Designing Research with Participant Observation

NOTE

I

I

PARTICIPANTOBSERVATIONAND RESEARCH DESIGN The first pan ofthis book hasfocused onsome of thetheor eticaland prac -tical aspeasof doing participa n tobservation. Pan (WOemphasizes topics co ncern ingthe incorporationofparticipant observatio n intofield research, how to recordand analyzethese observati ons,and eth icalissu es related to participan tobservatio n.

In thischap ter,wefocuson how wecan better inco rpor ate participant observation into research design. Unfonunately, participa nt observatio n hastoo oftenbeentreated as amethodthat does notrequiretheresearcher to thi nk much about research design.Like a lot of earlyfield research in ant hrop ology,thepresum p tionseemstobethat bygoingto aun iq ueloca -tion and participating and obse rving, the researche r will co me back with insights intohum anbehav ior.Our position isthatparticipant obse rvation requ ires even more attent ion to thedesignofresea rch so that the results of this relativelyflexible method can beultimately ana lyzed and interpreted. l\,toreover.more atte ntiontothedetail of designissues enhan cesthepo ten -tialforsecuringfu nding for research usin gparticipantobservation,

De

signi ng Research with

Pa

rticipant Observation

109

Research invo lving participant observati on as a method is not different from anyotherempirical resear ch endeavor in tha t it is a wayto takeideas (theories and hypothesis) and hold them up againstthe realworld to see iftheycansurvive. Weagreewith Kirk and Miller(1986 )and manyothe rs that 'T hereisworldofem piricalreality outthere.Thewayweperceiveand unde rstand thatworld is largelyup to us, but the world doesnottolerate ,

:,-'.

Chapter 6

IDS

Pi-ro-peIp i··ro·poln.pl-posISp.Piropear] I.An amorous co mpliment2:A flirtatiousremark.

Thereare some wordsthatsimply can not be exactly defined,exceptwithin the Spanish language, "piropo· is one: ofthose. A"piropo· is "3 flirtatio us or poetic com plimentto a woman." In Argentinathese expressionsof admi ration,when well co nstructedarenotonlytrad ition albutevenananform.Themore cleverthepiropo themor eitis appreciatedbyits intended recipient.

Kno wn throu gh ou tLatin America,piropos areespeciallyprevalent and practiced in Argentina'scapitalcityofBuenosAires.Considered oneof themost elegan tci t-iesin the world,itswom en are acknowledged as someof themost cha nningand bea utiful inLarinAmerica.Apiropoisanexpressionof gratitud e fo r that beauty.

Piropo combines theGreek wordsforfire(pur)witheyes(oops)andwh ile poorly constructedpiroposCJnbe obvious andcallow("d on't gettoodose to me,Jdon't have fireinsu rance")creativepiroposaresubtle with refined machism o thatarrive quie tly like an anonym ou sgift.

Someexa mples ofaPiropo:

riroposare good fu n, nnd only thought andpractice make them perfectand mo re npprecimed.

"lfbeautywerea sin,you'd neverbefor given."

"I'mnowsu rethere isaheaven becauseI've seenanange l." "Youmovelikethe Bolshoi Ba llet."

"O h!If you couldcook like you \...alk,Iwarnto ea tscraps!" "Imust be asleep to dreamofsuchbeauty:

"Whereyou go.flowers mustspring up." "So mnnv curves,and me withoutbrakes,"

gender-biasedthan other social science disciplines.Team research may also be a means for reducing the potentialbiases int roduced by the genderof the eth no grap her.

Ourdiscussio nofsexuality in the fieldshowed howthis fo rme rlytaboo topicisnow increasinglywritten ab out byanthropologists. Sexinthe field clearly affectsthe observationsand ins ightsofth eeth nograp he r,but italso raises a variety of practical and ethical co nside rations.While we applaud [he factthatmanymore researchersare sharingtheir thou ghts concerning intimat erelationshi ps while inth e field,wecont inue tobelievetha t placing sexuallimits on part icipation iswarranted.

1.The websitewww/piroposkc.co rn/whans. himl (2009) hasago o d definition ofpiropo:

All obse rvatio n inclu des anobserver.Every observerobservesfrom where 5/h e stands.To ols of research- gages, telescopes , survey questionnaires, formal elicita tio n frameworks- allow for mor e precise observati on and standard izatio n of measu rement tools, but it is sti ll observation from a particulartheoretical positi o n and,asincreasinglyacknowledged,from par-ticular gender,class,ethn ic,etc. perspec tives .Inthe case of panicip ant ob -serva tion, the observeristhe primary tool of research. Insome sense, then , there isgreaterbu rde non the participa ntobserverto unde rstand thetool.

Insocia l scie nceresearch,objectivityis ofte nbroke n do w n into two con -ceprs: val idityand reliability.Reliabilityrefers tothe extent towh ichresults canbereprodu cedusingthe same: approach over timeand under different circumstances. For example, would tv....o different observe rs observe the same th ing in simil ar ways? Would the sa me observer observe the same th ing inthe samewayattwodifferent times? Would two different ana lysts reviewingthesameset of transcrip tsorfieldnot esidentifythe samethem es, characte ristics, and interpret themin similarways?As we notedabove, reli-ability isdifficult to assess in research using participa nt observation, as it israrelyreplicated.Tha t is,it is not commonfor two different observersto approach thesamequestionin the same sett ing usingsimila rtechni ques.

Reliab ility

Therearetwoissues regardingreliab ilitytha twe would like to discuss.The

first is tha t carefu l documentatio n and reponing of the methodological cho ices includ inghowobservation s weremade,under whatcircumstan ces, and how theywere record ed and analyzed allow s the reader not only to assessthe valid ityof thework(see belowand the discussionof audit trail s in chapter 10) but forinterested ind ivid ua ls to attemp t to reprod uce the results.

The seco nd issu e has to do with the several kinds of reli abi lity . First, classicall y, reliab ili ty is assessed in laborato ry or experimental research by conduct ing multi ple observations, over time, of phe nomen a that are thoughtto beunch an gin g (tes t,ret est situa tio ns). Whendealing withsocial phe no m ena. the assump tio n that cha nge has not taken placeover timeis a very shaky one. It is almost axio matic that socia l cond itio ns are always cha nging. Severa l classic debates in ant hropologica l resea rch, bet ween Oscar Lewis (1951 ) and Robert Redfield (1930) on the nature ofsocia l life in Tepoztlan,Mexicoand Derek Freem an's (1983)critiqueof Margare t

Mead's (1928) analysis ofadolescent sexua lity in Samoa, arebased on re-searchcarried outseveraldecad esor moreapa rt. Therefo re,evenwhentwo researche rs make observatio ns in thesame physical sett ing,itmay not be::I fa irtestofthe reliab ility ofthe observations.However, curre nt analysesof

bothof thosedeba tessuggeststhatdifferen cesin meth od s and co nceptua l (C()I1/in u (!dJ

113

Designing ResearchWilliParticipant Observation

Table 7.1 TwoSets ofNotes: MeetingatSegura Campesina:CruzAltadeMigue lillo NotesbyResear cher::1

Setting: Ram adanexttothe dispe nsarioatCruz Alta de Miguelillo,about 80women, 30 males.

