an economic report from her time in the Caribbean where she spearheaded the previously

mentioned project regarding the justice sector and economies of those countries. She had to
overcome both language barriers and the unfamiliarity with economics that she was hired to

convey to the governments of the Caribbean nations when constructing this report. She has also

provided us with some of the slides she uses in her lectures, as well as a few examples of her

email writing style. Moving forward, we will interview Dr. Clement a second time, gathering

field notes based on her office and demeanor since we are unable to follow her around due to

confidentiality reasons. In addition to the Caribbean report that was provided, Dr. Clement will

also supply us with other materials such as PowerPoints and additional writing samples. She will

also write a short memo detailing the daily activities and the types of writing has done over the

three day span we agreed upon in our first interview. During our first meeting with her, Dr.

Clement drew certain boundaries and made it clear which data collection methods were

acceptable. Our group is unsure that taking field notes will be very impactful, as Dr. Clement

spends almost her entire day sending emails and attending private meetings that are confidential.

All in all, she seemed very receptive of the project as a whole, and we hope to meet with her

after most of the data collection to get a sense of her opinion on our findings.

We will analyze the data we have gathered by organizing it in a way that demonstrates

which of the different methods of conveying economic ideas are most effective. We will consider

the issue of subjectivity in relation to efficient writing and apply the methods found in our class

readings such as that of multiple-viewpoint-subjectivity objectivity in order to analyze our

results. These are observations that we will be making through the research data we have

collected, so other research data could include different findings than ours. It is important to

understand that there are outliers in data collection and that we will use our own intuition with

the data collected to get these end results. Our group will also compare how her style has evolved

as evidenced by the given documents. In order to do so, we will try and dissect the documents we
were provided and asses the different techniques she employs in each. Our group will then

conduct minor research on methods currently employed by examining recent economic research

papers and brainstorm an organizational diagram for an easy comparison of all the methods.

Upon completion of this task, we will meet with Dr. Clement one last time and share our data

collection findings and obtain her input on our data collection methods and procedures.

Finally, we present a schedule for the project moving forward. While these deadlines are

flexible, our team is committed to timely action and delivery.

3/27 2nd interview with Clement

Topic: Field Notes & Economic Writing Methods

3/28 Data Analysis Group Meeting and Write-Up

o Agree on Alternative Sources
o Review Data Analysis and Collection Method
o General Concerns

3/29 Clement Sample Writing Log & Powerpoints

o Sent via email
Annotated Research Due

3/30-4/3 Analyze Clements writing (PPT, Emails, Research Report)

4/3-4/5 Write Ethnography Introduction & Conclusion

4/5 Mid-Project Group Meeting

Overview of Progress
Suggestions Moving Forward

4/5-4/9 Data Analysis Write-Up

4/15-4/17 Peer Review

Suggest & Implement Ethnography Revisions

4/19 Office Hours Meet-Up (Bialas)

Clarify Questions with Bialas
Advice from Bialas
 4/20 Writing Center Checkup

4/21 Writing Center Revision Implementation

4/22-4/24 Group Proofread

4/24-4/25 Ethnography Peer Review

Revise Ethnography per Suggestions

4/25 Final Group Proofread

o Format Report
o Grammar Check
o Criteria Check

4/26 Submit Ethnography