American Family Diaries

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING BARRIERS TO OPPORTUNITY

American Family Diaries Working Group APARNA MATHUR, DIRECTOR • ROBERT DOAR NICHOLAS EBERSTADT • KATHRYN EDIN • BRUCE D. MEYER ROBERT A. MOFFITT • SALLY SATEL • W. BRADFORD WILCOX

JUNE 2018

AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE Executive Summary

thnographic research, which involves extensive and subjects changing their behavior in response to E observation and interviews, provides detailed monitoring. Careful study design can mitigate some information on individuals and households not avail- of these problems, and these limitations are offset able through other methods. Unlike typical surveys, to some degree by the advantages of ethnography’s which provide quantitative data on predetermined open-ended approach. questions, ethnography involves more open-ended We propose a study aiming to answer questions interviews with opportunities to explore difficult relating to barriers to work and opportunity: What is complex issues and obtain information not available holding people back? Why are they not accessing all of through traditional approaches. A combination of qual- the programs for which they are potentially eligible? itative information from ethnographic research and Why is some money not reaching them? And how are quantitative information from administrative data can they supplementing incomes if what they get through provide richer insights and a more complete under- these programs is insufficient? standing of policy issues than from either source alone. Our study would focus on able-bodied adults Ethnography has featured in several important with dependents, using data from the Supplemental books by prominent sociologists, and more recently Nutritional Assistance Program. Many of the barri- in economic research. These studies provide in-depth ers identified in the report—including lack of educa- perspectives on their subjects and provide crucial con- tion, problems with job-training programs, criminal text to understand their circumstances and decisions. histories, marginal tax rates, drug abuse, and lack of However, ethnographic methods suffer from their work history—are salient challenges for this demo- own limitations, particularly selection bias, attrition, graphic group

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American Family Diaries

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING BARRIERS TO OPPORTUNITY American Family Diaries Working Group Aparna Mathur, Director • Robert Doar • Nicholas Eberstadt • Kathryn Edin Bruce D. Meyer • Robert A. Moffitt • Sally Satel • W. Bradford Wilcox

thnographic research is gaining traction as a Matthew Desmond’s Evicted documents the strug- Emeans to explore more deeply the lives of study gles of eight men and women in Milwaukee in their participants in their daily environments. As opposed search for stable housing as they are evicted from to typical household surveys—which are often con- their homes. While Desmond’s focus is on housing ducted by government agencies and provide quan- and homelessness, the lives of these families are char- titative data on household measures of well-being, acterized by drug addiction and incarceration, depen- such as income, consumption, and welfare access— dence on food banks and churches to provide some ethnographic research relies on qualitative data basic needs, and all the hardships that come with liv- collected through interviews and extended obser- ing in poverty.5 vation. It requires following individuals and house- In a less conventional approach, Jonathan Mor- holds beyond simple questionnaires to get a better duch and Rachel Schneider use ethnographic understanding of the motivations, behaviors, and research methods to collect detailed and frequent attitudes toward the challenges they face. A combi- data on families’ cash flows. In their important new nation of qualitative information from ethnographic book, The Financial Diaries: How American Families research and quantitative data from administrative Cope in a World of Uncertainty, Morduch and Schnei- data can provide richer insights and a more complete der detail the financial challenges faced by poor understanding of policy issues than either set of data and middle-income households. The frequency and by itself. detail of their data provide insights unavailable from In recent years, several sociologists and some monthly or annual surveys, which in turn are comple- economists have written books and papers relying on mented by the qualitative insights of the many inter- ethnographic research to document the lives of peo- views from their ethnographic research.6 ple struggling with low-wage work or facing home- Other recent, prominent books, such as J. D. lessness. Kathryn Edin has written several such books Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, are not technically ethnog- with topics including the plight of single mothers on raphies because they are written as memoirs. How- welfare,1 why low-income mothers were bearing chil- ever, Vance’s memoir provides a comprehensive, dren without marrying,2 and unwed fathers and the qualitative exploration of how communities in the problems faced by low-income men.3 Her most recent Appalachian region fared after the loss of traditional book includes a look at those who appear to be in blue-collar jobs. While economic insecurity clearly extreme poverty and the multiple ways in which they plays a role in the lives of these people, the author also make ends meet.4 holds a certain culture partly to blame for people’s

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misfortunes.7 In contrast, Amy Goldstein’s Janesville: that this reaches almost $1 trillion in combined fed- An American Story profiles people who lost their jobs eral and state spending on different programs to help in automobile manufacturing in the town of Janes- low-income people with cash, food, education, health ville, Wisconsin. She tracks their stories after the loss care, and housing.10 Yet what is holding people back? of these jobs, their attempts to retrain and to return Why are they not accessing all the programs for which to school, and their struggles to adapt to different they are potentially eligible? Why is some money not work environments as well as the loss of stability in reaching them? And how are they supplementing their family lives.8 incomes if what they get through these programs is Finally, Robert Putnam’s Our Kids: The American insufficient? Dream in Crisis highlights the inequality in opportu- These are some of the questions motivating our nity facing children from poor families compared to working group. In seeking to answer them, research- children from richer families. These differences show ers face two challenges: (1) designing surveys to ask up in everyday lives as the lack of time that poor par- the right questions and obtain accurate answers and ents have to read to their kids, less time spent together (2) identifying families most in need, who may often at family dinners, and the inability to sign up kids for be left out of traditional data collection methods. We piano lessons, clubs, and sports activities. This book begin this report with a short overview of how exper- also discusses the decline in social trust and institu- imentation has come to occupy an important place, tions, as well as the loss in family and job stability not just in sociology but also in economic policy. We among middle-class working-age families.9 then provide an overview of the research methods employed in traditional ethnographic research, par- ticularly relying on the studies outlined above, and how these methods have been applied in economic The lesson from these research. We also review some of the advantages and disadvantages of ethnographic research methods. diverse studies is that Finally, we build on the conversations in our working group to outline a proposal for an ethnographic study there is a great need to and what we hope to accomplish. While experimentation and ethnographic research understand how our may appear as different approaches to answer policy questions, they share a fundamental similarity in the policies can better serve use of an innovative survey design to get at answers that may be elusive or tough to discern when using those in need. more traditional data sets. For example, as we review in the next section, experimentation in economics While several other books could be reviewed and has allowed us to answer questions relating to racial mentioned here, the lesson from these diverse stud- discrimination in hiring, which would not be possible ies is that there is a great need to understand how with direct surveys or administrative data. At the same our policies can better serve those in need. Often, time, ethnographic research has allowed us to delve well-intentioned policies may not reach or work well into the lives of poor families to understand how such for significant demographic groups, and it is import- families meet their need for cash and income and ant to understand why and how to improve the design their day-to-day struggles. Again, such understanding of those programs. may never truly come from the use of large data sets, Looking only at budget outlays, one can argue that especially because many questions may never even we spend enormous amounts of money every year be asked in the survey. More broadly, one can think on antipoverty programs. Michael Tanner estimates of both experimentation and ethnographic research

