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Remember, no class next week.
Proposals due by email Friday night,
September 28th
Start some informal ‘fieldwork’ as you finish
your proposals: talk to friends @ the topic,
start your journal, search the internet . . .
Project
Topic/Purpose
Epistemology
Research
Questions
Choosing Method(s) of Data Collection
1.
Participant-Observation
2.
Conducing Interviews
3.
Conducting Focus Groups
4.
Analysis of Existing Documents
5.
Archival Data
6.
Open-Ended Survey Instruments
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Remember: search questions are revised,
revisited as you proceed . . .
Getting started talking, observing, and/or
reviewing documents can help you to hone
your research question and/or choice of data
collection methods.
1.
What communication strategies do women midlevel managers in the financial industry use in
salary negotiations?
2.
How do young adults talk about the role social
media plays in dating?
3.
How do PR manager frame their use of social
media in managing a crisis?
4.
How do mid-career, professional Hispanic
women viewing ‘Law & Order’ talk about the way
that minorities are portrayed in the workplace?
5.
How was the term ‘economic recession’ used in
the business media between 2008-2009 to
justify corporate downsizing?
6.
How do temporary workers experience and
describe working at client organizations?
7.
How do young adults talk about the ethics of
social media use/abuse in social situations?
8.
How do single mothers make sense of the
benefits and challenges they experience
managing work and family?
Originally conceived as literally a ‘physical location’ but . . .
For us, its process and a place or your ‘field of vision’ for the
project:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Community of connected individuals
Relationships which you negotiate to gain access
Sites where you’ll have conversations and observations
Public discourses that gather for analysis
Going into ‘the field’ means time spent listening and learning.
Key skills as observation, note taking, careful listening, and
attention.
Note: Word ‘ethnography’ and ‘ethnographer’ = one who
participates and observes another culture or others’ fields of
vision.
Either the subway ride there tonight or this
morning or when you were at lunch today:
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Describe in as much detail as possible as
many people, things, sounds, smells, and/or
interactions you experienced or experienced.
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Topic: Customer Service Interactions
RQ: What customer service strategies are
used by employees in NYC fast-food
restaurants, cafes or quick service
establishments?
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Go somewhere you can unobtrusively observe
customer service interactions at food
establishment for 20 minutes.
Stay within a few block radius . . .
◦ Starbucks, Chipolte, Gregorys, Pinkberry, Dunkin, Pax,
Bauch Coffee Shop, Pizza places, etc.
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Come back to Baruch first, sit down for 10
minutes– write field notes, separate notes for
each person.
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Initial impressions of the setting (especially if
you’ve been there before – look again)
Customer service interactions:
◦ Dialogue, common phrases or words used, unusual
incidents, ‘easy interactions’, co-worker conversations,
body language, physical space, vocal intonation,
customer responses, sense of time or pace.
◦ Notice when something ‘changes’ or when you see
different types of customer service interaction –
describe.
Goal = Create ‘descriptive field notes’ of this setting
– not analytical.
1. Don’t judge, just document. You don’t know what
will eventually be important for your analysis.
2. Watch, take ‘head notes’ – focus on remembering
3. Yes, you can make quick shorthand notes: jot
down memorable phrases; try to avoid analyzing.
4. But observe don’t just write – experience.
5. Look, listen carefully – what sounds? What smells?
6. Catch ‘dialogue’ as best you can – what was said?
7. “Participate” if you can – get a soda, coffee, etc.
Go . . . Have fun!
Observe for 20
minutes; Write up
notes for 10.
We’ll start class back
up at:
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What challenges might you experience in taking
notes during an interview?
◦ Participants’ notice when you write or don’t write.
◦ Not listening, but only making notes.
◦ Other distractions – phones, kids, etc.
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What about challenges in taking notes during a
focus group?
◦ Audio recording and talk overs? Quality of audio? Video?
◦ Your job = facilitating a conversation; difficult on its
own.
◦ Bring another student from class to also take notes; sit
and listen.
1.
Get a system for jotting down ‘memorable words’ or
phrases during the interview.
2.
Write everything – you don’t know what will eventually
matter – construct your data first.
3.
Tell participants up front that you’ll take a few notes,
but recording so you can focus on the conversation.
4.
5.
Start a journal: set aside 15 minutes to take notes after
every interview; if you remember something later on,
add – don’t assume you’ll remember.
Write your reactions as you proceed, just try to note
when its your reaction vs. a direct observation.
5.
6.
7.
Have separate sections for your notes and
for your ongoing ‘analysis’ – want to be able
to tell the difference.
You’ll listen to audio to create full field
notes for each interview – combination of
journal notes and ‘transcription’ from audio.
Why do notes matter when you are already
recording the interview or focus group?
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Why do you need to think about this now as
you start your projects?
◦ Steps to take to work toward credibility during the
data collection stage.
◦ Steps to take during the analysis to work toward
credibility.
◦ And, recognizing that data collection and analysis
are interrelate processes in qual research.
Big Picture Criteria
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During Data Collection
◦ Detailed Field Notes.
◦ Asking for clarification
and listening checks.
◦ Careful and detailed
transcription.
◦ Gathering multiple
sources of information
◦ Document data collection
process and decisions.
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Analysis
◦ Careful documentation of
analysis process.
◦ Member checking (if
follows your epistemology)
◦ Evidence to illustrate
claims.
◦ Exploring data for counter
examples.
◦ Ethical portrayal of data.
◦ Document analytic turns.
So much to do, such little time!
I look forward to reading proposals
starting after the 28th
Email with questions, random
thoughts, ideas, frustrations, etc.
See you in two weeks.