Lecture 6 ARM

Question 1

Classical participant observation

Answer 1

An actual visit to the location and direct interacting with people

• look and describe the entire sitation, people present, landscape/setting, striking connections
• taking fieldnotes
• take note of your positionality
• detailed reflection immediately afterwards
• (compare and contrast with group)

Question 2

Digital participant observation

Answer 2

Participate and observe regularly in a digital space or location, where people meet
- keep it focused
- participation in the environment is the goal
- ask for consent in a semi-private or closed event

Question 3

HOWto: pariticipant observations

Answer 3

1. Look at and describe entire situation
2. Take fieldnotes of initial impressions
3. Take fieldnotes during observation while increasing your participation
4. Take not of your own participation and positionality
5. Write a detailed reflection immediately afterwards
6. Meet as a group and compare

Question 4

Multivocality

Answer 4

We find different things and notice distinct things based on our distinct positionalities

Question 5

Writing about positionality

Answer 5

How does your positionality impact
1. access
2. how your pariticpants talk to you
3. the questions you ask
4. how you build a rapport
5. your limitations and bias
6. fieldwork strategies (who talks first etc)
7. methodology
8. reflexivity - using or getting around the limits of your positionality

Question 6

!Access!

Answer 6

H and A p 41
“Gaining access is a thoroughly practical matter. It involves drawing on the
1) intra- and inter-personal resources and strategies that we all tend to developing in dealing with everyday life.

But achieving access is not merely a practical concern. Its achievement depends upon
2) theoretical understanding, often disguised as “native wit”, but also the
3) discovery of obstacles to access, and perhaps the effective means of overcoming them, itself provides insight into the social organisation of the setting or the orientations of the people being researched

Question 7

Getting access

Answer 7

1. Approach - best to show up in person
2. Patience - but not too patient!
   3.Timeline - do not wait until too long to get an answer
3. Everything is fieldwork - even if you get access or not, or how, write about it

Question 8

Obstacles

Answer 8

There will always be obstacles - and those are also data !

Question 9

Self-presentation of the ethnographer(strategic choices)

Answer 9

How do you present yourself in the field -your appearance, doing wrong things, draw attention to stand out?

In participant observation - fly on the wall is not an option

Cultivated innocence -

Question 10

Cultivated innocence!

Answer 10

H and A - p 55
Acceptable incompetent
How do you communicate to the people that they must teach you - with a genuine interest, as you are also capable to understand

Find this in H and A !

Question 11

Rapport!

Answer 11

To have a good understanding and communication with someone: to communicate in trust and empathy

Trust as a prerequisite - are you who you claim to be, will you listen, will you keep confidentiality, are you just “using” or is there reciprocity?

Also find in H and A

Question 12

Key people in the field

Answer 12

1- Sponsors
2- Gatekeepers
3- Key interlocutors

These can have overlapping roles!
develop relationships that lasts beyond the fieldwork - revisits

Question 13

Sponsor

Answer 13

The people who take the researcher under the wing, and sponsor them in the field - go “good” for a person

Question 14

Gatekeepers

Answer 14

Power to open the door in the field.
Might not always know who the gatekeeper is - might not be obvious

Usually has some social capital - knows many people etc

Question 15

Key interlocutors

Answer 15

Talk to the most throughout the fieldwork

Question 16

Impression management in the field!

Answer 16

Impressions that post an obstacle to access must be avoided, downplayed, or countered as far as possible, while those which facilitate it must be encouraged, within the limits set by practical and ethical considerations

Eg personal appearance, how you dress, imitate the others in the field - how to be an insider, signal that you respect the codes, without decieving others etc

H and A - p. 65

Question 17

Field roles

Answer 17

• The social role(s) adopted by the ethnographer in the field
• not only naturalizing presence but occupy some kin/work/friend role - not just the ethnogrpaher
• you may be ascribed these roles
• using “acceptable incompetent”

Question 18

Covert vs overt research

Answer 18

Find yourself in the middle of “complete participation” (overt) and “complete observer” (covert)

You usually go from covert to overt

Openness (overt) - key for ethical reasons

A matter of degree

Question 19

Participant observation data

Answer 19

1. What researcher observes of other’s behaviour in the field
2. Researcher’s own participation experience
3. Accounts of those in the of their behaviour and experiences (H and A,96)

Question 20

Taking fieldnotes

Answer 20

• Can be written in the moment or later (jottings)
• Immediately after or within 1-2 days
• Memos
• “Headnotes”

Question 21

Jottings

Answer 21

Mnemonic words or phrases to fix an observation or to recall what someone has just said eg (CoSmile, EarANetc)

Question 22

Systematic jottings

Answer 22

Major dimensions of every social situation
- space
- actors
- activity
- object
- event
- time
- goal
- feeling
- sensation

Question 23

From jotting to narrative tale

Answer 23

Sketch (snapshot, descriptive, imagery, movement, smells, not much of time)

–> Episode (action over time, continuous interractions, routines)

– > Narrative tale (hooking together multiple episodes, telling a story, introduction, body, climax, conclusion - stay true!)

Question 24

What kinds of things to note

Answer 24

1. Details of key components
2. Avoid making generalizing statements, not usable
3. Show dont tell about people’s behaviour - eg write dialogues, expressions
4. Sensory details
5. General impressions and feelings