|
Ethnographic Techniques
Choosing a presentational role and participating and observing in the field
Participant Observation
Participant Observation is the main method of ethnography and involves taking part as a member of a community while making mental and then written, theoretically-informed observations.
Outline
Learning through first-hand experience.
Initial stages of awkwardness and strangeness, and living a ‘multiplex life’.
Becoming a more active seeker of knowledge.
From distance to immersion, and how far to take participation.
Participant-observer positions:
being covert or overt; http://www.ukassignment.org/ gaining an insider role;
asking what you aim to achieve; and
practical considerations.
Learning through first-hand experience.
What is participant observation?
Both participating and observing
Becoming an insider (or adopting an outsider perspective)
Getting involved, and writing about it
Gaining access
Initial stages
General gathering
Getting in/ Recruitment
Choosing a role
Getting on with the job
Feeling strange
Avoiding a case of ‘Pyles’.
Becoming more active
How far to participate
What to do in the field
Where to go and who to talk to
What data to collect and how
Distance and immersion
The participant observer oxymoron
Participant observation includes:
Access, rapport, asking questions,
While avoiding ‘going native’
Observation aims to be detached
Participation is involved
Relations in the field
Making friends and building relationships
Issues of reciprocity
Key informants
Confining one’s work in time and place
Negotiating relations
Emotional labour
Participant observer positions
the complete participant,
participant as observer,
observer as participant,
complete observer
Participant observer positions
being covert or overt;
gaining an insider role;
asking what you aim to achieve; and
practical considerations.
The participant observation continuum
Remember your aims for participation
For access
For immersion and empathy
From full immersion to minimal participation
|
