11 th Konitsa Summer School in Anthropology, Ethnography and Comparative Folklore of the Balkans Konitsa, Greece, 24/7 – 10/8/ 2016 DOING FIELDWORK: THEORY, METHOD AND THE PRODUCTION OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE Ethnographic data analysis tutorial - Presentation of the fieldwork findings

Topics to be discussed 1. A reminder of what fieldwork is about 2. The ethnographic data 3. The process of ‘data analysis’ 4. An ethnographic account: what are we trying to ‘talk’ about? 5. The ethnographic text: Structure and content 6. Keep in mind…

What fieldwork is about The kind of research method that involves the researcher in a daily, face-to-face, long term contact with the people he/she studies living with them participating in and observing their behavior at the place where they live aims at experiencing, understanding and describing the way they live from their own point of view

What fieldwork is about The funnel approach

What fieldwork is about  Documenting the lived experience  Observing what people say and do, how they make and perceive their choices, intentions and emotions  Understanding contexts, reasons, ways people talk and act

What fieldwork is about  Describing different and multiple points of view within and across societies  Discovering meaning (means, practices, rituals, objects people make sense of their world)  Understanding norms that shape perceptions and behavior

What fieldwork is about Inductive The researcher identifies patterns and relationships of perceptions, views and actions in the data through a process of discovery Sensitive to context Focus on events, thoughts and actions as interrelated aspects of the setting and the group (or person) under study and place observations into a larger perspective Several possible contexts: the choice of relevant contexts is dependent on the priorities of the researchers

What fieldwork is about: the ethnographic account An ethnographic account: consists of claims (descriptions, explanations, interpretations, assertions, propositions, conclusions) about what people say and do and data that constitute evidence for or against them in such a way as to link the conclusions and the data through the form of " If these data, then these claims “

The ethnographic data…

Familiarise yourself with and get an overview of the different forms of data

The ethnographic data… Ways of data collection: Fieldnotes, observations, interviews, documents Forms of data: Quotations, descriptions, excerpts of documents, newspapers, archival, audio-visual, internet sources Kinds of information: Βehavioral data, opinions, feelings, knowledge, sensory data, and background information

The process of data analysis  Familiarise yourself with and get an overview of the different forms of data  Go back to your research questions, re- think, re-consider, modify or develop new questions based on the material you have collected in the field The “pendulum” metaphor

The process of data analysis From experience → From description of what occurred → From linear sequence of events → Abstraction Interpretation Representation of the field based on our research questions

Reduce data into groups of information

The process of data analysis Reduce data into groups of information based on your final research questions and/or theoretical ideas/concepts Select sets of data (usually unforeseen at the time of gathering) that represent one or more aspects/questions/topics of the context you studied and provide evidence for some interpretation

Select sets of data that represent one or more aspects/questions/topics

The process of data analysis – Selecting and categorising data  Focus on your analysis :  By question, topic, time period, or event  By case, individual, or group  Categorize the information  Identify topics, themes, or patterns  Organize them into preset or emergent categories  Name the categories  Sources: researcher, participants, outside sources

Select and categorise the data

Posing questions and linking the data

Ethnographic data and ‘data analysis The data never speaks for itself. It is the questions we pose that make it talk  What? - Description of the phenomenon and the process  Who? - Actors involved, their role, the ways they interact  How? - When, for how long, where? Time, duration, intensity and place  Why? - Reasoning of the of the words and actions, intentions, objectives  By what means? - Means and strategies used by the actors

Ethnographic data and ‘data analysis’  Initial impressions  Activities - Key events  Personal experiences  Specific persons  People’s words  Sensory details  Material objects  Space: the physical place(s)

Ethnographic data and ‘data analysis’ Variations within the identified pattern Instances of contrast with it Concentration on a remembered scene and on words and sentences Chronological order Event that stands out as important Focus on incidents related to specific topics Consideration of words, tone, context, non-verbals, frequency, extensiveness, intensity, and specificity of responses

Ethnographic data and data analysis: the relation between theory and ethnography The metaphor of elephant-and-rabbit-stew “What is required is one elephant of ethnography and a rabbit of theory. The art consists of bringing out the flavor of the rabbit”

An ethnographic account

What are we trying to ‘talk’about? The end product of an ethnographic research is a:  coherent account of a particular culture (or society),  through description and interpretation,  based on certain descriptive “facts” (empirical material - information collected through fieldwork)

What are we trying to ‘talk’ about? Description Τhe descriptive aspect of an ethnographic text should be closely to the native conceptualisation of the world Its purpose is to let the reader know: what happened in the research site and what it was like to be there from the participants' point of view

What are we trying to ‘talk’ about? Description A decision has to be made about how much description to include Sufficient description and direct quotations should be included so that readers can understand as fully as possible the research setting, and people’s words, meanings and actions

What are we trying to ‘talk’ about? The emic perspective:  Representing a setting with the participants’ terms and from their viewpoint The etic perspective:  Representing a setting with the researcher’s terms and from her/his viewpoint

An "effective" or "successful" ethnographic account

The argument should be constructed with regard to the amount of empirical evidence which supports it It should provide sufficient description to allow the reader to understand the analysis and sufficient analysis to allow the reader to understand the interpretations and explanations presented.

The ethnographic text: Structure and content

1. Introduce the topic, the research questions, the analytical focus of your observations and the research site 2. Literature review 3. Discuss aspects of your methodology, researcher access and other methodological challenges 4. Contextualise your topic within the research site 5. Present your empirical findings 6. Conclusions / concluding remarks 7. End(foot)notes / References cited

Keep in mind… We try to discover the multiple truths of the people We need to stay close to the words of lived experience The voices of our subjects have a prior live in the context they live. Place them always in their context Why would it be worth for someone to hear what you have to say? What can we learn from your study?

Well done KONITSIOTES!!! Data analysis is on the way…Keep up with the good work!!!

Present your study… Present your study in the classroom ( in 3 mns )

Present your study…  Preliminary Title: Give us a preliminary title or include key words that pertain to your research topic  Research Question(s): Outline your research question(s) - Place your study within a theoretical and conceptual framework  Methodology: Where was your field site? - What data gathering techniques did you use to investigate your topic? What kinds of data did you collect?