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Ethnographic Research Module - Coggle Diagram
Ethnographic Research Module
Types of Observation
General Observation
Each researcher must inform the reader of the conditions in which he carried out the experiment or observations.
The ethnographer does not just have to lay the nets in the right place and wait to see what falls. He must be an active hunter, lead the piece into the trap and chase it to its most inaccessible lairs.
The primary and basic ideal of ethnographic field work is to give a clear and coherent outline of the social structure and to highlight, from the accumulation of irrelevant facts, the laws and norms that every cultural phenomenon entails.
The collection of concrete data on a wide range of facts is one of the essential points of the empirical method.
Types of questions: Open Questions; Closed questions; Multiple Answer Questions.
Types of observations: Methodological Observations; Participant observation; Non-Participant Observation.
Types of Interview
The main personal attributes required in interviews are the same as in other aspects of the investigation; and they always revolve around confidence, curiosity and naturalness.
People also have values and interests, and sometimes the interviewer can be strongly against them.
Sometimes it is impossible to discover the feelings of the informants, because they are poorly formulated in the mind of the interviewee and have to be explored together in a mutual inquiry.
It is very common to find in the first interview with bland or seamless information.
Another element is spontaneity. Just as in the observation one tries not to infer, in order to collect testimony of the events as they are, not affected by the presence or the actions of the observer, so also in the interviews, the objective is to capture what is found in the interior of the interviewees, without the coloration or distortion that the interviewer can print.
Ethnographic work, interviews or conversations can take place anywhere, at any time and over a very long period.
When interviews are being prepared, interviewees should, whenever possible, be given the opportunity to choose the time and place.
It becomes participant observation, and the researcher can extract all the benefits from it, including concomitant affective reactions.
Interviewers seek to cultivate the art of listening. It's not just about hearing and remembering. Listening involves pretending to be listening with slightly exaggerated body language and attention to eye contact.
Field Identification
We must use our own feelings, beliefs, preconceptions, and assumptions to develop potential understandings of the perspectives of others.
Like the settings and activities, the people should be carefully described in the notes.
We must perceive those traits in people that provide insight into how they see themselves and want to be seen by others.
People, as well as scenarios, must be described in concrete and non-evaluative terms.
Observers must record their own conduct on the field. People's words and actions can only be understood if they are examined in the context in which they were spoken or performed. The observers are part of the context.
There are also comments that the observer overhears that seem inappropriate or out of context. Such data must be recorded as it is. Do not try to reconstruct what you have heard so that it is better read.
The clarification and extension of the data through a key report, which points to a basic comparison, deeper considerations behind the observed actions and other related data.
Construction of Categories
The first step is to identify the most important categories, which, in turn, can be divided into groups. Data can be classified according to these categories, the nature of which will depend on the type of study and the interests at stake.
The world that is investigated according to a data collection method is greatly distorted due to the limitations of that data and the available method of analysis.
The more closely we can link them together, then, through triangulation, intensification, interaction, or any other method, the more robust the final product will be.
The researcher will have to do some preliminary reading in order to get a glimpse of the field or the approaches that have been made, and will have to consider late work throughout the investigation.
The main emphasis has been placed on discovery rather than theory testing, but this does not include that the analysis is both guided by data collection and guides such collection.