Mee ling se t fo r 1pmandactuallybegan about 1:20pm. KOand 1entered the ramada when morethan halfof the women were already seate dgreetingthemand takingour place on thefrontleftside. Irecognized so manygroups wome n,whowereallseated in organizedplace stome.The rewe re the San Anto nioINNf A moms,the Chirimoya Segura, the PLAN crowdfromCruzAlta. It was comforting to feel that Ireallyhave interactedwitha wide ran geof the womenfromthe entirecommunity whe n I had bee n doubting this abit. I talkedto a womannexttome abo utwhat therewereso manywomenand nomen .She saidthattheyareaffiliated underthe male head of householdbut thatthemenworkand themeetingsare alwaysduringtheir work day so they send the womentorepresent. Butshe alsoexplainedthat evenif themeetings were at3pm the menwouldbetootired andnOIinte rested in participa ting. Up at the fromthe almost all female directive wascollec ting pastfines from some member. Whenthe meeting was abouttobegin infiledallthe men to tallying about 30. Unlike the spatialarrangementofSanVicente there was no way that the mencou ldhave stayed outsideand justloo ked inthro ugh the windows. Therewasabout2meter cane wall all aroundmandating that the yenterif the yare go ingto be partof themeeting. The men found places dispersedamon gthe wome n and a groupofabou t 8 filedupto the frontleftcornerand tooktheirplaces (very reminiscento(the SanVice nte meeting). Mlstood up and read the agenda, we were point II and then Ra mon openedwith a few words (romthe Preside ntof the CommitteeCentral. He wasthe onlymale seatedwith framew o rks'also contributed tothe differing conclus io nsarrivedatbyeach research er(Sha n kman 1996,2000;Wilk2001).

Ano therwaytotestthe reliabilityof observationsis to carryoutseveralat much the sametime.This is commonlydoneby researcherswhoattemptto obse rve or participaterep eatedl yin sim ila reventsover the courseof field -work:orto discus s the same issues with a number of different informants. Insomecases,aresea rch project has severalresearchers workingatthesame tim e.

In

much of our recent work this hasbeenthe case,and it is possible to comp areobservations ofthe same eventgene rated by different obse rv-ers.Table 7.1 presents two sets of field notes written by two researchers

obse rving the same event, in this case ameeting of mem bers ofthe Rural Health InsuranceProgram in acom m unity in Ecuad or. Com pa rison ofthe twosets of notes shows thatwh ileboth observersnoted the same seriesof even ts.each attende d to somewhat different det ails. Researcher #1 identi -fied groups and individ uals, and focused on the det ails of the meeting. Researche r#2atte nded mor eto thelayout ofth e room and itsoccupants, andon thewaysin which consensusand decision making wereattained. Chapter 7

allunderstandingsof itequa lly"(11). The trickin participantobservatio n, asin any othermethod,isto allow foras faira test as possibl e.The goal

for thedesign of researchusingparticipantobservatio n asa method is to develo paholisticunders tan dingof thephen om ena under studythat is as objective andaccurate aspossiblegiven the lim itatio nsof the method.In the terms of science,the researcherwilltrytomaximize the validityof the datathat arecollec ted and present a fairandobjectiveanalysis and inte r-pretatio n of them.

Paying explicitatten tio n to the design ofresearch enha nces the l ikeli-ho od tha t the testis as fairas we can make it,an dalso allows fo rothers to be ab le to evalua te the degree to whichour particularunderstandi n g of the world has been influenced byour theor eticalposition,the particular meth od s we used to approach the question, and the particu lar vant age

pointfrom whichwe observe. Inconsideringthedesignofresearch that

includes participant observation as a meth od, we wou ld like to make several points at the outset.The firstisthat one of the goals ofdesigning researchthatincludesparticipant observationis to improvethe degree to which the products of the research (written accounls/ethnograph y) p ro-vide as valid a view of the context and phenomena under investigatio n as possib le.

The seco nd is that participant observation is rarely the only research meth od used in a project,nor do we believeit shou ld be.While projects based virtuallycompletely on participant observation arecarried out, we believethat themosteffective research incl udesa numbe rof met hod sth at can beused to investigatedifferentaspec tsof thephenom eno n and to

im-provethe likelihood of accuracyand objec tivityin a project.'A particular project might include theuse of other qualitative method s such as more structuredforms ofinterviewi ngand observation ,as wellasmore qua ntita-tivemetho dssuchasinterviewin gwithinterview guides,orinterviewsched -ules,andques tion naires,structured observation ,andform al elicitation .For some,in fact,participantobse rvationis anapproachtogettingdeepermore solidcont acts withpeopleand situations rather than a method in itself.In

thiscase itis abackdrop to other research meth od s.The use ofparticipant

observatio n allows forthe building of greaterrappo rt, better access to in-formants and activities, and enhanced understanding of the phenome na

investigated usingothermethods. Again, we are approach ing participant observationas atechniquein andofitself,capableofprovidingvalid data on a nu mbe rof aspectsofsocial life.

The third isthat,while researchers generallyuse participantobse rvatio n

to address descriptive research question s as the data base forinterpretive studies or to provide information from which to build new theory and generatehypo theses,participan tobservation canbeused aspartof design that testscertai nkindsofhypotheses.

FUNDAMENTALS OFDESIGN OF

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Objec tivity

The main goal of explicit design is to enha nce the objectivity ofthe re -search. Butcallany research be objective?Ifobjectivityis conce ived of as an absolutestate, the answeris clearly no.Objectiv ity is no t a concept that hasto do with the discovery oftruth.Rathe r, it represent s a continuumof clo senesstoanaccurate descripti on andunders tandingofobservable ph e-nomena.It doesimply that there is areal world'out there";and whileone canco ns truct anynumber ofviews ofthe world,not allwillstand up to a fairtestequally;and that anyo neobservercan know aspectsofthat world

LO greaterand lesserdegrees of accuracy based on his/hercareful ness in observatio n,recording, and analysis.Ho wever,the understandin gthatany researcher(usinganymethod )develo psispart ial.

llt Designing Researchwilli Participant Observation

Fourth, whe ther participa nt observatio n is the primary method being used or oneof severalmeth od s,the degree to which participantobs

erva-tion canprovideavalidviewof conte-xt in which research isbeingcarried

Outis based in panon taking seve ralaspectsof researchinto consideration beforeand during theresearch . These include anassessme n tofthe types of questions that can be addressed with panicipantobservatio n;selectionof theresearch site;attentio ntotherepresentativeness ofvenuesand activiti es forparticipatingandobserving;attention tothe represent ativenessof infor-mants;developmentofa strategy for recordingobservatio ns asco m pletely as possible; and plan ning for the ways in wh ich the materials collected during participant observation (data) are analyzed.For pro jects tha t wi!l include othe rmetho ds ofdatacollectio n in add itio n to partici pant obse r -vation,theresearchershould also add ress the specific place ofpart icipant observation in theoverallprojectdesign.

Finally, in the meth od of participant observation the observe r is the research tool. The limits to objectivity flo w from this fact. Understand ing

from whe re any observer isobserving, is fundamentalto understand ingthe

products of research.Italso mean sthat successful use of participan tobse r-vationsupposes thatthe researcheris able toassess the impact of his/her own viewpo intonthecollectio n of data,analysi s,and the writtenproduct. Self-reflexivityhasbecomecentralto understanding the impact of gen de r, sexuality, ethic group class, theoretical approach, etc. on observation and analysis.Inch apter 2 we quoted Finnstrti m regardin g his up-front ass

ess-mentof where he,asanobserver,stood and his assessmentof theprobable impact on thekindsofdatahe couldcollectand his app roa ch to analysis. Chapter7

(Conrillued!

and thattheyneed to be fixed andthe new gove rnmentwillhopefully do that. That she has onlybeen therefor6monthsbut muc ha quejade lacolumn a.Sheis worried thatbecause of allthewalkingthattheyhaveto do sincevehicles areout. She talked about rheumaticfever tASK KD)and that to get the lab resultsanalyses you have to go to severaldifferent lab tobelieve the results. (she was jumping all around during thetalk withouta focus abo utwhatshewassaying).Shementionedthatmanyof the senorascomplainofarthritis becausethey wash cloth es in therivers,in thecoldwate r and theyshouldavoid this."Thatthis is averysickcommunity."(whatshe hadto ldme in the interviewtheweekbefore) that everyone hasproblemscanelhueso,thatthey need to getthebridge fixed andthe roads better and coop transportsthatenter (a re all of these thingsrealistic -whatdoesthecommunity makeofthesestatem e nts), She told the assembly thattheyneed tonot smo ke,boil water which many of them arenot

doingand she te llsthem thisall the time. Don MTsilencedalltoliste n better. She

me ntioned thatachildrecentlydied from having toomanyantibiotics, and tha tthey should preve ntthe illness and notjust useantibioticsforeverythingincluding acne.