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as types of field research that focus on a particular income tax.13 Following this experiment, there were group within a broader population and that aim to smaller-scale studies along these lines in North Car- go beyond traditional analysis to answer deeper and olina and Iowa (1970–72), Seattle and Denver (1970– more difficult questions. 78), and Gary, Indiana (1971–74). In a particularly famous study, Marianne Ber- trand and Sendhil Mullainathan conducted a careful, Experimentation in Economics well-designed field experiment to measure employer discrimination in hiring by race.14 The authors sent Traditional economic research has gone through sev- 4,870 fake resumes in response to over 1,300 employ- eral phases of experimentation, as detailed by Steven ment ads in Chicago and Boston newspapers, and they Levitt and John List.11 In the 1960s, government agen- randomly assigned black-sounding or white-sounding cies conducted experiments to evaluate employment names, based on the relative frequency of each name programs, electricity pricing, and housing allowances. by race and a focus group analysis of perceived race. Some of these significantly influenced policy and led The authors sent four resumes in response to each to important reforms of programs, such as the Aid employment ad, with two of the resumes high quality to Families and Dependent Children program. More and the other two low quality. One of the high-quality recently, field experiments have gained prominence ads and one of the low-quality ads were randomly in the field. The goal of experimentation has been assigned black-sounding names, with the other two to estimate a causal effect of some action on a rele- receiving white-sounding names. The authors also vant outcome of interest. Intrinsic to this approach randomized the gender of the applicant for sales jobs is the separation of subjects into treatment and con- but used primarily female names for administrative trol groups and the random selection of subjects into and clerical jobs. either group. Resumes with white-sounding names had an over- This approach was demonstrated by a joint social all callback rate of 9.65 percent, compared to a call- experiment conducted by the Institute of Research back rate of 6.45 percent for black-sounding names. on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Because of the randomization, this difference is and Mathematica Inc. The New Jersey Income Main- due only to discrimination by name. Higher quality tenance experiment started in 1968 in five urban com- resumes were 2.5 percentage points more likely to munities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The project receive callbacks when the name was white-sounding, aimed to explore the behavioral effects of negative and they were 0.5 percentage points more likely to income taxation, an idea first introduced by Milton receive callbacks when the name was black-sounding. Friedman in his 1962 book, Capitalism and Freedom. An additional year of work experience increased the The experiment sampled 1,300 male-headed house- probability of a callback by 0.4 percentage points, holds with at least one employed person. The treat- suggesting that the effect of a white name on the call- ment households were given a guaranteed level of back rate relative to a black name is equivalent to the income that varied from 50 percent to 125 percent of effect of an additional eight years of work experience. the poverty line for a family of four, while the neg- This gap was consistent across all occupations, and ative income tax ranged from 30 percent to 70 per- it held in all industries except for transportation and cent. Over a period of three years, the researchers communication. Interestingly, federal contractors tracked questions relating to labor supply, consump- and firms declaring themselves “Equal Opportunity tion expenditures, dependence on government, and Employers” had larger racial callback gaps.15 social integration. While initial findings showed no Field experiments that test economic theory or work disincentive effects on the treated population,12 attempt to measure key economic parameters have subsequent work by Robert Moffitt showed that come to play an important role in economic research. hours worked were reduced as a result of the negative Such experiments have been conducted to test auction

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theory,16 price setting and price elasticity of demand,17 both voucher groups (traditional and low pov- gift exchange,18 training incentives,19 online fraud,20 erty) reported feeling safer and more satisfied with and charitable giving.21 their housing than the control group (which did not The methods in field experiments have also been receive a voucher). Moving to low-poverty areas also applied recently in two large-scale antipoverty exper- improved adults’ mental health and reduced obesity. iments—Moving to Opportunity Project and Pro- However, moving to opportunity did not significantly gresa—which have generated interest and provided affect labor market outcomes, use of other benefit important research opportunities.22 programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or children’s reading and math Moving to Opportunity. In 1992, Congress authorized scores. Moving was found to improve female chil- the Department of Housing and Urban Development dren’s mental health and reduce their drug use and (HUD) to launch the Moving to Opportunity project, property crime, but it had the opposite effect on male a massive experiment to test the effects of moving children, as boys in the low-poverty voucher group from high-poverty neighborhoods to lower-poverty families exhibited more behavioral problems and neighborhoods. The project used the excess demand became more likely to use marijuana and be arrested for Section 8 housing support (the Housing Choice for property crimes. These gender effects persisted Voucher Program) and outreach to Section 8 appli- even between brothers and sisters. cants to convince people to apply. HUD selected five The final evaluation of the Moving to Opportu- major cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Ange- nity project followed up with families 10 to 15 years les, and New York) for the experiment. In each city, after moving.25 Similar to the interim study, this eval- eligibility was restricted to low-income families with uation found that those who had moved (through children at home, either living in public housing or traditional and low-poverty vouchers) lived in using Section 8 vouchers to live in private housing in higher-quality homes in neighborhoods with lower a high-poverty census tract (defined as having a pov- poverty and less racial segregation, and they reported erty rate of at least 40 percent). feeling safer. Adults in the voucher groups reported In total, 4,608 families were accepted into the pro- less extreme obesity, diabetes, and other physical gram, and these families were randomly assigned limitations, but there was little or no health effect to one of three groups: the control group, which among the youth. The final study also confirmed the received no certificates or vouchers but was still eli- differential effects on female and male youth, with gible for other housing programs; the traditional improvements in mental health and behavior among voucher group, which received the typical, geograph- girls but greater prevalence of post-traumatic stress ically unrestricted Section 8 certificates and vouch- disorder among boys. The interim report’s finding ers as well as the typical briefings and assistance of no labor markets effects on adults was confirmed to help with moving; and the low-poverty voucher by the final report, with all groups reporting simi- group, which received Section 8 vouchers limited to lar employment, earnings, and incomes, with mixed low-poverty areas as well as counseling and assistance effects on food sufficiency and use of food stamps. finding a private unit to lease.23 The study also found no significant effects on educa- The interim study for the Moving to Opportunity tional outcomes for children. project followed up with each family approximately However, a subsequent study found significant five years after moving.24 Because of the random and divergent effects on long-term outcomes for chil- assignment to treatment groups, the project was able dren.26 For children who were below age 13 at the time to identify certain causal effects. The interim eval- of moving, relocating to a low-poverty neighborhood uation found that the low-poverty voucher group resulted in higher college attendance rates and earn- was more likely to move to low-poverty neighbor- ings, as well as the children eventually living in bet- hoods than the traditional voucher group and that ter neighborhoods themselves. However, moving to

