Qualitative Field Research

1. Qualitative Field Research

2. Topics for Field Research • Observing complex social phenomena • Topics that defy simple quantification • Topic best understood in natural settings • Topic focused on social processes over time

3. All Elements of Social Life • Practices: talking, reading a book • Episodes: divorce, crime, illness • Encounters: meetings, interactions • Role: occupations, gender roles • Relationships: friendships, mother-son

4. All Elements of Social Life • Groups: cliques, teams, work groups • Organizations: hospitals, prisons • Settlements: neighborhoods, ghettoes • Social worlds: "wall street", ”dorm life“ • Lifestyles/subcultures: punk, gay/lesbian

5. Roles of the Observer • Participant Observation • Full participant to complete observer • Constructed roles and social interaction • Ethics of involvement and deception • Influencing the process and outcome • Naturalism and honesty • “Going native”

6. Relation to Subjects • Maintaining some separation / objectivity • Taking others perspectives / subjectivity • Mutually exclusive advantages of perspective • Acknowledging implications for reflexivity

7. Field Research Paradigms • Naturalism - empirical, observable reality • “Chicago School” sociology • Ethnographic - use of informants • Provide description of how things “really are” • Ethnomethodology - socially-constructed reality • Phenomenology - “breaching experiments” • “Make sense” of informants perspectives • Reveal underlying patterns of interaction • Institutional ethnography • Interested in institutional power relations

8. More Field Research Paradigms • Grounded theory - positivism + interactionism • Derive theories from patterns/themes in observations • Systematic set of procedures in qualitative work • Theoretical sampling and precise coding • Case studies and the extended case method • Detailed analysis of particular instance • Way to refine and improve existing theory • Participatory action research • Research as resources to those being studied

9. Preparing for Field Work • Fill in your knowledge of the subject • Discuss plan with an informant • Develop an identity, if participant • Select initial contact

10. Seven Stages of Interviewing Interviewing is flexible, iterative & continuous • Thematizing - clarifying • Design • Interviewing • Transcribing • Analyzing • Verifying and checking facts • Reporting

11. Advantages of Focus Groups • 8 - 15 participants in guided discussion • Foster interaction among participants • Socially oriented research method • Flexible • High face validity • Speedy results • Low in cost

12. Disadvantages of Focus Groups • Less control than individual interviews • Data can be difficult to analyze • Moderators may impede process • Reactive to differences in composition • Difficult to assemble groups • Powerful personalities can take over

13. Taking Research Notes • Don’t trust your memory • Take notes while you observe • Take notes in stages • Take sketchy notes in field; fill in the details later • Record everything • Things that don't seem important may be significant • Realize that most of your field notes will not be reflected in your final project - that’s OK

14. Strengths of Field Research • Permits a great depth of understanding. • Flexibility - can be modified at any time. • Inexpensive - few direct costs • Validity over surveys or experiments.

15. Weaknesses of Field Research • No statistical evidence - limited claims • Personal factors may undermine reliability • Generalizability limited to context

16. Is It Ethical? • To talk to people when they don't know you will be recording their words? • To get information for your own purposes from people you hate? • To see a severe need for help and not respond to it directly? • To be in a situation but not commit yourself wholeheartedly to it?