That thenurse would be goingonvacation for 3weeks and thatthereisno$forthe replacemen t,sothedispensariowillbeclosed.Thatwith the NuevaReforma-c-that ishappe ning with the governmen tdoesn't seemtobeof anygoo d for the m,the government has noS and whatwillthatme an. She'llvisit the houses,and do the tra nsference.'Thatifthereisan eme rgency theysho uldgotothe Segura hospitalin PV,but only iftheyareemergencies. Thenfro mthe menemerged jokesthatdeath will nOIwait3weeksand neitherwillemergencies. (What will the comm unitydol Would beinteres tingto observethehealthduringthese three weeks) Shecontinued thatthe Seguraat thenationallevel iscuttingbackinall in themeds that the ygive by'h .That shewill attend 20patients and 4eme rge ncies andthatis it because she getstired and then theservic e will notbe thatgood,andyou knowhow thatis.

Don MTra isedapointthat hehad askedhera few monthsbackto puttoge ther a chat aboutAIDS forthe community and hadshedo netha t. She agreed andsaidshe

lookedfor laminasand thatitwasa lot ofwork,(totallyavoidingbut the n wentintoan

impromptu talk-not whatrunder stood to be his desire).She beganadialogueabout

the AIDSthatwasveryinteresting. "First thesymptoms: we ight loss!Loss of appetite, hotskinandthisall depends on what itattacks, yourlungs,bro nchitis,weak organs. AnoyB jumpe d inandsa idthatshesawa movie inthe highschoo l thenightbefore abo utAIDS. Diarrheasalso.The doctorthenflowed intoa cancertalkand isn't that whatAIDS is, yes,aCancer." Shesaidthat somearemalignant. "Thatthe peo ple who haveAIDS are mainlyhomosexuals, and thatif you did an exam ofthe m,the majority wouldhaveAIDS. Be careful of thesepecplel!" Mentionedtheone AIDScase inLa

Floresta/LaChirirnoya.Thenthatyouneed todoprevention.Notiene estardispuesta can ellos.That men should havejust onewoman and then we ntinto a talkabout marriage and the Biblethatsaysmenshould have just onewoma n.Themenjumpedin and saidthatwomenshouldbewithjustone man. She continuedwith mengiVing the dise ase10womenlike venerealdisease whentheyvisit prostitutes.ThatmengetAIDS andthen bring ithometothe irwivesin thehou se . AB jumped inagainaboutand thatcond om s don'tprevent the transmissionof AIDS,right,thedoctoragreed. At this pointthenursewa lkedin and correctedsomeof the informatio nandtookoverthe talk. 114

KO

jStOD?upa~dgavea speech thankingthecommunity (orthehospitalityand ~e coml~g.us IOtathecommunityand thatweallhada goodexperience She asked

or pertmssro nto comeback once more inOctobe randdothe hea l h ". ;tudy,Theyreceived herwell,andthe

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DesigningResearch withPanicipan:Observation 115

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Table 7.1 Two Sets of Notes :Meeting atSeguraCsmpesino:CruzAltadeMiguelilJo (Continued)

II have to admi t thatIwashavinga hard timeholdingprofessionalcomposureduri ng the talk,abitdisap pointed in myself.]

Nurse:"'only v...aythatyoucan get it is blood to blood,andsalivaand that condom s

don'tprotec t.But shesaid that we shouldnot isolatepeoplewithAIDSbut yestake

certain precautions like not have sexua l relations withthem.ASjumpedinagainthat

withco nversationyoucan'ttranslate,don'tisolatethe m,but tratarde animarse. but

trea t them well.

Thedoctorcontinuedwith una sola mujer para unhombre(bringing religioninasa reason fo r the people to haveonepartner). Butthenshe jumped to"es13 personaque busca elproblema,n thepersonherlhi m self isthe causeoftheproblem- just likegirls whoget pregnant.It'stheirfault destroyingtheir life .Thentheirbabieshavenofather." Said thaitheyfoundakindofcure but nowAID S isstrongerthan ever 1,800 cases in Ecuad or (A B). The doctorsaidthatyou need toavo id blood transfusions. Andthat everything is like a"cancer!"

Ramonasked her forheraddress if theyneeded itwhile the nurseisgone.Pon ceiejo -Sucre/Espejo, Nurse said Iamtired andtakingvacation. Thatth~doctorwillattendto patientsbutoutside thebuilding. IW hy can'tshe havekeys andgetintothe building?!

Andshe told the commun ity topayattentiontothe situationinthe Segurain the coming weekswiththeinstall atio nofthe government. [This hasthepotentialto bea highlypolitici zed problemforthecommunitiesandwillhaveinterestingimpacts on the unity ofthe community.] Herideaisthatthere area fewmedsbutshewoldlikethem tobe therewhenthe peop leneed them.

Nurse addressedabigissuethatthadsensed abefore. She straightforw ardsaid,

askme any questio nsthatyouhave abo utherorfor her pleasebri ngthem upnow, Don'twaituntilthemeetingis overand sheleavesbecauseit then getsbacktoher later. Fromthe direct iveasked aboutwhat abo utnew affiliate,nurseansweredthey'll have 10wait untilshe returnsatthe endof August,thiswasnotthe answer theywere wait ing for.Brought up theissue of the Licenci adathatcomesonce amonthbut is fat andwillnotcomepastthebridge,abig companion for thecommunity.And then she encouragedthecommunitytoenterinto a dialogwIth her and notwithharsh wordsbutto askherto comeup,theyhavetherightfor herto come allthe wayupto

CruzAltaandnotjust toCascabel,{incentivizingthem toacton theirownb ehalf-interestinginlight of thefirstconversationsIhadwithher.]

Nurse: that she knowsthat somepeople in thecommunityareuncomf ortable with the waythatthe doctorattendsthepatients butthentheyneedto tell her,that whenyou

talk topeople,theywi llunderstand"que hable canella."

Orderofattentionofpatients: MDfrom theChirimoya saidsheisnotagainst anyone but would like toknowwhythepolicychangedfromattendingchildren andelderly ended and nowisnotinuse.That motherswithsmallchildren have10 wait. Nurse saidchangedit becauseof complaintsfromthecommunity,shehas alwayspreferred chi ldrenthenelderly butwhat dotheythi nk.The Presintervenedto moderatethe situatio n.The assemb lygalinvo lvedwithopi nionsabout howthe systemshouldbe.

Let's voteraisehandsfor priorityattentiontochildrenunder 12years.Most did.Don ICon/;n ul:'dJ

117 DesigningResearch wirhParticipant Obselvntioll

Manual hada bigpresence form the past,one of onlytwo menwhoreally voiceinthe meeting.Forgot whohewasatfirst,then recognized.