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low-poverty areas had negative effects on children dropout rates, particularly for the transition from pri- who were older at the time of moving. mary to secondary school.33 However, the impacts were smaller and unsustainable for children who were Progresa and Oportunidades. In 1997, the Mexi- previously out of school, who typically only returned can government initiated Progresa, a massive poverty to school for a year before dropping out. alleviation project using conditional cash transfers to Progresa also had important impacts on health. It improve education, nutrition, and health.27 The pro- increased the number of visits to preventive care clin- gram was phased in over three years, and by the end ics by 60 percent, with resulting decreases in hospi- of 1999 it covered 2.6 million families across 50,000 tal stays.34 Children exhibited large decreases in rates localities. To avoid the patronage and resource diver- of serious illness, and adults had 19 percent fewer sion that plagued previous poverty alleviation pro- days of difficulty with daily activities due to illness grams, Progresa used census data to construct a and 17 percent fewer days incapacitated.35 Consump- marginality index, which it used to select communi- tion increased by 22 percent, and child malnourish- ties. In each selected community, households were ment fell by 17.2 percent.36 Progresa also significantly then chosen using socioeconomic data. increased children’s height due to additional nutrition, To convince parents to send children to school, and improved cognitive development could pay addi- Progresa provided educational grants to poor house- tional dividends through higher lifetime income.37 holds in each selected community who had children In 2002, the program was renamed Oportuni- enrolled in grades three through nine, with slightly dades and expanded throughout the country, includ- more generous grants for female children to address ing poor urban areas that had been excluded under their higher dropout rates.28 The educational grants Progresa. By 2011, Oportunidades covered 5.8 million were paid every two months, conditional on the child households and 20 percent of the total population,38 achieving an attendance rate of at least 85 percent. and it grew to become the largest program in the fed- The program also provided financial support for pur- eral government’s budget.39 In 2014, the program was chasing school materials and attempted to improve renamed Prospera, and it added more health inter- the quality of local schools.29 For the nutrition and ventions, scholarships, and vocation training, as well health component, Progresa provided cash trans- as access to microcredit and insurance. fers only if three conditions were met: every family member had to receive preventive medical care; chil- dren up to age 5 and lactating mothers had to attend Overview of Ethnographic Work nutritional clinics that monitored growth, distrib- uted nutritional supplements, and educated partici- Although ethnographic research and experimentation pants on nutrition and hygiene; and pregnant women rely on different methods, both apply special study had to attend clinics for prenatal care, nutritional designs intended to extract information not available supplements, and health education.30 If these condi- through traditional survey methods, either because tions were met, households would receive 90 pesos study participants are reluctant to reveal some (approximately $7) per month, with the transfer information or because surveys undersample some going to the mother. Although small by current stan- demographic groups. The following sections discuss dards, this cash transfer was a third of the average prominent recent ethnographic research in sociology beneficiaries’ household income.31 and economics. The educational component of Progresa increased school attendance among both boys and girls, with an Recent Ethnographic Research by Sociologists. average 10 percent increase in total educational attain- In their book, Making Ends Meet: How Single Moth- ment and larger impacts for girls than for boys.32 The ers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work, Kathryn effects include better grade progression and lower Edin and Laura Lein explore the sources of income,

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welfare reliance, hardships, and work decisions Edin and Lein’s research provides important by low-income single mothers in urban environ- details about the financial situations oflow-income ments.40 They interviewed women across four cit- single mothers. Of their 379 total interviewees, all ies: Chicago, which provided average cash welfare but one engaged in activities to supplement their benefits and had a moderate cost of living and tight incomes, as cash welfare benefits and earnings from labor market; San Antonio, which provided very low work were insufficient to meet their needed expen- welfare benefits and had a low cost of living and ditures. Welfare-reliant mothers hid this side income high unemployment; Charleston, South Carolina, from welfare programs because reporting it would which also provided low welfare benefits but had reduce their benefits almostone-for -one with their living costs somewhat higher than in San Antonio additional income, and many wage-reliant mothers and a tight labor market; and Boston, which pro- hid their side income to protect their food stamps, vided generous welfare benefits but had a high cost housing subsidies, and other means-tested non- of living and high unemployment. In each area, Edin cash benefits. Importantly,wage-reliant mothers and Lein sampled cash welfare recipients as well as had larger gaps between their income and expenses, non-recipients with low-wage jobs, and they strat- and they experienced greater material hardship than ified by race and receipt of housing subsidy. This welfare-reliant single mothers. allowed them to compare those receiving cash ben- Whereas Edin and Lein investigated how low- efits—whom they refer to as welfare-reliant—and income single mothers cope financially, Edin and those who did not receive cash benefits but partici- Maria Kefalas, in their book Promises I Can Keep, pated in low-wage work—referred to as wage-reliant. seek to understand why young, low-income women To more effectively recruit these single mothers, gave birth outside of marriage.42 At the time, politi- they relied on various trusted community members, cians were attempting to address the decoupling of and they asked the mothers whom they interviewed marriage and childbirth, which had become particu- to recommend others who might be out of reach of larly relevant among low-income mothers. Edin and those community members. This approach of using Kefalas believed that survey data were insufficient trusted intermediaries provided important value in to explain the dynamics of marriage and childbirth gathering accurate information, as these mothers among low-income women, and policy was being often supplemented their stated earnings with unre- made without a full understanding of this dynamic. ported income sources, which they hid from case They launched an ethnographic study to collect the workers to avoid losing benefits. This also demon- stories of why low-income, poorly educated young strates an advantage of ethnographic research. women have children they struggle to afford and why Kathryn Edin and Christopher Jencks found that they do not marry. respondents to the Consumer Expenditure Survey Over the course of several years, Edin and Kefalas who received cash welfare benefits were as likely to immersed themselves in a handful of high-poverty hide their side income from surveys as from welfare neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia, with Edin officials.41 Edin and Lein often needed multiple inter- moving into an apartment in one of those neighbor- views to collect the full picture of each interviewee’s hoods. They connected to single mothers through finances and family situations, and they adjusted the various means, and these mothers introduced them interview topics based on new information in each to more single mothers. In total, they interviewed location and for each household. The combination 162 low-income single mothers across eight econom- of assistance from trusted community members and ically marginal neighborhoods in Philadelphia and repeated interviews built trust between the inter- Camden, New Jersey. They held at least two in-depth viewees and the ethnographers, unlocking infor- interviews with each mother, with interviews typ- mation that the research subjects would have been ically lasting two or three hours. They limited their reluctant to disclose in surveys. study to unmarried mothers with at least one child at

