Today...Today...Field Research &Unobtrusive methods

Go and sit in the lounges of the luxury hotels and on the doorsteps of flophouses; sit on the Gold Coast settees and the slum shakedowns; sit in Orchestra Hall and in the Star and Garter burlesk [sic]. In short, gentlemen, go get the seat of your pants dirty in real research. –

Robert Parks (1920s)

PreparinPreparing to g to

Enter the Enter the FieldField

•Literature...Literature...

PreparinPreparing to g to

Enter the Enter the FieldField

•Literature...Literature...

Ethical Ethical ConsideratioConsideratio

nsns

Ethical Ethical ConsideratioConsideratio

nsns

Story lines...Story lines...

Levels of Levels of participation:participation:non-participant non-participant covert research?covert research?

Gate Gate Keepers

Keepers

Gate Gate Keepers

Keepers

Gaining

Gaining Support

Support

Gaining

Gaining Support

Support

Gaining

Gaining TrustTrust

Gaining

Gaining TrustTrust

Establishing

Establishing

Relationships

Relationships

With….With….

Finding your

Finding your

role...role...

Establishing

Establishing

Relationships

Relationships

With….With….

Finding your

Finding your

role...role...

Field/ NotesField/ NotesAnalysis

Notes

Theory

Concepts

“Gender in action”

“Risk Management”

Date, time, and place of observation

Specific facts, numbers, details of what happens at the site

Sensory impressions: sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes

Specific words, phrases, summaries of conversations, and insider language

• Jotting• description

Observation & Reflections

Questions about people or behaviors at the site for future investigation

It’s so cold in here, It must be hard to work in here without a parka on!

This guy is giving me the ‘heeby jeebies’. I wonder why?

Unobtrusive ResearchUnobtrusive Research

• Pre-existing documents• Maps• Letters/biographies• Institutional documents• Advertisements• TV Shows• Museums• Structures (buildings)• Streetscapes....

What is QUAL content analysis?“... a careful detailed

systematic examination and interpretation of a particular body of material in an effort to identify patterns, themes, biases, and meanings”

(Berg & Latin, 2008 in Berg, 2009: 338).

Social Order & Popular CultureFrames shape the narrative

Cultural ideals• Hegemony? • Counter narratives?

Fiction/reality TV :No scene is accidental

*Explanations that justify human actions

VoiceColourPositions of power

What does it Mean?

Manifest● What appears

Latent● Ideology● Structural meaning

Do not dismiss.....

Units of Analysis● Words (adj./verbs)● Voice● Phrases● Ideological pairing● Concepts● Page #, section...

Units of Analysis

How a show frames issues of race?

Ideological 'statements' about

race is your unit of analysis...

Grammar

Research questions

Specifics

Formatting