MT whomadethe compliant, andnursedirectly pointedthis outto him .lost tothe argument.Womaninyell ow,margarita'smother,whoisover60 andsaidwell,Iam notelderly.Whynot under6 years.Then ABsaid thatnotfair shouldunder 12(she

has daughterunder 10).Nurse,let'scompromise how about lessthan 8 years. That

was decide.At one pointlookedto KD andJwhatwethought,Isaidnome metaen esto. MS was quite vocal abou t howpeople have to get up earlytocoger turno and

then ABsaidnot rightthatthe mothersfromLa Chiri moyawaituntil the nursepasses on her way up tothehealthcenter and thatis notright,and then they comp lain that

theyerenot attendedto.They should be consciousand notdo this, Nurse reminded thattheyareJgroups butonedispensarioand needtounite.

ABstood upand made quitea speech "Angelita,Yo habloenunavoz altayclarano para ofenderperc paraque todosme escuchan,yentlenden"Shaking her fingerin the

air at thedirective. (peop lewelaughing at hera bttj Iwas nottheone who collected thefines from the womanforsl5,000,Thewoman whowasrefused her slipfor the finestood upbehindAnnytocounterher,spoke much less fluid lythanA.B.andsaid \OUchargedmethe finewhenit wasthe meetingduring thepara. A.B.definaltyhas a

sharplongueand ifhadcome outin the Chirimoyameeting theSundaybefo re. Nurse saidthatthere is ariskto close thedispensario becausetherearefewsod as and theyneed more peopleto jointokeepthem ali ve.At thispointthenurseexcused

herself and I followed her outtocatchher for theinterv iewIwaswaiti ngon. (SEE

KD"SNOTES FOR REST OFMEETING.)

NolesbyResearcher ::2

Inthe roadwe greeted peopleinthehouseofthefamili a "Br,"whereBB stays sometimes, and thehouse of AB(call ed byBB:"AnnfromPlan" ).

intheuuck we arrived inCruzAltaatabout11:45. Westoppedatthedipensario and got downfrom thetruck.Thedriverwaskindenoughto lowe rthe tail gateso Ididn't haveto climb over the side.

BS asked aboutthe meetingwhichwasnowscheduled (or1pm. BB took me intothe dispensarioandImelthe Auxiliad o ra,briefly. Wethen wen!overtothe houseof M P,

whowasayoung womanwho hadhelpedinthe encuesta.Hernan wantedtopayher and get her informe.Westayeda few minutes and thenwenton to thehouse of the womanwithwhom

aa

was goingtostay, inorder to tellherthan BBwould not stay

with thatnightbut wouldin thecoming week. The woman' snameis 0,

Impressionsof CruzAlta.This townappearssomehowmore prosperous andwell maintainedthanmostI haveseen. Manyofthe houseshavefrontyardswith

decorativeplants and actuallaw ns.Houses seem10bein good repair,dean,openand airy.SeveralI saw seemed tohaveramadas whichwerealsoneat andclean.Ihad the

sense of moreagricultural equipment around. IAskBB to countorconfirm th is,

B

a

says that she hasnot seemfarmimplements,Imayhavebeen reactingto the havingseen Chapter 7

theopenbus(chiv a).] Theto wn seems tobesortof set uponagrid,at least closeto center.

Table 7.1TwoSetsof Notes:Meeting atSeguroCempeeino:CruzAltade Miguelillo (Continued)

119

DesigningResearchwirh Participant Observation

((fltllitluc<fJ

Thethirdpoint was a presentationbythe doctor.Sidecomments suggested that she

rarely gives"charles" for the community. Shetalked aboutallofthecomplaints that

she got about"dolorde loshuesosydelacolumna." Sheattributed it tothe needto walkfrom theroadnowthatthebridgeisout. She saidthatthecommunityneeded 10organizeto getthe authorities torepairthe roadsothatbusescould comein. She saidthatshewould complain about this as well. She feels thatthisinoneofthemost

important healthproblemsin the community. Shewenton aboutthisforsometime.

Shethenmadeapoint ofhowshecould only attend20regular patients and4

emergenciesinhervisits. She said thatin realityshegetsverytired andcould not

attendmorethanthis numberwell.

{Lateritbecame apparentthatpeopleoftencometo the dispensariaat4or5amtoget

anumber orflchawhich determines theorderinwhichtheywill be seen. I(theycome

toolateandall ofthe fichasare gone,and itisnot a trueemergency,theycannot be seen that day.]

SomeoneIpresidentlremindedherto talkaboutwhatwill happen duringthetimethat the auxiliadoraisonvacation beginning on Friday July31,andforthree weeks).The dispensarywillbeclosed forthethree weeksthat the auxiliaryheahh worker isOUI. Thedoctorwill come on theTuesdaysandThursdays,asusualbutwill notbe able to

getintothedispensary.She willgo to houses ordarconsuhaoutsideofthedispensary.

In betweentimesanywithan emergency will havetogo tothesegurahospitalinPV,

but they must havetheircedula, earneranda referralorder.Theauxiliadorawillleave a numberof Signed slips availablefor peoplewhoneed it.This wasreinforced several

times. Bythe auxiliadora,doctor andthepresidenta.

The manSittingnext toHernanasked thedoctorif shewouldtellhimwhat the first symptomsofAIDSwere(apparently there wasacase of AIDSinLaChirimoyarecently ] .

She actually sortof hesitated and thenwent intoan explanationofAIDSthat was

essentially incorrect. At onepoint shesaid thatAIDS wasacancer. Latershe reversed andsaid itwas a virus that destroyedblood cellsand loweredimmunity.Shesaid

that it wasinfectious and noone should gonear anyone with AIDS.Thatclrnost all

homosexualshad AIDS,that the biblesaid thatamanshouldhaveonly onewomenand

ifhe did he wouldn'tgetAIDS.Thefirstsymptomwas weightloss,butshe did saythat itwouldattack whatever organ was weakest, soitcould manifest asdiarrhea,bronchitis orcancer.AB saidshehad been at a seminaraboutAIDS inwhichitwassaid that

condomsdidn't preventaids.that onecouldgetit fromsaliva, orifone huggedanother and both had openwounds.Noonecorrectedherabout thecondompart.

The doctor thenleft.Theauxiliadorasaidthat she gets alotof complaintsabout the doctorsand thatpeopleshouldtalk tothedoctor directly.notbegroseros- rude-but tell herdirectlytheir complaints. Shemadea snideremark aboutthecoordinationor'

the vacationssayingthather<the auxiliadcra'slvacationhadbeen requested a long

time ago,andifthe doctor had coordinated it wouldhavebeenfine. Butit was the

doctor's problemnot hers.

Therewasdecusslcnof theneedto getnew members andthememberlist islow.There are severalpeople who want toaffilia te,buttheyneedto get thelicenciada(Lawyer)

heretodothepaper work. Shedoesn'twant towalk in and wants thepeopletocome

"

Chapter 7 118

Al about12:45we moved on tothe ramadabythe dispensariowherethe meeting was

to beheld. As we waked into the courtyard,Hernancalledusover to meetacouple

of men. He said weshouldmeet them,one was"interest ing."He wastal king in such alowvoice Icouldnot reallyunderstandwhathe was saying. Aspeopleseemedto be movinginto the Ramada,SB and Iwentin,Hernan stayedoutsidewiththemen he was talkingto ,Ithought this was curiousat the time. As we enteredtherewere a

numberof peoplesittingon benchesalong the wallandrelativelyfew on thebenches

in themiddle.At this pointIcountedover60womenand4men,Peoplecontinued to

trickle in,and filled in thecenterbenches.Ata bout1:10alarge groupof men(who

had beenstandingoutside talking) all filed in. Hernan was oneof,thisgroups.He sat

nexttome on the far left side almosttothe backwall. Andseveralof the menwho walking inatthis timesatnextto him,fillingthebencheson thefar left andback left wall./Inowfeel thathe waswaiting to comeinwiththe rest ofthe men. Iwonder if thisiscommonpattem.] Inthe end,justasthe meeting startedwe counted84women andthirtymen,Over twentycamein at the lastmomentafter virtuallyall ofthewomen wereintheramada,Manyof the men sat along thewall in the lefthand cornerof

the room, Others,however,were dispersedamongtherest oftheparticipants.There

was nogroupof menwhosatwithauthorityin anyspecialplace,as therewasin SanVlcente.l (Hernan saidthatoneofthe menwho cameinwith him was a former assasin.