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home who had earned less than $16,000 in the past and Nelson did not pursue a random sample; instead, year, equal to the federal poverty line at the time and they tried to interview as heterogeneous a sample approximately the full-time income of those leav- as possible. The authors moved into a low-income ing welfare for employment. All these mothers lived neighborhood in Camden, New Jersey, and from in neighborhoods with a poverty rate of at least 20 there launched extensive efforts to identify and con- percent. Although all of them were unmarried, some nect with unmarried fathers in low-income neigh- had previously been married, and most did not live borhoods, including by visiting local business strips, on their own. Approximately 30 percent maintained train and trolley stops, day labor agencies, and other their own households, half lived with relatives or employers. They also posted fliers in various places, friends, and some lived with men, who were some- and they invited fathers they interviewed to refer times but not always the father of their children. Of them to other unmarried fathers. these mothers, 73 percent had their first child while In total, Edin and Nelson interviewed 110 low- in their teens. income, inner-city, unmarried fathers, about evenly The stories gathered by Edin and Kefalas revealed split between black and white men, with ages rang- that marriage had not become meaningless in those ing from 17 to 64 and with at least one child under 19 low-income communities. Rather, many single moth- over whom they did not have custody. As the authors ers viewed marriage as a luxury, something to pur- found, few of these fathers had planned when and sue once they were set economically, and believed with whom to have children. Although the early stages that marrying young could mean a loss of indepen- of pregnancy and fatherhood often provided a sense dence and control. And although they viewed mar- of purpose, their relationships with their children’s riage as a lifelong commitment, many believed that it mothers usually ended fairly quickly. Nevertheless, was better to have children outside of marriage than they tried to find new roles in their children’s lives, to to marry unwisely and divorce. On the other hand, be there for their children. The stories Edin and Nel- these young women saw having children as a neces- son capture paint in vivid detail the path to separation sity, the chief source of identity and meaning in their from their children and their children’s mothers but lives, and as opportunities to prove their worth by also the ongoing efforts and challenges of maintaining being good parents. Having children provides pur- active roles in their children’s lives. pose and a sense of order in their lives and an import- In their recent book, $2 a Day, Kathryn Edin and ant sense of validation. Luke Shaefer use ethnographic research to investigate In a more recent book by Kathryn Edin and Timo- extreme poverty in the United States.44 At the time, thy Nelson, Doing the Best I Can: Fathering in the Inner survey data suggested large increases in the number of City, the authors explore the parenting roles of unwed families living on income of $2 per day or less. Accord- fathers in the inner city.43 Responding to widespread ingly, the authors sought to learn the stories of the stereotypes of unwed fathers as abandoning their chil- families in such extreme poverty. They selected these dren following dramatic increases in children born families from four areas: Chicago, a representative out of wedlock, Edin and Nelson sought to explore city with urban poverty; a collection of urban hamlets how these unmarried fathers perceived the meaning in the Mississippi Delta, a region with long-term pov- of fatherhood and the barriers they faced to parent- erty; Cleveland, an urban environment experiencing ing as well as they wanted. They engaged in two years economic decline since the 1970s; and Johnson City, of ethnographic fieldwork in Camden, New Jersey, Tennessee, a midsize city recovering from poverty. followed by five years of repeated interviews across From these four locations, they selected 18 families, Camden and Philadelphia. Because unmarried fathers each of which had spent at least three months living are often poorly connected to their children’s house- on less than $2 per person per day. Edin and Shaefer holds or are involved in illicit activities, they can be document the struggles these families endure and the difficult to identify and track down. Accordingly, Edin myriad challenges they face in this extreme poverty.

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As part of Robert Putnam’s book, Our Kids: The Recent Ethnographic Research in Economics. While American Dream in Crisis, Putnam and Jennifer Silva research using field experiments is fairly common in conducted an ethnographic study of young adults economics now, ethnographic research is less so. How- just past high school to collect background infor- ever, some prominent examples exist. They emphasize mation on their upbringing and their aspirations that although large-scale, government-funded sur- for the future.45 Over the course of two years, they veys have significantly improved our understanding interviewed 107 young adults (ages 18 through 22) of issues and have eased the costs of obtaining data, and their parents, providing detailed qualitative they come at the cost of deemphasizing the institu- information on the children’s experiences growing tional context in which the survey is conducted. In up and their aspirations and obstacles in the future, other words, the research is limited to the preselected the parents’ experiences and decisions while rais- questions being asked in the surveys, and adapting to ing their children, and the parents’ own experiences new or unexpected findings can be difficult. Moreover, from childhood. while these surveys produce good data at the national To get as complete a picture as reasonably pos- and state levels, the sample sizes are too small for sible, they conducted their study in 10 cities across researchers to delve into issues raised in any specific the country, covering various economies and cul- geographic area or small subset of the population. In tures. They recruited using a combination of contrast, ethnographic research provides a wealth of referrals from local community members or organi- detail about the context in which actors operate, on a zations and by spending time at various local sites limited scale. The researcher can structure questions frequented by young people. In each city, they tried specific to the context of the economic agent, which to select interviewees based on a quartet model: a allows for a richer understanding of the data and vari- working-class girl with her mother, working-class ous other issues. boy with his father, upper-middle-class girl with her In a valuable new book, The Financial Diaries: How mother, and upper-middle-class boy with his father. American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty, Jon- To clearly delineate class lines, they simple defined athan Morduch and Rachel Schneider detail how upper-middle-class parents as those with four-year American families struggle with income volatility and college degrees or higher and working-class par- other financial challenges.46 National surveys have ents as those with educational attainment of a high shown an important rise in income volatility over school diploma or less. This structure allowed them recent decades, but they do not follow families with to hold gender constant when comparing experi- sufficient frequency to capture income and finan- ences growing up across generations and to observe cial volatility on a week-to-week or month-to-month how child-rearing had converged over time across basis. Accordingly, Morduch and Schneider adapted genders but had diverged across social classes. a “financial diary” approach that Morduch had previ- However, the quartet model could be problematic ously used when studying extreme poverty in devel- when working-class boys’ fathers were unavailable, oping countries. either in prison, addicted to drugs, or out of their To collect detailed financial information, Mor- sons’ lives. duch and Schneider followed 235 families over 2012 Their extensive interviews reveal the class dispar- and 2013, with frequent meetings to learn about these ity in parenting styles that cut across region, race, families’ cash flows of all kinds, including all earn- and gender. The stories they collected complement ings, expenditures, saving and borrowing, donations, the quantitative demonstration of this disparity and gifts. They also recorded the timing of each cash throughout Putnam’s book, providing clear illustra- flow. In total, they built a data set of approximately tions of how these disparities have changed over time 300,000 cash flows for these families. Their families and how they have and will continue to affect young came from four regions across the country: commu- adults today and into their futures. nities near Cincinnati in Ohio and Kentucky, the area

