Agenda

1
Agenda

• Before Lunch
• Homework work on Research Report
• Power Point on Ethnographic Research and Research
  Report
• Lunch
• After Lunch
• Work on Projects
• Finalize questions and methodology
• Conduct Interviews/ Observations

2
Project What you must turn in.

• Research Questions
• Field notes/ Surveys/ Observations
• Research Report
• Presentation

3
Studying the Human ExperienceA Guide to
Ethnographic Research
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Keep Our Goal in Mind

• Our goal is to observe, describe, and analyze the
  human experience in order to gain insight on
  patterns of behavior and environmental
  influences.
• An obstacle we face is the fact that we are a
  part of the culture we are observing
• What are other obstacles we might face?

5
Humans are Crazy

• Human beings are very complicated organisms
  (especially in high school, no offense) whose
  behavior can be disorderly and unpredictable.
• This presents a challenge to ethnographers who
  are concerned with gaining insight into human
  behavior.

6
Terms

• Variable
• Subject or Participant
• Observer

7
Data Collection Techniques
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Participant Observation

• Taking part in the events one is observing,
  describing, and analyzing
• Usually document experience after the fact
• Field notes written records of participant
  observations
• Document various factors (time, location, age,
  sex, etc.)

9
Structured vs. Unstructured Interviews

• Conversations with varying degrees of formality
  are essential to ethnographic research
• Structured Interview
• Have formal questions already prepared
• Standardized way of documenting experience
• Unstructured Interview
• Casual, unscripted conversation
• Formal variable may be inconsistent, however this
  form helps maintain rapport

10
Questionnaire vs. Survey

• Questionnaire usually asks open ended questions
  for in-depth written response
• Survey usually ask for opinion on a quantitative
  scale
• Likert Scale strongly agree, agree, undecided,
  disagree, strongly disagree
• Dont forget Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

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Methods of Questioning

• Use questions that vary from convergent to
  divergent.
• That is use both open-ended (divergent) and
  closed (convergent)
• Use wait time to elicit a response! Re-wording
  and unnecessary probing might result in biased
  responses
• Consider location Private vs. Public
• Carefully choose subjects
• Take notes during the interview

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Data Collection Considerations

• Validity
• Ethics

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Validity

• Validity degree to which scientific observations
  actually measure or record what they purport to
  measure
• Talk little, listen a lot
• Record observations accurately
• Begin writing field notes ASAP

14
Ethics

• Informed consent
• Anonymous
• Inform participants of the option to refrain from
  answering aspects of study
• Confidentiality

15
Data Analysis and Interpretation

• Techniques
• Reflection