The presidentofthe-comnecentral"isawomannamedAT

The meeting was thethree monthlymeetingofallofthepatronos. TheSegura

Campesino of Miguelillohasthree distinctgroupswiththeir own organizations,

presidents treasurers,etc. They are: LaChlrimoya,thesmallest, San Antonio andCruz

Aha,the largestwith 137families. In all however,thenumber of Iarnilies affiliated

withtheseguro is onlyabout200. Severaltimes inthe meetingthis wasmentioned

bythe preside nt thatitwas asmallnumberand iftheydidn'tget moremembers, they

were in dangeroflosing theSegura.Eachgroupmeets separately two months outof

three andinthethirdmonth,theymeet togetherandthemeeting isrun bythecomite

central.

lThemesofthe meeting brought upseveraltimes; we areunderattack, the government wantstoreform theseguracampesino system;wehavetoofew members,the)might close usdownandwe wouldnot haveanything;complaintsaboutthewayin which people wereattendedat the clinic. Apparentlyinthe pastchildrenandolderpeople weregiven preference.l

The firstpuntawas acallto order.The secondPUniOwasour"thanks"Ispoke, BB

spokeandHeman said hewould not say "thanks"since that meatuthathe would not comehack andhe intended to continue ro come10 thecommunity. I thankedthem for their collaborationand hospitality.

Atabout fhiipointthedoctor came in. Sheis woman whotwouldguessat55yC~H$of ;lge,short,partiallygrayhair.

Tab le 7.1 TwoSets of Notes: Meetin g atSeguro Campesino:CruzAlta de Miguelillo

(Continued)

The auxiliadoraasked ifthere wereanymore complai ntsorcomme nts,if notshe wouldgohome.Whichshe did.BS left tointerviewheron the wayout.

The president(aman)oftheSan Anton iogroups stood upandsaid no one fromhis communityhad complained,bUI if therewe reany nowto spea k up. No one did.

MO the n raisedthe questio n ofthe Iune raria,that therewerenocurtains. She askedif

ther~ :vas any money10buycurtains. Someonesuggestedthatmoneyfrom the central

comrte be usedtobuycurtains. Someo ne said thatsomeo ne had rentedthefunera ria for200,000Sucres andthismoneycould be used. Thensomeo neme ntionedthatDr.

Humberto(the"prefecto" )hadsentfor and paidforcurtainstwotimesand bothtimes theyhad gottenlostin Quito.Therewassome snigge ring. Clearlysome peoplefelt thJIthe mone y waslost butnotthecurtains(i.e.,thathehad takenit). A decision was

out10 Cascabel tosee her. The auxilladorasaid, "just tellhere10comeout one day. I

comeouteveryday.Itlakes me anhourand ahalf but ldoit.She can doittoo." Margarita from Chirimoyaraised theissueofwho should be attendedfirst. She noted that,motherswithchildren haveto sit foralongtime,the childrengelhungryand restive,the ypee,etc.Anditis hard.She feelsbad forthe mothers and children . She

wanted10 know when the policy ofseeingchildrenand ancianos-old peop le-had

changed. The auxili adorahad a frustratedexpression andshefinallysaid,thatshe had gotten"' 00 1 comp laints"abou tthe policy. Sr.Assassin(one ofthe"familia" R's)saidthatit wasn'tfairthatsomeonewould cometostandinline at4am anda motherwith achild wouldcomeand take a place infrontof him. The rewas amore

ge~era ldiscussion andafinallythe auxiliadc rasuggested thatwithin the20placesthat

childre nand olderpeople would be see n first.That is that20peoplewoul d gel fichas, andthe n amongthose, child renand olderpeople wouldbe see nfirst.

T~cre s.ee medtobe generalagree ment,co nsensuswasapparen tlyacknowledged.The dl~cusslonthenfo llowed as[0 what age wouldconstitute childre n.Thefirstproposa l(I thinkfromMOlwas that12yea rsandbelow. Amanintheback said thaiwastoo old,

twelve yea r olds~erecapable of waiting, so 6 and be low wouldbemore appropr iate .

Therewassomediscussionandthe auxiliadora suggestedthecompromiseof 8years and be low. MSspo ke saying he didn'tmuc h care,8years seemed Ok with him, but

tha t everyo neco~ldcomeandta ketheir ficha.Thatifhe had to comeat 4am they

couldtoo. He saidhe gotthere the othe r dayat 5:30to getan appo intmen tfor his child,and hewas 11th,most ofthe flchashadalreadybeengivenOUIat 5:30.He also took theopportunityto saytha the didn't unde rstandwhypeople werecomplainingso ~l11Chabout Ih~ costofthe seguro,eventhefines . That it was chea p,eve nif theygot tined . That aSingleope ratio ninGuyaquilcostsmillionsof sucres. Hesaid thathe couldn' tundersta ndwhyanyonewouldthreate n10resign beca useof a fine, asthecost isstillso low.

IMSappea rs tobe someo neofinfluence inthe commu nity.Hern an use thework "ca udillo"to refer tohim.Heis fromCruzAlta,butnow livesinCascabel.l

Therewasa brief discussionof howold"old"wassomeo nesuggestedfifty,butthere

wasage ne ralclamoragainstitand people settled quicklyon60years of ageand older.

12 1 DesigningResearch witll ParticipantObservation

IC()n/inut.><1I madetoputsomemoney into the fune raria. Butfirst tofind out howmuch itwould

cost. Again,MObroughtitup,butbothmenandwome n contributed10the discussion. Thefinalpoints hadtodowithtwomeetingstowhichthey had tosendrepresentatives. The firstis the nationalmeeting inQuitothat we heardabout lastmont h inSan

Vicente. It is todiscusspolicychanges. Itinnow suppos ed10 lakeplace on Aug6. IIwas notclear whowas going to atte nd.The n someoneraised the issueofa meeti ng of segurosin PV in thesala dechofereson Aug. 8.Theysentan"enc uesta"to befilled

outby each SC group befo re themeeting.Theywillorganizeand prese nt theirvision a

nivelcampesiono onAug10.

Importa ntthingsaboutthe meet ing:

Conse nsuswas rea chedin muchdiffere ntway than inSanVicente. Peoplespoke aloud and proposalsweremade,counte rprop osalsweremadeand comp romi ses

suggested . Thepreside nt wouldthensayOKwewilldothis. .If therewasnomore

discussion,sheapparentlyassumedthatthere wasconsensus. Therewas no pe riod of

opensimultaneous discussion,as therewas inSanVice nte.

The who le meeting seemed to meto bemuchmorewellorgan ized.The presideut a seemed10betentative at the outset,but actuallystayed prettymuch incontrolofthe

meetingwithoutseemingto putn alotof effort.When more generaltalking,among neighbo rswould break out,a numbe rof peoplewould shout that theyshouldrespec t

orderand the talking wouldstopand individualswouldbeallowedtotalk.

There wasa general feelingof beingunderattack,bothbecauseofthecha nging nationalpolicy.and the lownumber ofaffliados.