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of San Jose, California (around Silicon Valley), East- television shows were typically set in urban envi- ern Mississippi near the border with Alabama, and the ronments where women generally had more rights New York City neighborhoods of Queens and Brook- (as well as Western television shows), this expan- lyn. They restricted their sample to households with at sion exposed millions of rural households to new and least one working member, and they aimed to collect more egalitarian gender norms. a heterogeneous sample of households ranging from The authors drew on the Social Attitudes Research, poor to middle income. In addition to nonrandom India (SARI) panel survey of households in five regions sampling, their study faced two additional method- (Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi). From ological limitations. Due to the frequent and some- these regions, 180 villages were selected at random times intrusive interviews, the survey had relatively from village lists, and 15 households from each vil- high attrition, with the sample falling from over 400 lage were randomly selected using registration lists. families initially to 235 by the end. The authors also The SARI survey interviews all adult women in each noted that the process of asking families for detailed household and includes important questions on gen- information on their finances may have made fami- der relationships in the household, gender equality, lies alter their financial decisions based on increased and women’s rights. The authors use data for 2001, scrutiny, whether from the researchers or from being 2002, and 2003, which coincided with the expansion forced to pay greater attention to detail. However, the of cable television. The number of villages with cable level of detail acquired allowed them to account for rose from 90 in 2001 to 101 in 2002 to 111 in 2003. This each family’s entire cash flow record. natural variation in cable TV introduction—attribut- In spite of methodological limitations, Morduch able to distance to the nearest city or town and to the and Schneider collected vast quantities of data, but availability of electricity—allows the authors to iden- they also encountered important qualitative details tify that the introduction of cable television improves not available through surveys, such as the reasoning the status of women, with lower acceptability of spou- behind families’ financial decisions and the challenges sal abuse, lower son preference, more autonomy for they faced on a regular basis. Among the many chal- women, and increased school enrollment of children. lenges households face, the authors document a tim- Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh conduct an ing problem due to illiquidity, when expenses must ethnographic study of a group of young men who be paid but households do not yet have the money reached adulthood while living in the Chicago public for them. They also explore the contradictory finan- housing projects.48 Using a list from 1991 of the 118 cial goals these families juggle, as they try to stabilize men between the ages of 17 and 26 living in a partic- month-to-month spending but also save for major ular high-rise housing project, the authors attempted purchases, and the difficulty of accumulating lasting to locate these individuals and interviewed them over savings in spite of efforts to save. Importantly, Mor- five months in 2000. Of the original 118 men, 13 were duch and Schneider identify a hidden type of inequal- not located, 11 were dead, and four refused to partici- ity—namely inequality in exposure to risk and in pate, yielding a total of 90 available subjects. access to dependable means to cope with volatility. Each subject was interviewed based on a set of ques- Robert Jensen and Emily Oster conducted an eth- tions, and the authors also interviewed a wide range nographic study over three years to understand the of community members (including teachers, clergy, effect of the expansion of television on women’s sta- and social workers) who knew the subjects growing tus in rural India.47 As the authors note, women face up. Approximately a third of the subjects had been in substantial discrimination and inequality in India, a gang while living in that building in 1991, allowing but it is relatively more severe in rural areas. Between a comparison of outcomes across gang and non-gang 2001 and 2006, 30 million rural households added members. Based on the interviews with community cable service, expanding the reach of television to members, gang members on average were physically over 150 million people. Because the most popular stronger, less hardworking, less serious about school,

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and less well liked. The authors also analyzed educa- concentration in high-poverty areas was intended to tional outcomes, income sources (legal and illegal), have large impacts on disadvantaged youths and their and other economic indicators. communities. As part of the program’s evaluation, the Ethnographic research has also played a role in Department of Labor commissioned an ethnographic government programs to inform policy. The Gov- study to evaluate the impact of the Youth Opportu- ernment Accountability Office produced a system- nity Grant Initiative on the overall well-being of the atic study of federal agencies’ use of ethnographic targeted communities, beyond the immediate impacts methods, examining the range and scope of the use on the participating youths.50 of ethnography by the federal government as well as Unlike most ethnographic research, which how the results have been used to improve programs, involves relatively open-ended interviews and adapts policies, and procedures.49 The report analyzes 15 the topics based on intermediate findings, this study ethnographic studies conducted by 10 different fed- had specific research questions that they sought to eral departments and agencies. It also compares the answer: the external factors that affect a communi- purposes and methodologies of the different ethno- ty’s well-being and youths’ labor market, human cap- graphic studies. It identifies five different purposes ital, and social outcomes, as well as how the Youth for the ethnographic studies used: defining an issue Opportunity grants affect the community mem- when it is unclear or complex; identifying the prob- bers’ perception of their community’s well-being. lem’s settings, participants, and stakeholders; explor- They measured community well-being using physi- ing factors associated with a problem to understand cal and demographic characteristics, social networks and address them; describing and understanding and conditions, economic opportunity, and institu- unanticipated outcomes; and designing measures to tional infrastructure. To that end, they used inten- match the characteristics of a target population when sive short-term examinations of their communities, existing measures fit poorly. But in every case, the eth- in contrast to the more common long-term immer- nographic research was used to improve the depart- sion of most ethnographic studies. They selected 35 ment’s understanding of the relationships between sites (24 urban, six rural, and five Native American a federal program and a particular group’s social and reservations), and for each site they paired the site cultural structures. visitor with a local ethnographic researcher, who The report identifies three types of data collec- could provide local insights and coordinate visits and tion techniques: exploratory observation, in-depth interviews. Over the course of five years, they con- open-ended interviews, and semi-structured inter- ducted three rounds of five-day site visits, with com- views. Importantly, they note that a researcher’s ini- prehensive data collection on each visit: interviews tial theory is modified throughout the study based with community leaders, community members, local on new information, and subsequent interview ques- employers, and Youth Opportunity center staff; focus tions should reflect these changes. groups of parents, youth participants, and nonpartic- A report from the Government Accountability ipants; observations of community events and activ- Office also summarizes in detail several examples of ities; shadowing selected youths; and photographing ethnographic studies, including research on the Youth local buildings, parks, and public areas. Opportunity Grant Initiative. Beginning in 2000, the Another important set of ethnographic research, Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative provided com- as summarized by the Government Accountability prehensive services for youths (ages 14 to 21) across Office, is the Census Bureau’s series of ethnographic 36 high-poverty urban and rural areas and Native studies investigating causes of miscounting of the American reservations. The program provided com- local population, as part of its preparation for the munity centers, supportive services, recreation, and 1990 census. A previous ethnographic study imple- life skills training in concentrated areas. Although mented as part of the 1998 Dress Rehearsal Census, the program was open to all youths, its resource which compared the observed population count to

