Chapter 6

Ethnography is the work of describing a culture ethnographers as they enter a setting in order to conduct field research, by obtaining written documentation of those observations. There are may different setting to conduct observations. We must make sure the location we choose are places from which are research will be enriched by people actions and cultural practices. When we are out in the world collecting data, we needed observe and take note of think description, such as winks, twitching, facial expressions, and set the meaning for those acts. When in the field one must sometime must abandon the idea of absolute objectivity or scientific neutrality, called subjective soaking, by doing this we attempt to merge yourself into the culture being studied. When doing field work you can set the scope in a micro or macro level, meaning we can be very specific and precise or very broad.

Reflectivity are understanding you are part of the social world that we investigate, we use internal dialogue by continuing to question what we know and how we know it. Critical ethnography's the concern toward the inequalities and researcher attempts to make a positive change.

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Getting in is a big problem with ethnography studies, be sure you pick subjects and setting that has easy access to participants. Access is based on sets of relationships between the researchers and researched established throughout a project. When choosing study subject and places be wary of elite settings, these places usually have little to no studies, because they are hard to penetrate. These places are things such as country clubs, government offices, ect. The population in these setting as have groups which are difficult to access.

Gaining entry we first must understand argot specific language used by group, must understand culturally, and specifically what action, the groups might have once having access. Its like a gate keeper model, you must have a member affiliated with the specified group or groups for which you like to study, and they must be able to grant you access. This member must be an intricate piece of the group, who can be a reassurance to them, they must have developed a sense of trust to allow you the access to the other people of the group.

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With ethnographic research you must become invisible, you must have the ability to be present in the setting, to be able to see what is going on without being observed and consequently being able to capture the essence of the setting and participants with out influencing them. To achieve this you must first be at the setting a long time, inhabitants will become unaware you are there since you have been their multiple or for an extended amount of time. Secondly you must act like you belong in this setting, you must attempt to fit in with the environment. Thirdly you can attempt to participate in activities in the location where you are doing your field work, blending yourself into daily routines. Fourthly you can also attempt to establish rapport with people in order to gain trust. Fifthly you can also be transparent, by being upfront and making it known you are a researcher, but be careful not let them know they are the subject matter, give a false impression of the topic. Finally do not present yourself as an ethnographer.

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Dangers in research are always apparent and present, since we are attempting to capture the essence of daily life. First type of danger is intentional misidentification, be careful when attempting to make yourself invisible, you can potentially misrepresent yourself, people may take you too seriously and that potentially can get you into danger. Second type is accidental misidentification, which usually means that people who aren’t very related to the group or subject you are working with might believe you are part of that group, which can lead to danger especially with deviant groups. Lastly you can learn more than you want to know, which can place you in a dangerous position, when you receive information that can be morally and ethically wrong, leaving you in a dilemma to preserve the data collection, or turn in subject.

With any research we use ethnography we want to watch listen and learn. When doing this try to see what kind of settings are there develop relationships potential guides and informants. We want to be tracking, observing, eavesdropping and asking questions.