Both women andme n spokeanditappeared tha t the po ints of bothwome n and men weretake nseriously. Bothwo me nand mensuggestedsolutionsandcompromises.The

numbe rofwomen speaking wassimilar tothenumbe rofme n.Three men (outside of theme nwhoweretherereprese ntingthepatrcnatos of thesub groups). Onewas theassassin, one was Manue lSornosa(guy who rentsthe"pla nta" Miguel illotomake almidonl andanothe rIdidn'tknow. At thepoint in whichAB gotintoanargument, therewas a man outside thebac kwalloftheram adawhospo ke throu gh the window.

Thereis apparentlysomefac tionalism between Chirimoyaand the othe rcommunities.

Oneof themainpoints ofdisc ussion wasthedecision thathadbee n madebythe general(full3grou pmeeting)about the forgivingfines forlatepayments duringthe

strike in FebH>. ButChirimoya had decided to collect their5,000 suc refine from a

womanwhodid not pay.Thisprovokedanargumen tbetween AB,whoseemed to

be the treasu reroftheChirimoya.MS, who is from CruzAlta said thateverypatrooo sho uldbeable tomake theirdecisions inde pe ndently infact,theyhavedifferent

policiesfor fines;Cruz Ahacha rges 2,000 sand Chirimoyacharges 5,000).The presiden tade 101 conutecentraldisagreedand said thatthewholegroup, including rep resenta tivesofChirimoyahad com eto thisdecision.Theyalsoread theminutes fromthatmeetingtoreinforcethis.

ASgotveryangry,she feltthat several peopleweremisrep resenti nghe r comme ntsat

the mee tingtheywerediscussing(the one in February). Sheke ptaskingiftheybad hea rd HER say,whattheywereattribut ing toher.Fina llythe manwhowassaying" but

l

Chapter 7 120

Table7.1 Tw oSets of Nol es:Meetingat Seguro Campesino:Cruz Alia de Miguelillo

(Co ntinued)

you said.. ." backeddown and said thathehadnotheardHERspecifical lysaythese things, but thattheywere said.

Thereisapparentlya gooddeal of tension betweenthe Dr.Andtheauxiliadora.

The auxiliadoraseemed tobetalkingbehind the doctor'sbackatseveralpointsafter

the doctorleft.Eventhought theaux.Had made of pointof people speakingand

complaining directly10the Dr. and complainingdirectly10 her(the aux.)when they

hadproblems withher (the aux) work. 88said thatpeoplereallyliked the lastdoctor, but donot like this one.She cameasa replacement6 or 7 months ago.B8also believes that the Dr.doesnot likeitin Miguelillo.

When sim ilarity of resu lts is achieved eitherby researchers observingat differenttimes orbyseveralobserversat the same time,there aretimes when

the reproducib ility of resultsis not meaningfu l.Kirk and Miller (1986) use the term quixoticreliab ility to referto a phenomenonwehave allobserved. Thisoccurswhen weaskthe samequestionof anumberof informantsand

get thesameanswer.In research inEcuador,we askedanumber ofinfo r-mants atwhat agethey weaned their children.Wereceivedtheanswer-at24

months-fromalmostallofourinformants.There wasvirtuallyno variation.

We immedi atelydiscounted these results.We realized that we were getting the cultu rallyapprop riate response to the question. In actuality, therewas a relatively large range ofvariatio n in the len gth oftime of breastfeed ing

inthe community, butourquestion,whichproducedreliableansv....ers,was not a valid measure ofthe age atweaningof child ren.Onlythrough a lon-gitud ina lobservatio n ofa coho rtof child ren did we geta mor evalid pictu re of therangeof variation inweaningpractices.Wearealwayssuspiciousof responsestoeither formalor informal interviewingthat arealwaysthe same. Whilequixoticreliabilitycan be a probleminparticipant observation, p

ar-ticipationin andobservationofbehavior oftenprovidesanim po rtantcheck

on theresponses ofpeopleto questionsabout behavior.

\N enoted abovethataseriesof measurements (recordedobservations) can be reli able without bein g valid. What then is validity? Validity is a

qualityofanytype ofobservation that hasto dowiththe extent towhich [heresults ofthe observationscorrespond tothe presumed underlying rea

l-ity.In otherwords,the descriptionaccuratelyrepresentsthe phenomenon

studied. Forpractical, applied resear chwe can also spea kofthedegree to whichtheresultsprovidesufficientlyaccurate descriptionssothatthat they proveuseful and pro ductive forprogram s of plannedchange(Pelto 2001). Again,whilewe would liketohaveabsolute valid ityof observations and conclusions producedthrough research, inpractice,itisnot attai nablein any

researchsetting.Muchofresearchdesignisaimedaten hancing the validity~f

observations to the extent possib le,giventhelimits ofanymeth od.In some

123 Designing Researc11with Participant Obselvmiotl

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

These elements of design also correspond to the kinds of questions that

mustbesatisfacto rily answered in thevariouscomponentsof a research

proposal.

• Thepositing ofaquestion, orquestions,forresearchdrawnfrom the

literature and theoretically grou nded, whetherornot specifichyp ot

h-eses are articulated

• Selectionofaresearchsiteinwhich thequestion (s)canbe addressed

• Selectio n ofmethods andtechniq ues ofresearch that can address the

question

• Developmentofastrategyfortheselectionof places, activities,

indi-vidua ls,etc.fromwhichdatawillbe collectedina waythatmaxim izes

the likelihood that the materialscollected representtherangeof vari

-abilityin theselling

• Developmentof a strategyfor man agementof datafor effectiveana lysis

• Develop ment ofa preliminary strategyfor ana lysis thatsuggests aset ofanalyticcategories andtechniques that respondsdirectly tothere -sea rch quesuonts)and hypoth eses

ChoosingaQuestion

All discussions of research design, whether from the laboratory sciences.

natural sciences.orsocialsciences.haveto dealwith the types of questions

thatcan be addressedwith aspecific metho d;issu es ofobjectivity,valid ity, Theelementsofresearchdesign in field studies are:

sense,because participantobservationisan experientialapproach inwhich

the cha racteristics ofthe obse rverarepartofthe mix, any obse rvatio n that

is carefullyrecord edisvalid (that is, it truthfullyrepresents the response of the observer,but isnotreliable in that there isno assumption that asimilar

description could be pro duced by anothe r obse rver). How ever. this does

notmeanthatit is avalidviewofthephenomenonunderreview

i

f

ano

b-jectiveview ofthatphenomenon isthegoal.Whilesome theorists say this "'personal" levelofvalid ityisallwe canachieve.we disagree. Experience and

comparisonof the writingofothersconvincesusthatobservationsoftrained,

self-reflexiveobservers,using severaldifferentapproachesto a phenomenon

can achievean accepta ble levelof reliabili ty andvalid ity andare,totheexten t of the method,obje ctive.Attentiontothe elemen tsofdesign canen ha nce the

reliab ility and valid ity ofobservatio nand,hen ce,the objectivityofresearch. Cnapter7

AppropriateQuestio ns

The re arethreedifferent kinds of questions that canbe addressed inany em

-pirica l research project includi ng qualitativeresearch: descript ion (desc

rip-tive/exploratory/theorygenerating), interpreta tion,andexplanation (8ernard

2006;John so n 1998).Whiledifferent research method s and techni ques are

and reliabilityassociatedwith themeth od;and thegeneralizabil ity of co n

-clusions drawn usingthemeth od .In thelast twodecades, ep iste mo log ical

discussions of socialscience havefocused on the limits to objectivity of

experiential metho ds suchas parti cipant observation. However, thesame debates also have ahisto ryin other disciplines. Itshouldbe clear that we

approach social research,aposition that placesthis type ofresearchwithin

thecont extofscientific approaches.The ongoi ng discussion s of the limits

to obj ectivity when the primaryresearch toolisthe researcher him/herself

hasbeen not only pan ofhealthy scholarly deb ate,but has alsoreinforced and sharpened the discussio nofthe concern(thatwe believe has always

been pan of socialresearch) th atboth the researche rand the read ermust

continually evaluate the impactoftheparticularvantagepoint of theob

-serveron what is observedand how itis interpreted.This is no less true

of resear ch and scholarsh ip in the naturalsciencesand hum an ities (Boh r 196 3;R.j.Dubois 1968;Hardi ng1998).