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the officialmail-response count at five sites, found those choosing the sample as well as higher volunteer undercounting from omitted households (residences rates for some groups than for the full population of not on the list or listed as vacant), undercounting interest. Glenn Harrison and John List show that it from omitted individuals (not reported on the house- is almost impossible to hide the experimental objec- hold roster), and overcounting of extended family tive from the person implementing the experiment members who move between residences. or the subject, which may influence the sample and To investigate these sources of error more com- thus the outcome of the experiment.51 An example pletely, the Census Bureau sponsored 29 ethnographic of this has been discussed in the context of the Job studies, with approximately 100 households at each Training Partnership Act.52 Those most likely to ben- site. The sites split between urban and rural areas, efit from the job training are more likely to select into and they covered a variety of racial and ethnic pop- the program, resulting in possibly overestimating the ulations believed to be undercounted (low-income program’s benefit on general individuals. Moreover, minority populations). The work at each site was participants in small-scale experiments may not be done by ethnographers already familiar with the local representative of individuals in general or individuals communities. Each team was instructed to conduct who participate in larger-scale programs.53 For exam- local population estimates at their sites and attempt ple, due to resource constraints, program administra- to identify any unusual aspects that would interfere tors may select people with certain qualifications or with the Census Bureau’s official count. The ethnog- criteria to participate in the study. raphers were then provided with the official counts A second problem is attrition bias. This is partic- for each site, and they returned to identify the dis- ularly problematic in studies that last several years. crepancies and their causes. The eventual results of Individuals may drop out of the sample, not partici- these ethnographic studies identified five sources of pate actively, be incarcerated, or enlist in the military, miscounting error: irregular housing units, complex causing them to be dropped from later observations. or ambiguous households, residential mobility, lim- Finally, social experiments may lead to misleading ited English proficiency, and distrust of government. inferences if participants in the study behave differ- This research allowed the Census Bureau to better ently because they know that their activities are being prepare for the 2000 census, with knowledge of the monitored, a phenomenon known as the Hawthorne causes of miscounting among low-income minority effect. If participants in the control group behave dif- populations and the opportunity to modify their pro- ferently than they would without monitoring, this cedures to address these barriers. may lead to biased outcomes. For example, using per- sonnel data from a leading United Kingdom–based fruit farm, Oriana Bandiera, Imran Rasul, and Iwan Ethnographic Research Methods Barankay find that, when other workers can observe their productivity, workers internalize the negative Ethnographic research is closer to the social experi- externality that they impose on others under a rel- ments approach than the field experiments approach. ative compensation scheme.54 Yet this effect dis- appears when workers cannot monitor each other, Problems with Ethnographic Research. Hence, which rules out pure altruism as the underlying cause the problems often associated with social experi- of workers’ behavior. Being monitored proves the crit- ments would apply to ethnographic research as well. ical factor influencing behavior in this study. The first and one of the most common problems is selection bias. This issue arises when the experimen- Addressing the Limitations of Ethnographic tal sample is different from the population of interest Research Methods. When conducting ethnographic because of imperfect randomization or nonrandom research in economics, such concerns could be equally selection. This imperfect selection can occur through applicable, and sufficient caution should be exercised

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to minimize these effects. Susan Helper offers an First, do not enter fieldwork with a preconceived the- answer to these criticisms of field research and ways to ory about how things work. Keep an open mind, let improve on existing methods.55 Among the advantages the interviewees talk and lead the conversation, and of field research—relative to economic research using talk to people with different perspectives. This is key secondary data relying on mathematical modeling and to being objective. Checking the accuracy of the infor- econometrics—are that researchers can directly con- mation from multiple sources is critical as well. Be as tact the subjects and explore more deeply their incen- skeptical of the responses as one would be for any tives, objectives, and constraints through one-on-one data obtained in any other way, and ask for examples. interviews. Such information may not always be avail- able in secondary data sources. A second advantage is that it allows the researcher to ask questions relating to previously unexplored subjects that may arise as Fieldwork can be an a result of the interviews. Such issues may not have been discussed in prior literature because of the lack important complement of questions relating to such topics. In addition, such questions may improve the researcher’s intuition for to existing methods of the issue under study and lead to collection of the right data. In this context, Helper writes about what Clau- research and, in many dia Goldin said about a 1995 visit to Joseph Pollak, an auto-parts manufacturer in Stoughton, Massachusetts: ways, go beyond what is

I didn’t have any particular expectations going into possible with existing the plant, but I remember vividly looking down from a mezzanine from which you could see the whole methods. shop floor. As I looked down, I realized I was observ- ing—in one moment—the transition from 19th cen- Replicability of the results is more challenging in tury technology to 20th century technology. I could fieldwork because interviewees often request ano- see the relative increase in the demand for skill just nymity. Hence, sharing their information with other scanning across the room. The “continuous process” researchers who could replicate the interviews may machinery required lots of skilled labor to set up the not be possible. But replicability can be enhanced machines and mechanics to maintain them; there were if researchers take care in reporting their findings, few operators. . . . The old-fashioned areas [making their selection of the sample, their questions, and similar parts], however, were filled withsemi-skilled other design decisions as accurately as possible. Any workers and almost no skilled workers. The scene researchers attempting to follow up on such stud- sparked my imagination and I wrote two papers.56 For ies can then generate their own sample that closely years I had been reading the history of technology, but matches the one selected for the original study. Finally, it wasn’t until I went to Pollak that I made the con- as with all analysis, the results of any one fieldwork nection that adoption of continuous-process technol- case study may not apply to another case study. The ogy was complementary to skill.57 solution is to do more studies and identify when and why certain cases may be generalizable while others To offset concerns relating to objectivity, replica- not as much. As such, fieldwork can be an important bility, and generalizability, Helper suggests setting complement to existing methods of research and, in similar standards for field research as economists many ways, go beyond what is possible with existing tend to apply to econometric work using large-scale methods by allowing researchers to understand why data sets. These can be accomplished in several ways. economic agents may behave the way they do.

