Transcript No Slide Title

11/18/13
field-based research cont.
all researchers must:
• address the “double inference” fallacy
– example: (pre-test/post-test experimental
design with treatment)
• group A receives training X; group B receives
training Y.
• A scores higher on measure of social skills
than B, with decent effect size
• conclusion: training X kids develop better
social skills than training Y kids
all researchers must (cont.)
• manage time. time is finite—start with time and
then fit tasks to time
• pace themselves—life-long journey not a sprint
– stop early enough to prepare for tomorrow
• do the final 5%—finish the job
all researchers must (cont.)
• negotiate theory
– it can open the world up, put order on the chaos
– it can narrow our vision (tunnel vision), put
blinders on us
• build and/or test theory—explanation of how
some small part of the world works
more on theory
• theory needed to “see” data
– creative or invented spellings (Read, 1986)
• RUDF
• nooiglid, cwnchre, chrac, cidejches, adsavin, cchin,
feh, jopt, hrp, jrgn, bateg, ihover, goweg
– theory: children use letter-name knowledge to creatively
& linguistically accurately spell
– not seen for centuries
• educators lack linguistic knowledge
• adults hear sounds not there
building validity in field-based research (Wolcott,
1990)
• talk little; listen a lot (field work)
• record accurately (field work)
• begin writing early (field work and writing)
• let readers see for themselves (writing)
• report fully (writing)
• be candid (field work and writing)
• seek feedback (analysis)
• achieve balance (field work, writing, analysis)
• write accurately (internal validity) (writing)
coding
1. construct a data record from interviews,
observing, and artifacts
2. from often huge data records construct a
manageable set of factors
– top-down codes: from the literature (etic)
– bottom-up codes: codes one constructs from
the data record (emic)
Erickson cont.
• field-based research based in anthropology and
sociology
– human action patterned—anthro, by culture;
sociology, by social laws.
• challenge: people seek patterns, and will see
patterns where none exist
• the biggest challenge to doing good research is
willingness and ability to fool oneself—remain
skeptical about claims
data collection
• critical of “romantic” notion; for a “process as
deliberative as possible” (p. 140)
• central issue of method:
– bring research questions and data collection into
a consistent, albeit an evolving, relationship.
– asking explicit questions and seeking relevant
data deliberately enable and empower research
intuition, rather than stifle it. (p. 140)
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major types of evidentiary inadequacy
inadequate amounts of evidence
inadequate variety of kinds of evidence
faulty interpretive status of evidence
inadequate disconfirming evidence
inadequate discrepant case analysis (pp. 140141)
ethics and entrance
• risk greatest between members of different
interest groups in local setting
• reports to general scientific audience usually do
not expose people to risk
• consider reporting in local setting in negotiating
access to information about individuals in the
setting. (p. 141)
• negotiation of entry a complex process (p. 142)
collaborative relationships with informants
• tendency of informants to assume researcher’s
purpose is evaluative
• memorize statement about purposes, procedures,
and steps taken to maximize confidentiality and
minimize risk
• never comment to other team members about
anything observed in the site while on the site (p.
142)
data collection as inquiry
• identifying full range of variation in formal and
informal social organization and meaningperspectives
• collecting recurrent instances of events across
wide range of events—establish typicality or
atypicality
• looking at events at any system level in context
of events occurring at next higher or lower
system levels (p. 143)
• determining the full range of variation
– begin comprehensively
– later move in successive stages to more
restricted observational focus
• informants usually not fully aware of the
full range and depth of culturally learned
and taken-for-granted assumptions of
social relations etc. in everyday life
(p.143)
boundedly rational problem solving
• fundamental principle:
– reflection & write-up takes at least as long as
observing; must be completed before returning
to the field
• bias: decisions
– about where and when to observe
– about foci of attention while observing
– premature typication: conduct deliberate
searches for disconfirming evidence (pp. 143144)
reporting
• empirical assertions
• analytic narrative vignettes
• quotations from fieldnotes
• quotations from interviews
• maps, tables, figures etc
• interpretive commentary—particular
• interpretive commentary—general
• theoretical discussion
• natural history of inquiry in study (p. 145)
validity
• the best case for validity: assertions that
account for patterns found across both
frequent and rare events
data record
• materials collected in field not data themselves,
but resources for data.
