11.2 Ethnographic research Part 2

Subrina set up an ethnographic writing exercise for us to take part in today.

You were participant/observers during a group activity to solve a brainteaser.

After we all took notes and worked on the brainteaser - it was not clear that we "solved" it correctly = but for the purposes of studying group interactions that really didn't matter.

We made a list of what you wrote down.  They included:

1. "objective" observations
what individual group members said
the order and interactions in conversation
how people looked (facial experssions, posture), moved (gestures, shifting in chair)
what they did ( looking at computer, writing, talking or not talking)
what you did
the time, duration, and sequence of interactions and events

2. interpretations/inferences
how group members "felt"
inferences about what group members were doing or thinking (she thought the puzzle was easy, she didn't want to tell us the answer but she knew it)
why group members did what they did

3. self- reports
how you felt
where you sat/what you did with respect to the rest of the group
what you said
your internal response to the activities around you

We followed up our quick categorization of the kinds of notes you took with a discussion of how we might use these observations to study group dynamics => what they might tell us.  The "objective" observations serve as "proof" or at least evidence of the inferences.  The self-reports provide "clues" to the observer's biases or assumptions - as well as his/her patterns for thinking. Taking these three types of observations together - you can begin to create a detailed picture of "what happened" in the different groups, and you might correlate differences in interactions with differences in some aspect of the identities of group members, their communication strategies, or some other factor.  Patterns in correlations between "success" as a group - and other factors (from your descriptions) might then give you clues as to what made the group work (or not). You would need to study many groups, for a long time - to come up with a "theory" to account for group success in college classrooms - and you might want to ask your participants what they thought about your theories to ensure that you had interpreted what you saw the way they "meant" it.

Your process for analyzing your observations would involve naming, classifying, counting, and exploring the context of the various the actions/interactions/ and outcoumes you saw.  You might then think about how what you observed connected to larger cultural patterns.

We ended class by briefly reviewing Alsop. I directed your attention to ideas/practices from the text that might be important for you if you chose to use ethnographic methods for your project.

Good writing today!

For Class Monday:
Read: Amanda and Melissa will be discussing Visual Literacy for All:  A Fourth-Grade Study of Alice in Wonderland  http://www.readingonline.org/articles/voices/edinger/.
Read your classmates' essays
Blog 14:  discuss what you did well + what you need to work on for your DA essay.  Then indicatewhat kind of feedback you would like from readers.

In class we will spend some time discussing what the DA essays - and you will spend some time commenting on your classmates' drafts.

Have a good weekend.