Again, following many other resea rchers,we wou ld argue that anyac

-COU Ill of any pheno me non,approached scient ificallyornot,is partial.It is a fu ndamenta l characteristic of schola rship.Arguin$ points from one's disciplinary,theoretical. and meth od ologic alperspe ctivesis central to the funofscholarsh ip. Welive for this stuff_' It isnot onlypan of thefun,it is

also centralto the development ofknowledge of the world around us. As

Agar (1996) notes,drawingon the well-use d analogy of'he six blind men

andthe elephant,thepointisnotthatany particular view is evercomp lete

or true,but thatthe integrationofinfo rmation fromdifferent observersor

differentmetho ds providesa betterunderstanding.As wewillnotebelow ,

however, one of the limitations of fieldwork, in general, and fieldw ork

that usesparticipa n tobservationas amethod, is thatthecost in time and

moneyoften meansthatanyonesettingorsetofphenom ena are unlikely

to beinvestigatedbyalarge numberof researchers.Thereare oftenonly one

ortwo viewsavailable.Thislimitsthedegreetowhich wecanassessthere

-liability(reprod uc ibility)ofany particular analysis.It also means we often

haveonlyone or, perhaps,two views fromwhich tobuildamore complete

picture. In thelaboratory and clinicalsciences,it is commonto seedozens

ofstudies ofthesamequestio n,from differentdisciplinary and theoretical

positionsand using differing sets of methodsin different types ofresearch

settings thatare tryingtoachieve reproducibleresults.

more appropriatelyapplied fordifferent goals,participantobserva tioncan be

used to address all three.Histori cally,parti cipant observatio n hasbeen used

mostcommonly to provide datafo r descriptionsofsocieties andphen o rn -ena. The classic eth nogra ph icstudyseeks to providea theoretically relevant

descriptio n of aspectsof social life.The description, then,can be anend in

itselfor thebasis forinterpr etation of some kinds ofhypothesis testing.

Likeall researchmethodsand techni ques,participantobservation is more

appropriate for somekindsof questions.First, itis essentially a synchronic

method.Tim is,itis a meth od that is used to understan d whatis happen

-ingNO\r\'.The researcher'sexperience is tied to a specific time and place.

Participa nt observatio n cannot be use to understand change or changing

conditions,unless the change is taking placeduring theresearch periodor the

researcherengagesinserialresearch projects.While info rmantsoften com-mentontheir perceptionof changing conditions, technically,the researcher

only knows that they say they perceive thatthere has been change.Wh ile

changecanbecome atheme of analysis, it is the perceptionof participants

that is underresearch with participant observation.Other methods such as

reviewof documentsandothertexts,oral history,and lifehisto ry approaches

also havelimitations,but are more appropriateto understand ing change. Participantobservatio nisalsoanexperientialapproach.Datacomefrom

observatio n gained while experiencing and participating in events. This

implies severa l impo nantlimitatio ns to the meth od. First,participant ob

-servation isusedeffectivelytounderstand pheno me na that areobservable,

which impliesthat they areavailable for observation.Som ekinds of events andactivitiesarerareeno ugh thataresearchermaynotobserve/participate inthem duringaperiod of fieldwo rk. Again,other method s ofdata

collec-lion maybe moreappropriate for thestudy of rare events,

Second,witho u tcareful thought,the experiential nature of the meth od

can also allow researchers to ignore the importance ofprocesses taking

placeoutside the rathercircumscribedworldof thelocal com m un ity.The

participant observer can report on the perceptions of these events and processesfromthe pointof view ofmem bers of the local com mu nity. But participa ntobservatio n providesaninherentlyernieviewof phenom e na.

Othe r dataand method s are criticalto understanding the wide rcontext

withinwhichcomm unities andgroupsexist.Oneofthe greatestlimitations

ofeth no graph ic research that was criticized by EricWolf(1982) in his book Europe(HidthePeoplewit/tOlll Historywas thetendency of an thropologiststo

depict non-Europeansocietiesas isolated and frozen in time.Wolfs poin t

was that all peoples have a histo ry and that, in parti cu lar, the historyof non-Western societies was profoundly altered by Europea n colonialism.

While many researchers approached ethnography and qua lita tive studies

using theoretical ap proaches th at were based on critical the ory or political

economyapproaches before1982,it isnow unco mm on foranyresearcher

125

DesigningResearchwithParticipantObsenltltion

Chapter7

Choosing a Site

In a perfect research world, the site of a research project invo lving fiel d-work and parti cipa nt observation is chosen because it isthe bestsite In the

to igno re the impactof global processes on local communities.Originally, a1001for underst andingthe local usin g an isolationistrnindset,participa nt observatio n isnow often a tool for understanding the local response to

thoseprocesses. .

Participantobse rvationhas most frequentl ybeen used in descriptive and interpr etive researc h approaches.However,it can be used to test hypo th-eses when the hypothesescan be phrased in terms ofpresence orabsence oftraitsand characteristics; orratherthe presen ce oftraits andcha racter. istics, [The absence of a trai t may be meaningless using this meth od (see chapter9)]. In experime ntal designs , in whic h the research er consciously manip ula tessome aspect of the cont ext, the absence ofa responseto that man ipul atio nismeaningful.Inobse rvationaldesigns (e.g.,participant o

b-servation) abse nce of obse rvation may be suggest ive,but may only mean

that the observer failedto observe orto have the opportunity toobserve any particular response.However,every phenom ena,characteristic,or traitthat isobserved can be said to present.The distribut io n or importanceof par-ticular idea s,traits,characteristics,etc. maynot beknown,but ifobserved, we maysupposethattheyexist.

Participa ntobservation isalso pan of a strategythatcan allow us to dis-cover theexisten ce ofpatterns of thou gh t and beh avio r.Again,itwill not helpincom plete ly und erstandingthedist ributi on s of characteristics,but it canassist in identifyingpatternsofthoughtand beha vior.

Fin ally, as we have noted, the method of participa nt observation , and record ing of observations in chronologically organized field notes was develo ped, oratleast origina lly described. withinthe COntext of a fu nction -alist theoretical ap proach. The holist ic, interrelated,and isolationist view of socialprocessesof the functionalist approach fitwellwith themethod. Some of the most well known products of participa ntobservation research (Ire sync hro n ic descriptionsof "cultu res "andtheintercon nected ness of so. cialinst itutio ns. However,aswenoted above and as others have discussed (Agar 1996; Picch i 1992; Sanjek 1990c),the meth od is such that it ch al-lenge smany assumptionabo ut asett ing madebefo rebeginni ng fieldwork It is more co mm on ly used now as the primary method, for researchers taking a more interp retiveapp roach to the study of ethnography.It is our belief that the metho d of parti cipant observation is so close to thecent ral coreconcepts of discipli nessuch asanthrop ologythatitis compatib lewith a numberoftheoretica l approaches and,moreove r,hasbeen instrument al in theoreticalchange in anthropology.