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Our Proposal: Barriers to Opportunity low-income and working-class households may be unclear. A microsimulation analysis by the Congres- Our working group sought to explore questions relat- sional Budget Office estimated that workers with ing to improving access to opportunity for workers income below 450 percent of the federal poverty line near or below the poverty line. Each member of the on average faced an EMTR of 31 percent (including group has tremendous expertise in issues relating to federal taxes, state taxes, and the phaseouts of ben- working-class households and poorer households, efit programs), but this varies enormously with the such as access to benefit programs, measuring pov- different credits and other programs claimed by each erty, the role of opioid addiction, the crisis facing household.58 EMTRs can be as low as –60 percent men unable to find work, and factors holding people for households with children in the phase-in ranges from moving up the income ladder. Over the course for the earned income tax credit (EITC) (45 percent of our working group meetings, a common theme has phase-in rate) and the child tax credit (15 percent emerged of the barriers that individuals perceive as phase-in rate), and they can exceed 100 percent when holding them back from accessing opportunities. exceeding income thresholds renders households These barriers can take many forms, including ineligible for certain benefits. lack of education; lack of access to or perceived prob- However, the ability to calculate the EMTRs faced lems with job-training programs; regulatory barriers, by households using microsimulation applies a degree in particular the barriers imposed by occupational of certainty that actual households may lack, as has licensing; criminal histories and other judicial prob- been documented in many studies.59 Because the rel- lems; high effective marginal tax rates; child support evant effect of marginal tax rates on behavior operates payments tied to income; opioids and drug abuse; through perceived tax rates, ethnographic research difficult work schedules; lack of work history; lack can identify how individuals and households per- of childcare; health conditions and disabilities; and ceive that additional earnings will affect their taxes lack of access to paid leave. An ethnographic study and access to benefit programs, how they adjust their investigating these areas could shed light on these behavior in response to these incentives, and how barriers as well as provide more detailed and qualita- uncertainty about these rates may affect their labor tive information than what is available through exist- market decisions. ing data sets or surveys. After much discussion, this In addition to the incentive effects resulting working group has decided to focus on barriers to from phaseouts of benefit programs, the complex- work as a subset of barriers to opportunity. ity of programs, and eligibility rules may discourage low-income households from using some bene- Topics and Questions. In the context of this project’s fit programs. Morduch and Schneider identify that theme of barriers to work, we have identified a hand- low-income households suffer from instability and ful of subjects of interest and a selection of questions risk; without short-term relief, these households that we would seek to answer through ethnographic may be unable to make long-term investments.60 research. These generally break down into four cate- The Congressional Budget Office notes that many gories: individuals’ perceived incentives from the tax households do not participate in all the programs system and benefit programs, barriers to accessing for which they are eligible.61 To better understand various benefit and income support programs, off-the- this failure to reach these households, an ethno- books income and barriers to obtaining employment, graphic study could analyze the issues and barriers and noneconomic barriers, such as health issues, sub- people face in accessing benefit programs, such as stance abuse, and problems in the household. TANF, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutritional Due to the complexity, phase-ins, phaseouts, and Assistance Program (SNAP). Any such insights could cutoffs of various tax credits and benefit programs, inform us on how difficult it is to obtain cash wel- the effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) faced by fare, and how recipients use this cash.

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Of course, many of the aforementioned questions individuals and families back, and how they can apply to those either in part-time or low-pay work or interfere in work. not working. However, important additional questions Due to the more flexible approach in ethnographic come into play for those who could work but do not. research compared to traditional surveys, as well as Ethnographic research can identify why these peo- multiple extended interviews, an ethnographic study ple are not working and what barriers they perceive would allow us to explore these topics and adjust our in obtaining paid work. Properly identifying these research for each interviewee as we learn more and perceived barriers has important potential value for identify answers and new questions. policymaking. Problems relating to age, insufficient education or skills, and discouragement would require Survey Population. There are different opinions in different solutions, and ethnography can identify the our working group on whom to interview for this pro- relative importance of each of these barriers, as well posed ethnographic study, ranging from the homeless as the perceived effectiveness of various proposed to working-class adults. However, after much discus- solutions. Moreover, individuals may also earn off-the- sion, we have decided to focus on able-bodied adults books income. Although this may not show up in sur- without dependents (ABAWDs) who reported no veys, extended interviews and conversations could earnings when they applied for SNAP and had their potentially reveal otherwise unreported earnings. SNAP budget calculated and who could be identified using administrative data from the SNAP. ABAWDs are adults between the ages of 18 and 49 (working age) who do not have a physical or mental disability that An ethnographic study would prevent them from working. Nor do they have child or non-child dependents. Low-income ABAWDS would allow us to typically do not qualify for cash assistance and so are overly reliant on food assistance through SNAP. explore these topics and To qualify for SNAP, ABAWDS are required to work at least 20 hours a week or participate in a qualified adjust our research for job-training or volunteer program to be eligible for more than three months of benefits over athree-year each interviewee as we period. Benefits are cut off after three months if work requirements are not met and the applicant learn more and identify has not received a waiver. These work requirements for ABAWDS are often the focus of policy discus- answers and new sion. For instance, recent proposals to increase the work requirements for ABAWDS would increase the questions. age limit to 59 for those claiming SNAP benefits, as well as possibly increase the minimum hours of work, Although these economic barriers to obtaining training, or volunteer work required per week. Hence, work are important, other issues affect people’s abil- ABAWDS are an interesting group to study to under- ity to take on work. Among the more severe are sub- stand the barriers to work and opportunity that they stance abuse and addiction. They can also take other, might perceive. less dangerous forms, such as teenage pregnancies, Several prominent researchers argue the need childcare needs, unstable family structures, mar- for greater research into low-income ABAWDs.62 riage instability, and technology use. Ethnographic Low-income ABAWDs have less access to the safety research provides a mechanism to explore the extent net than other low-income groups, such as the elderly, to which these problems occur, how they may hold disabled, and those raising children, and the challenges

