Field Notes in Ethnographic Research by Robert M. Emerson

multiple versions of the truth

Basketball Structure

Participant Observation

Transcribing

"first hand written participation in some initially unfamiliar social world and the production of written accounts of that world by drawing upon such participation" (1)

• Selection

• document non-verbal, and verbal cues
• reflecting for future readers

Now your turn:

Can you explain the story as it happened?

the ethnographer enters a social setting and gets to know the members

the ethnographer writes down what they learn, and experience while participating, AKA 'Fieldnotes'

• interviews vs. participation

1. Fans

2. Mascot

3. Band

4. Players/Coaches

5. Cheerleaders

6. Referees

"[Transcribing is a] process of transforming naturally occurring speech into specific words"

the ethnographer participates in the daily routines, develops relationships, and observes events as they occur

Inscribing Experiences/Observed Realities

Implications For Writing Fieldnotes

Field Notes in Ethnographic Research

by Robert M. Emerson

• There is no 'correct' way to describe an observation
• Selection/Building a frame
• Transcripts/interviews/video recordings

Transcription, Translation, Narration, Inscription, ect.

• Inseparability of 'methods' and 'findings'
• Seek out indigenous meanings
• Take contemporary field notes
• Pay attention to interactional detail

"field notes do more than record observations...they constitute a way of life through the very writing choices the ethnographer makes and the stories she tells; for, though her writing conveys her understandings and insights to future readers unacquainted with these lives, people, and events..." (16).

"ethnographic field research involves the study of groups and people as they go about their everyday lives....The ethnographer participates in the daily routines of this setting, develops ongoing relations with the people in it, and observes all the while what is going on...second, the ethnographer writes down in regular, systematic ways what she observes and learns while participating in the daily rounds of life with others" (Emerson 1).

Q: do you think you can ever have a truly accurate transcription? Is it possible to build a frame around a transcription?

A couple of things to consider

Ethnographic Participation

Style of Talk

* Adjectives are important in an ethnography.

ex. "

*Interpretation is all up to the ethnographer

high intensity

2

The ethnographer should:

• seek 'immersion'
• resocialize
• embrace reactive effects

2,3,5?

The Playful Self: Being a Fan at a College Basketball Game

5?

Competitive

cooperative

Its Not JUST Basketball

"Basketball is not just a game to see; it is (or can be) a potent cultural event , a highly involving , playfully expressive ritual of communicative practices, in which one participates"

The ethnographer should not:

• be fly on the wall
• try to determine the 'truth'

5?

1

Q: what kinds of pre-constructed frames hinder somebody from being fully immersed in a society?

low intensity

Why is it important?

"Fans gather, then, as fans, not only to celebrate their favored team, and not only for some degree of release through competition and intense social activity, but moreover for some degree of communal integration through the celebration."

"By examining the public actions we perform daily we may better come to grips with our social identities and the various notions of public life related to this"

For the Fans : Discourse

There are acts that we partake in that we wouldn't identify as rituals!

Warm up

Salutation

Intro.

Game talk

Dissipation