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 Housekeeping

Considering Data Collection

Project Topic/Purpose

Research Questions

Choosing Method(s) of Data Collection

Epistemology

1. Participant-Observation

2. Conducing Interviews

3. Conducting Focus Groups

4. Analysis of Existing Documents

5. Archival Data

6. Open-Ended Survey Instruments

Various Qual Data Collection Options

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.

Starting Some “Fieldwork”

1. What communication strategies do women mid-level 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?

Communication RQ Examples

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. Community of connected individuals2. Relationships which you negotiate to gain access3. Sites where you’ll have conversations and observations4. Public discourses that gather for analysis5. 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.

What is ‘the field’?

Either the subway ride there tonight or this morning or when you were at lunch today:

Describe in as much detail as possible as many people, things, sounds, smells, and/or interactions you experienced or experienced.

Stop: Awareness Check

What prevents us in daily life from engaged observation?

What can cause us to pay attention in the daily flow of our days?

Topic: Customer Service Interactions

RQ: What customer service strategies are used by employees in NYC fast-food restaurants, cafes or quick service establishments?

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.

Come back to Baruch first, sit down for 10 minutes– write field notes, separate notes for each person.

Take a Notebook, couple $$ (if you want) and a Partner

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.

What to pay attention to?

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:

Describe the Process of Observation . . .

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.

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.

Back to your projects:

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. 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.

5. Write your reactions as you proceed, just try to note when its your reaction vs. a direct observation.

Best Practices

5. Have separate sections for your notes and for your ongoing ‘analysis’ – want to be able to tell the difference.

6. You’ll listen to audio to create full field notes for each interview – combination of journal notes and ‘transcription’ from audio.

7. Why do notes matter when you are already recording the interview or focus group?

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.

Credibility: How do I begin to establish?

Big Picture Criteria

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.

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.