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Transcript

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes

Written by Emerson, Fretz and Shaw

Chapter One: Ethnographic field research

Carrying out research is composed of two distinct activities:

1) The ethnographer enters into an unfamiliar social setting and gets to know the people involved in it.

Participant observation: includes participating in the daily routines of this setting and develops relationships with the people in it while making observations

Chapter 2: In the Field: Participating, Observing and Jotting Notes

Goals of ethnographic participation

2) The ethnographer takes field notes and jottings

which includes observations of new surroundings he/she learns while participating in the life of others in the setting, or field.

Ethnographers want to "get close" to the activities and experiences of other people

Ethnographers turn observations and experiences into written texts in different ways

  • Some maximize their immersion in local activities and suspend their concern with the task of producing written records of these events.

  • Example: Field researcher decides where to go, what to look at, what to ask.. but with no orientation of "writing it down". They value relating naturally to and figuring out intuitively what their participants are all about. "Writing down" notes are postponed.

  • Others are set up to observe and are explicitly writing down notes during the events in order to produce a descriptive account.

  • Most ethnographers employ both styles of participation depending on context

They immerse into others' world in order to grasp what they experience as meaningful and important.

Jottings

It involves both being with other people to see how they respond to events as they happen and experiencing for oneself these events and the circumstances that give rise to them

Jottings translate to be remembered observations written down quickly about actions and dialogue

  • A word or two written at the moment will jog memory later and enable the fieldworker to catch significant actions and construct vivid descriptions of the scene
  • Can also be written as "headnotes"

Examples of jottings

Helpful for producing vivid, descriptive field notes

Participating in order to write

1) Jorge= at table doesnt introduce me to anyone

now only speaks in Spanish

chit chat-- whos playing

"they're not very good" -- apology

What to take notes on?

  • Initial impressions: details about the physical setting or about the kind of people in the setting

2) you can call his doctor at UCLA and

he can verify all this

I just don't call people on the

telephone-- courts don't operate that way--

iit has to be on paper

(or person)

Where and When

  • Focus on observing key events or incidents

The researcher works hard to establish a close relationship with the participants to be included in activities and therefore, it is recommended that the fieldworker informs the people in the setting of their research and the methods conducted

Both focus on scenes, observed actions and dialogue rather than on evaluation or psychological interpretation

  • With an open sensitivity, take note to what those in the setting are experiencing, their reactions to something "significant" or "important"

Fieldworkers must rely upon interactional skills to judge whether or not taking jottings in the moment is appropriate

  • Open style jottings
  • Hidden style jottings

Strategies for how, where and when to jot notes changes with time spent in the setting and with different relationships formed between the fieldworker and the participants.

Decisions about when and how to take jottings must be considered in the context of the set of relations with those in the setting

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