FIELD RESEARCH: OBSERVATION & INTERVIEW BUSN 364 – Week 14_1 Özge Can

 Kitchen Stories, 2003 

What is Field Research?  Involves direct, face-to-face social interaction with “real people” in a natural social setting  Requires directly talking with, and observing the people being studied  Ethnography => Field research that emphasizes providing a very detailed description of a different culture from the viewpoint of an insider for better understanding

What is Field Research?  It is appropriate when we want to learn about, understand, or describe a group of interacting people on a particular location or setting  Helps to answer questions such as:  “How do people do Y in a social world?”  “What is the social world of X like?”

What is Field Research?  As a method, it is more like an umbrella of activity beneath which any technique may be used (e.g. observation, interview, content analysis)  Both requires “insider” and “outsider” viewpoints:  “Fieldwork means involvement and detachment, both loyalty and betrayal, both openness and secrecy, and most likely, both love and hate.” Van Maanen, 1982

Examples of Field Research Sites/Topics:  Small-scale settings:  Passengers in an airplane, laundromats, social movement organizations, television stations, waiting rooms  Community settings:  Small towns, urban ethnic communities, working-class neighborhoods  Children’s activities:  Playgrounds, youth in schools, summer camps, little football leagues

Examples of Field Research Sites/Topics:  Occupations:  Artistis, door-to-door salespersons, factory workers, medical students, police officers, restaurant chefs, taxi drivers  Deviance and criminal activity:  Cults, drug dealers and addicts, street gangs, homeless people  Medical setting and events:  Emergency rooms, pregnancy and abortion, support groups for particular illnesses (e.g. cancer, alzheimer)

What Does Field Researcher Do?

Steps in Field Research: 1. Prepare to enter the field 2. Choose site/gain access 3. Apply strategies 4. Maintaining Relations in the Field 5. Gather and Record Data 6. Exit field site

1) Prepare to Enter the Field  Be flexible  No clearly laid-out, preset, fixed steps  Organize yourself  Skills for careful looking and listening, short-term memory, and regular writing  Defocus  Empty your mind of assumptions and prejudgements; begin with a broad view; fresh, highly aware, curious  Be self-aware  Know yourself and reflect on your personal experiences

2) Choosing a Site and Gaining Access  Select a site – Richness of data – Unfamiliarity – Suitability  Deal with gatekeepers  Enter and gain access  Assume a social role

 Adopt a level of involvement  Complete observer => the researcher is behind a one-way mirror or taking on an “invisible role”  Observer- participant => the researcher is known from the beginning but has limited contact.  Complete participant => the researcher acts as a member of the group (going native)  Decision on the type of observation  Overt (open, undisguised) versus covert (hidden, disguised) 2) Choosing a Site and Gaining Access

3) Apply Strategies  Negotiate  Access, type of relationship and contact  Normalize research  in the eyes of the members of field  Decide on disclosure  How much to reveal about yourself  Focus and sample  Assume the attitude of strangeness  Mentally adjusting to “see”, overcome “blindness” to familiar  Cope with stress  “marginal” status of the researcher  Loneliness and isolation

3) Apply Strategies Focusing and Sampling:

4) Maintaining Relations in the Field  Adjust and adapt  Use charm and build trust  Perform small favors  Avoid conflicts  Appear interested  Be the acceptable incompetent

5) Gather and Record Data  Absorb and experience  The researcher is the instrument for measuring field data  Watch and listen  Pay close attention, watch and listen carefully; be patient, alert and focused  Record data  Field research data is in the form of detailed notes taken  One must keep notes and organize them  Respect to private life and protect confidentiality

5) Gather and Record Data  What to Observe in the Field?  Physical surrounding and the context  What people do/say (explicit knowledge) Observe people and their speeches and actions, noting each observable physical characteristics, apperance and behavior  How and why people do/say something (tacit knowledge) How it is said, what is really meant and implied Constantly making inferences

5) Gather and Record Data  Types of field notes:  Jotted notes  Direct observation notes  Inference notes  Analytic memos  Personal notes  Interview notes  Maps, diagrams, artifacts

6) Exiting the Field Site  Project reaches a natural end; little new is being learned or external factors force it to end  Exiting  Exit process depends on the field  Exit strategy: Quick exit or slow withdraw  Emotionally painful  For researcher and field members

Ethical Issues in Field Research  Covert research  What kind of observation: Covert or Overt?  Confidentiality  Involvement with illegal behavior  Publishing field reports

Interview  A structured conversation and interaction between two persons with the explicit purpose of one person obtaining specific information from the other.  There are two roles:  Interviewer  Interviewee (or respondent)

Task of Being an Interviewer:  Ensure respondent’s time and privacy  Achieve cooperation and build rapport to obtain information  Explain the purpose of the research and their role as an interviewer  Try to reduce fear, suspicion, and etc. so that respondent feels comfortable to reveal info  Monitor the pace and direction as well as the content of the questions and the scope of the answers  Be nonjudgmental; do not reveal personal opinions

Stages of Interview:  Introduction and entry  Securing cooperation from the respondent  Asking questions and accurate recording of answers  Going at a comfortable pace and maintaining interest  Listening and writing carefully; recording what is said without correction, comments, summarizing or paraphrasing

Stages of Interview  Should know when and how to use a probe =>  A follow-up question asked by the interviwer to elicit an appropriate response when a respondent’s asnwer is unclear or incomplete  Major type of probes:  A 3-5 second pause  Nonverbal communication (tilt of head, eye contact..)  Repeating the question or repeating the reply and pause  Asking a neutral question “Any other reasons?” “Could you explain more for me?” “How do you mean that?”

Two Types of Interviews: I. Structured (Survey) Interviews  Directive, formal, standard, closed-ended  = Survey interview II. Unstructured (Field) Interviews  In-depth, nondirective, informal, ethnopgraphic, open-ended  = Field interview

I. Structured Interviews  It has a clear beginning and end  The same standard questions are asked of all respondents in the same sequence  The interviewer appears neutral at all times  Always one respondent alone  Interviewer asks questions and tries to obtain direct and honest answers from the respondent  Probes are rare

I. Structured Interviews  Only the respondent reveals feelings and opinions  Social context is largely ignored  Interviewer controls the topic, direction and pace  Interviewer attempts to maintain a consistently warm but serious and objective tone

II. Unstructured Interviews  Interviewer’s presence  Informal and nondirective  Sharing of experience  Member’s perspective  “Speech event” like a friendly conversation  Markers [“a passing reference made by a respondent to an important event or feeling state”]

II. Unstructured Interviews  The beginnign and end are not clear  The questions and the order in which they are asked are tailored to specific people and situations  Encourages detailed responses and elaborations  It is more likely a conversational exchange  Open-ended questions and probes are common  The social context as an important part of the interview  Adjusted to respondent’s norms and language use

Categories of Interview Bias 1. Errors by the respondent (forgetting, embrassment, misunderstanding and lying because of the presence of others 2. Unintentional errors by the interviewer (omiting question, misreading questions, recording the wrong answer, misunderstanding the respondents) 3. Intentional subversion of the interviewer (e.g. purposeful alteration of answering) 4. Failure to probe or to probe in the right way 5. Influence due to the interviewer expectations