Participant Observation- Taking Field Notes Research Method Lab Participant Observation- Taking Field Notes

Step One: Jottings

Jottings Taking jottings is a strategy used by researchers to minimize the interruption of taking longer field notes while in the classroom Think of jottings as impressions, using key words and phrases to capture the essence of what you are seeing A word or two written down while something is happening is usually all you’ll need to jog your memory

Jottings Every teacher/researcher will have his/her own style of jottings- you’ll find yours with practice A good way to orient yourself to the note taking process is to practice with your classroom setting Start by making a list of initial impressions- details like size, space, noise, colors, equipment, movement, people in the space, etc.

Jottings While observing or taking jottings, be sure to only focus on “how” or “what” NOT “why” Do not try to predict or guess the motivation of the people you are observing If you only focus on your own judgments, you will interfere with your ability to capture critical information The idea behind field notes is that collected over time, they begin to contain certain patterns and themes that you can analyze later on You may end up not using every single jotting in a full-fledged note

Jottings Example #1 Jorge=at lunch Doesn’t make eye contact Now only speaks Spanish Example #2 (excerpt from a conversation) Parents aren’t answering phone Haven’t seen Mary for a week Missing homework grades

Jottings 1. Jot down details of what you sense are key components of observed scenes or interactions 2. Avoid making statements characterizing what people do that rely on generalizations (like calling someone “inefficient”)

Jottings 3. Jot down concrete sensory details about actions and talk, details that show rather than tell about people’s behavior 4. Do not ignore emotions, but avoid the temptation to identify motives or internal states (anger can result from illness, sadness, frustration, a power struggle, etc.) 5. Jot down sensory details which you could easily forget but which you deem to be key observations about the scene

Jottings 6. You can also write down unimportant details as reminders (you won’t use these in your finished notes, but they can help you remember what happened 7. Jottings can be used to signal general impressions and feelings, even if you are unsure of their significance at the moment-place these on the margins of your paper

Step Two: Expand Notes

Expand Notes Writing up your jottings into notes requires a block of concentrated time An event that maybe took a few minutes to happen and jot can take longer to write up The most ideal situation is when you can write expanded notes later that same day One week is the maximum time to spend between jottings and write-up

Expand Notes Stance includes how you identify with who you are observing—Teachers tend to write more fully about events they see as relevant Stance also includes your intended or likely audience Teachers can shift stance from personal observations to professional ones Some notes can include one’s own reactions while other notes can be about how you adapted curriculum to meet a student’s needs

Expand Notes Concentrate on remembering and getting words on the page, not on editing or revising The writing at this stage is going to seem unpolished When you go back and edit the first draft of your expanded notes, you can reflect on what happened- is there anything missing, is the note too judgmental or interpretive?

Expand Notes Imagining an interested reader who wishes to know more encourages longer and more vividly detailed notes The process of turning a jotting into a note involves what to include as much as what to leave out In general, it doesn’t hurt to include more details-this way you’ll have more material to use when it comes to the editing and write-up stages See handout for sample jottings turned into an expanded note

Expand Notes First person- this is the “I” telling the story, from the perspective of the teacher/researcher This is effective for the researcher who also works in the setting they are observing See handout for sample first person note

Expand Notes Third person is used for describing what others are doing and saying You can also combine this point of view with the first person The focused third person limits the descriptions to what those observed, saw, did, and said Using a focused third person gives the reader a sense of only what the student saw

Expand Notes Real Time Descriptions- the writer seeks to characterize events using only what is known at certain points as the event unfolds Basically, you structure the note as if you are encountering the event for the first time See handout for example

Expand Notes End point descriptions- the writer makes full use of what they came to know when they witnessed the event If a teacher describes the first day of class, then an end point perspective would list all of the students’ names, even if he/she wouldn’t know everyone’s names until later in the class meeting This is basically the storytelling mode of writing

Step Three: Analysis

Analysis At this stage, you will have collected many expanded field notes Now it is time to do a systematic reexamination of what has been written and to identify themes Rereading is recommended until you can no longer think of new ideas, themes, or issues It also helps to read through your notes as if they were written by a stranger

Analysis The coding process begins with the researcher mentally asking questions of specific pieces of the field note data The secret of coding lies in turning answers to these questions into a word or short phrase that best captures an overall theme

Analysis Some helpful questions that lead to coding include: What are people doing? What are they trying to accomplish? How, exactly, do they do this? What specific means/strategies do they use? How do members talk about, characterize, and understand what is going on? What assumptions are they making? What do I see going on here? What did I learn from these notes? Why did I include them?

Analysis These questions give priority to processes rather than causes or internal psychological motives You want to ask questions that identify what is occurring and in what order, rather than “why” questions that ask about causes These questions focus on practical concerns which means paying attention to patterns that emerge from the mundane rather than the dramatic

Analysis Open coding- the idea is not to use pre-established categories, but to write down any category that comes to mind You can always go back and limit the focus to just the categories you see repeating

Analysis Memos- notes to one’s self that concern why you chose a particular theme or category- this can help you narrow down your codes Themes- you want to select themes that can also relate to other apparent themes- this will make your write-up easier

Analysis Focused coding- after you have done an open coding and identified potential themes, re-read your notes, using the new codes you have created, based on these themes For example, you might have had 20 different codes for a field note, but only 5 relate to your research themes- these 5 codes would be the ones you use throughout the rest of your analysis

Step Four: Write-up

Write-up Selecting field note excerpts is not a simple matter of finding the most interesting examples to use in your write-up The themes you selected in the coding stage will help you to organize your write-up You can then begin to isolate excerpts from your field notes that demonstrate examples of these themes

Write-up The more detailed and vivid your field notes, the easier it will be to let them speak for themselves by using them as block quotes An excerpt provides a starting place for collecting a body of excerpts bearing on a common theme

Write-up Integrative strategy- weaves together interpretation and excerpt, typically written as a single paragraph Field notes and ideas are then merged into a single, flowing text written as a single voice The integrative strategy is well-suited for longer, continuous field notes See handout for example

Write-up Excerpt strategy- visually marks field notes excerpts off from accompanying commentary, usually by intending or italicizing The excerpt style lets readers see for themselves the situation presented in the write-up See handout for example Note that the author begins with an analytic point, then orients the reader before setting up the situation for the excerpt, which follows The author then ends with analytic commentary

Write-up When writing an excerpt-commentary, the researcher must closely examine his/her strategies to check whether idea and description reinforce each other Your job is to convince the reader that your interpretation is justified

Write-up Editing is the last necessary step of the field note process When editing, the researcher has to consider length and relevance Excerpts should not ramble on- if you must use a super-long excerpt, divide it into shorter paragraphs and intersperse with commentary Keep in mind the importance of relevance- are your edited excerpts related to your themes and ultimately your research goals? See handout for example of an edited note