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they face are less well understood than for other exemptions varies across states, with 18,202 issued in groups. As adults without dependents, they may face Maryland, 308,362 issued in Virginia, and 144,422 issued relatively high marginal tax rates due to lack of access in West Virginia in fiscal year 2017.64 to income support programs such as the EITC and The Food and Nutrition Service, which administers wage garnishment for child support. They also have SNAP, provides some general statistics on ABAWDs. poor connections to social insurance and antipoverty They estimate that 3.8 million nondisabled adults were programs. They may also be disinclined to respond to living in childless households that received SNAP ben- surveys or may not provide entirely accurate infor- efits in 2016. Overall, this group has an average house- mation. In this context, an ethnographic study of hold income of $367 per month. However, only 26 ABAWDs, including the critical component of build- percent of these individuals are working, and of those ing trust over multiple interviews, could illuminate the who live alone (77 percent), about two-thirds have challenges these individuals face and provide data and no gross income. Slightly under half of ABAWDs are insights unavailable from larger-scale surveys. women, and they are generally younger than the over- Many of the barriers identified earlier—including all population, with 33 percent ages 18 to 25, 27 percent lack of education, problems with job-training pro- ages 26 to 35, and 40 percent ages 36 to 49.65 grams, criminal histories, marginal tax rates, drug In 2001, Stephen Bell and L. Jerome Gallagher abuse, and lack of work history—are therefore salient brought new attention to bear on ABAWDs, identi- challenges for this demographic group. fying them as the one group generally excluded from SNAP administrative data have earnings and house- the social safety net because they are viewed as the hold information, sufficient to identify ABAWDs. “least deserving of the poor.”66 A new paper updates Since 1996, ABAWDs have been subject to certain their work; using data from the Current Population work requirements to remain eligible for the pro- Survey 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supple- gram. This generally operates as a time limit, in ment, they provide the most detailed information which they can only receive three months of benefits available on ABAWDs in general (not just those within a three-year period unless they meet the work enrolled in SNAP).67 They estimated that 7 in 10 requirement of working at least 80 hours per month, ABAWDs were employed, and a relatively high share participating in qualifying education or training pro- of them worked multiple jobs. However, only a third grams (including the SNAP Employment and Train- of ABAWDs earned at least twice the minimum wage, ing Program), or doing unpaid work through a special and they were often disconnected from social insur- state-approved program. ance and antipoverty programs, both universal and These requirements are often difficult to imple- means-tested. ment, and a 2016 audit found that they were prone to When considering locations for an ethnographic error.63 Moreover, states can request waivers from the study, we focused on areas geographically near us, work requirements for areas with unemployment rates which allows us to more closely monitor the process. above 10 percent, areas with two-year average unem- However, we also concluded that it would be valuable ployment rates 20 percent higher than the national to interview subjects beyond urban areas. A poten- average, or areas identified by the Department of Labor tial region to conduct the ethnographic study would as labor surplus areas. As of the third quarter of fiscal presumably extend through a selection of cities and year 2018, five states (plus the District of Columbia, towns (including urban, suburban, and rural areas) Guam, and the Virgin Islands) had statewide time-limit across Virginia, West Virginia, and potentially Mary- waivers, 28 states had partial time-limit waivers (which land. All these states received partial time-limit waiv- apply to cities and counties but not the entire state), ers, and each state has at least tens of thousands of and 17 states did not have waivers. In addition to SNAP recipients who were deemed ineligible for the these waivers, states can also exempt 15 percent of the program due to failure to meet the work requirements ABAWDs deemed ineligible for SNAP. Use of these but who received exemptions.

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Because of these waivers and exemptions, these This interview structure would provide the infor- states should each have sufficiently large samples of mation we have already decided to seek, but it would ABAWDs with no recent earnings, allowing for flex- also provide flexibility to adjust the study and inter- ible approaches to stratified random sampling. The view questions as we learn more. If possible, when use of administrative data provides an advantage in interviewing families, we should also try to conduct establishing a sampling method. Being able to sim- some or parts of interviews with individual family ply identify potential subjects from administrative members, instead of speaking only with the entire records is much easier than walking down the street family at once. or using local community leaders for outreach. This is especially true for ABAWDS; although they are a small share of the total population, administrative data pro- Conclusion vide sufficient detail to identify and randomly sample this group. Ethnographic research can be an important tool to obtain answers to particularly tricky questions poorly Specific Methodology Questions. With these ques- covered by large-scale, household data sets. One big tions and target population, we now discuss the spe- advantage of ethnographic research is that in devel- cific methodological issues in designing such a study. oping relationships with the surveyed families the As described above, we intend to target ABAWDs who researcher can get an in-depth, extraordinary insight reported no earnings when they applied for SNAP. into the challenges that low-income households often We will request researcher access to administra- face. As such, there can be a tremendous amount of tive data from SNAP, which has sufficient detail to learning and understanding of how policy can address identify a large population of ABAWDs in each state. some of the obvious and not-so-obvious barriers Using these sources, we will select families meeting that families may perceive but feel helpless to over- certain demographic characteristics to balance the come. The open-ended and long-term nature of the sample across urban, suburban, and rural communi- survey is a significant advantage over other types of ties. We can also adjust sampling probabilities and use surveys. However, this also imposes a responsibility stratified random sampling to accommodate efforts on the interviewer and the researcher to document, to meet certain demographic criteria. If possible, we verify, and properly tabulate the somewhat unstruc- would study between 20 and 30 families across 10 tured nature of the responses. There needs to be even cities and towns. The use of such detailed criteria is greater effort toward accountability through check- only possible either with enormous resources or with ing and rechecking the information provided, includ- access to administrative data. Accordingly, obtaining ing against other data sources such as administrative permission from the relevant state agencies will be data. In this report, we highlight both the benefits and critical to this project. the potential pitfalls of ethnographic research. We Once each family is selected, we would attempt to have reviewed various ethnographic studies and tried interview each family at least once every other month, to place ethnographic research in a broader historical over a period of approximately one year. This would context of field research and experimentation in both provide rich, detailed qualitative information on each economics and sociology. household, and it would allow us to add extra inter- We conclude our report with a proposal to con- views for specific households as we deem prudent. duct ethnographic research for SNAP recipients Each interview would be fairly wide-ranging, with the who are ABAWDS. As mentioned, ABAWDS are structure of a relatively open discussion. However, we often the focus of policy discussions because of the would provide the interviewer with a set of questions often-changing work requirements that are imposed that they should seek to answer and allow them to on them as they aim to access SNAP benefits. On guide the discussion to those areas as needed. the one hand, work requirements (which include

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training and volunteer work) are imposed because Kathryn Edin is the Bloomberg Distinguished Pro- policymakers want such individuals to maintain or fessor of Sociology and Public Health at Johns Hop- renew their connections with the labor market, as kins University. labor force attachment is a key to improving oppor- tunity. On the other hand, such recipients may often Bruce D. Meyer is a visiting scholar at AEI and the perceive barriers that prevent them from taking McCormick Foundation Professor in the Harris advantage of the opportunities offered to them. Our School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. project will explore such questions in depth and aim to offer a more nuanced understanding of how fam- Robert A. Moffitt is the Krieger-Eisenhower Profes- ilies, in fact, perceive and respond to their situation sor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University. and efforts to improve it. Sally Satel is a resident scholar at AEI, practicing psy- chiatrist, and lecturer at the Yale University School of About the Authors Medicine.

Aparna Mathur is a resident scholar in economic W. Bradford Wilcox is a visiting scholar at AEI, direc- policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute tor of the National Marriage Project at the University (AEI). of Virginia, professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Robert Doar is the Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Stud- Studies. ies at AEI.

Nicholas Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Acknowledgments Political Economy at AEI and is senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research. We thank Cody Kallen for his excellent research and administrative assistance with the project.

© 2018 by the American Enterprise Institute. All rights reserved. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) educational organization and does not take institutional positions on any issues. The views expressed here are those of the author(s).

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