Sterk’s article discusses the field methodologies practiced by ethnographers; to make the report applicable to readers, she discussed her personal project and how she applied ethnographic methodologies. Sterk studied deinstitutionalized adults, which refers to those with mental disabilities that challenge daily life practices. Her project began with a general formative theory; people who are confidently able to exercise survival skills are better community members than those with mental disabilities. In order to test Sterk’s formative theory, she carried out unobtrusive observations, initial interviews, and two techniques for ethnographic interviews. To start, unobtrusive observations were carried out at agencies that train adults with mental