Appropriat eMethods an dtheBenefits of Trian gu lation

In well-designed research, the choice of meth od s of investigatio n Ilov.., directly from the specific research question to beaddressed and the goals (e.g..description,in terp retation,explana tio n) of interest to theresea rcher. In thisbook,we aredealin g exclusively withthe method of participa ntob -servation,and presume thatthequestion being asked isonethat canbea n-swered,at least in part,with thismethod .However,wewou ld liketo stress that inanyfieldworkproject, participant obse rvatio nis usuallyonlyoneof 127

DesigningResearcllwillIPntti ciptnnObservation

world toaddresstheresearchquestio nchosen. Inthe real world of research, sites for researcharechosen for a numberof oth er reasons,which include the practical co nsiderations of th e life ofthe resear cher, that is, can the researcherconduct research outside his/her own localarea;will fam ilyco n-cerns,fund ing,or health cons ide rat ions limit the range of places in wh ich theresearchcan be conducted;whatare thelanguage skillsof the researcher and what languages is it feasib le to learn; how will the personality and other personal characteristicsof theresearcherlimitthe extentto wh ichthe research er can becomean effectiveparticipant. Inadditionto cond itio ns r e-lated tothepersonalsituatio nof theresearcher, discipl ines such asa nthro-pology usually requ irea specia lizatio n ina sm all num ber of geograph ical and culturalregions,withan in-depth knowledgeof existing research inthe preh istory,history, current econo m ic, political, and social con d it ions, in add itio n tothe existing ethnograp hicliterature.This "culture area"concept is stillcentral to trainin ginanth ropology.Researchersdevelo pinterestsin cultu re areas and particular regio nal and cou ntry settings for allsons of reasons.While these are so me times theoretically driven,morecommonly forwhatever reason aparticular region orcou ntry has an in trinsic appeal to the researcher.Inotherwords,inan ideal research design the question drives the site.In thereal world,the siteselectio noftendrivesthe question. There is nothinginhe rently probl em ati c aboutth is,aslon g as theparticul ar questionchosen forstudycan be effectively and usefully add ressed with in the geograph icalcontext in which theresearch er is comfortable. One can-not,forexam ple,studyquestionsinvolvedin understandinglegalpolygyny inNo rthAme ricansettings(although the stu dy of coven polygynymightbe quite interestin g).The sitedoes not haveto be the idealplaceto ad dressa question, it just hasto begoo d eno ugh in theoreticalterms.

The advantag es to specializat ion in a particular culture area are many. The researche r has a strongincentive to learn the languages im po rta nt in the regionbeforeemba rkingona researchproject.Theresearcher often has a broad unde rstanding oftheextra loca l econo mic and po litical setting.The researcherbeginsfield work witha fairlygood idea of wha tto expectcultu r-ally,soc ially,and logistically.

Chapter7 126

ENHANC

ING

REP

RESE

NTATIVENESS

:

SAMPLING

I

N PART

ICIPANT

OBSERVATION

Sampling isa processmoregene rally associated withquantitativeresearch

su bjected to statisticalanalysis.The validity, and, more importantly, the gene raliza b iliryof sta tistical analysis depe nd on the extent to wh ich the probabilities in the sam ple reflect the true probabilities in the popul a-tion beingsa m pled. In qualitative resea rch in gene ral, and in parti cipant several methods being used . Othermethodscom mo nly used in fieldwork include more formal in-dep th interviewi ng; life histo ry interviewing ; oral history interviewing;formalelicitation approaches (e.g.,pile son, free li st-ing, elicitation frameworks);surveyresearch usinginterview schedules or questionnaires;review ofdo cumen ts andtexts;andstructuredobservatio n. Each has itsstrengths and limitations, and there is an exten sive literature

surrou nd ing theirappropriateuse in research. It is our belief thatthe use of differenttechniques with differentstrengths and limitation s allows for thecrossvalidat ion of concl usions by compari ngthem using data collected in different ways.Thisis sometimesspokenof as triangulation, but is also pan of theclassic approach to assessing validity.Insights gainedthrough participant observatio n can be cross-checked through the appropriate use of othermethods.

Some researchersargue that the mo st effective use of participant o bser-vation is as a meansto gene rate hypotheses thatcan be tested usin g othe r methods of data collection. We th ink that this is a lim ited view of the strengths of participantobservation, but in research proposals written to agencies that gene rallydonot fund much participant pbservauon,wehave successfullyargue d thata ph ase of resea rch based on participan tob

serva-tion was necessary beforewecould formula te the appropriateQuestionsfor aprecodedinterview schedule.

In general, however, ourown research projects generally includesome

more formal, often audiota ped, interview ing, using interview guidesand

schedules, inorderto generate so me datathat are com parableacross i

ndi-vidua ls(sec chapter8 fora discussionofthelimi tations ofcompa risonin

info rmalinterviewingapproaches).Weuse structuredobservationtogathe r

comparable dataonfood use, childcare,health practices,agricultu ralpra

c-tices,sourcesofincom e,etc.At thesame time,the ins ightgained throu gh

participa ntobse rvatio n allowsLISto asses stherelativesalien cyofconcerns

and enab les LIS to interpret the results of more structured approaches in

waysthat are closerto the understan din gs ofparticipant s.We believeth ai

each method, with its own special streng ths and limitation s,gives LIS a

slightlydifferentviewpointfrom wh ich to observetheelephant.

129

DesigningResearchwilliParticipantObservation

She went on to note that wh ile the so cio lo gist mightbe concerned with

questio nssuch as howmany midd le-aged men will express dissatisfactio n with theirjob s, the anth ro pologist is asking a different quest ion:howare

job dissatisfaction and satisfac tion inte gratedwithin "cultural characte r.~

While quantitative researchers are interested in the qua ntityand d

istribu-tion of phen omena (variab les), the qualitative researcher is interested in thenature of t.he phenome nawithin aparticularsetting and in identifyin g broad patt ern s.Thenat ure of sampli nginparticipantobservation isofcr iti-cal importan ce, butdifferent from sampling in qua nt ita tivestud ies.

As Honigmann (1970) pointed out, samp ling begins when the research questio n and site arechosen.The choice of a particular question for re~

search limitsth e kinds ofinform ation and types of people and events that mustbe observed to answerit.A specificsite,outof all the possiblesitesin theworld,is selected and this also places important limits on the research.

Anthropological samplingisnot a poor and inadequateversionofsociologi

-calorsociopsychologicalsampling.a versionwheren equals too fewcases.

ltis simplyadifferentkindof sampling. inwhichthe:validityof thesample depends not so muchon the numberof casesas uponthe proper spec

ifica-tion of the informant.so that he orshe can be accuratelyplaced,in termsof

averylargenumberofvariables-age.sex,orderofbirth,familybackground,

lifeexperience,temperamentaltendencies(suchas optimism,habitofex ag-geration,etc.).politicaland religiousposition, exactsituational relationships tothe investigator,configurationalrelationship to every otherinformant,and soforth . (654- 55)

observationinparticular.we aremore conce rnedwith understandi ng a se

t-tingor question in depthand from the perspective ofaparticip antthan we arein kno wing the distributi o n of variableacross apopul atio n.However,

we knowthatno co mmunity orgroup is homogeneous.Communitiesare collectio nsof individuals and groups that sharesome understandi ngs of theworld,but individuals havetheir own perspectives and interp retations

depending on their individualexperiences and places inthe social system . If we wishto go beyond the mo st generaland superficial generalizations abo ut a setting or commun ity, it is necessary to understand the range of variationof experiences and perspectives.Therefore,assuringthe rep resen-tativen ess of information gained throughparticipan tobservation isno less important to the enterprise of ethnography (Honigmann 1970; Johnson 1990;Mead 1953; Paul 1953) than it isin quantitat iveresearch.

Mead (1953) was very interested in the issue of sampling in qualitative

research and in assuring the represent ativeness and hence the validity of descriptions.In discuss ing thecriticism s ofanth ropolog icalworklevel ed by socio logistsand psychologists regard ingthe limita tio nsof anthropological samplingshe argued:

Chaprer 7