ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the methodological aspects of my research. After a brief introductory section on the centrality of meaning for the project, I discuss the research process, which began with review of documents, continued with fi eldwork at the UMC 2000 General Conference, and concluded with a series of intensive interviews. Because concerns are frequently raised about how well ethnographic research conforms to certain social science standards, I then address accuracy, generalizability, reliability, validity and bias in my study. The chapter closes with a discussion of the extent to which this project should be considered an autoethnography and what such a designation might mean.