• from materials, data must be constructed
through some formal means of analysis (p. 149)
audiences
1. general scientific community
2. policy makers
3. general community of practitioners
4. members of local community studied (p. 153)
positively
(or neutrally)
regarded
negatively
regarded
known
unknown
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3
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4
changing one’s mind (Walsh et al.)
• do you believe this report? why?
• what about generalizability?
• what do you learn about teaching from reading
this?
video (micro-ethnography)
• strengths
– capacity for completeness of analysis
– reduces dependence of primitive analytic
typication
– reduces dependence on frequently occurring
events as best data sources
• limitations
– replaying a tape one interacts with it vicariously
– interpretation requires context not on tape
the constraints of video
• my account of this lesson is rich because I spent
a lot of time looking at the tape and because I
knew a lot about the kids. But you know what?
The first time I looked at it, I thought, “This
was it? What did they get so excited about?” I
mean, the tape seemed not too much. The
fullness of the moment lies in the sensuality of
the experience of the here-and-now. That
feeling is missing when looking at a tape or
transcript because your ongoing experience is
not of the here-and-now of the interactional
record but of your own context. Making the
record come alive is a creative act. It requires
engaging the document as though it were the
here and now, building up a stream of thought
within the record itself. Yes? So: if your
students have been disappointed by the thinness
of their experience of their records, they
shouldn’t expect anything different with this
tape. The problem doesn’t lie in the record. (John
D’Amato, personal communication, 1993)
intro to fieldwork-based research (with children)
Graue, M. Elizabeth, & Walsh, Daniel J. (1998).
Studying children in context: Theories,
methods, and ethics. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
intro to using video in fieldwork-based research
Walsh, D. J., Bakir, N., Lee, T. B., Chung, Y., &
Chung, K. (2006). Using Digital Video in FieldBased Research with Children: A Primer. In A.
Hatch, Ed., Early childhood qualitative research
(pp. 43-62). New York: Routledge.
resources for research skills
• Sage Press (www.sagepub.com)
• website has many links
• dissertators (offer to be peer reader)
Pisani, Elizabeth. (2008). The wisdom of whores:
Bureaucrats, brothels and the business of AIDS. London,
England: Granta.
• As an epidemiologist researching AIDS, Elizabeth Pisani has been
involved with international efforts to halt the disease for fourteen
years. With swashbuckling wit, fierce honesty, and more than a little
political incorrectness, she dishes on herself and her colleagues as they
try to prod reluctant governments to fund HIV prevention for the
people who need it most: drug injectors, gay men, sex workers, and
johns. With verve and clarity, Pisani shows the general reader how her
profession really works; how easy it is to draw wrong conclusions from
“objective” data; and, shockingly, how much money is spent so very
badly.
writing
• before you turn the final draft in, look carefully
at the example manuscripts in the APA Manual
(do the last 2%)
• writers workshop—become a regular
• find a good editor; ask editor to make list of
common problems
• read good writing
• write simply; keep sentences short
grad life
• dealing with university bureaucracy
– know the rules (Grad Programs Handbook)
– know the gatekeepers (departmental grad
programs secretary)
– be wary of “Sherman Hall” advising
– consult grad student organizations (see
website for links)
getting car ready for winter
• check anti-freeze
• good scraper and brush
• lock de-icer
• in trunk (for trips): gloves, hats, sleeping bag,
candles, collapsable shovel, flashlight
• check weather before you travel
• if you haven’t driven on ice before, go to large
empty parking lot—practice
places, ways etc. to relieve stress
• DCR: organized trips
• weekly rituals, e.g., an evening at Urbana Free
Library
• escapes: e.g., ARC, CRCE, Krannert Art Museum,
Café Kopi, Armory, Homer Lake, Carle Park, Caffe
Paradiso, Krannert
• form a gang, a group, a posse, a rotating potluck
• ice arena
• friend with a fire place
good ways to find the best courses
• DI incomplete list
• other graduate students
good ways for international students to meet
other grad students
• ARC, CRCE
• clubs
• sports
• church
• go places international students don’t go
• get out of Sherman Hall and Orchard Downs
good places cont.
• Thai food: Siam Terrace, U; Thara Thai, C
• Indian food: Sitara, U
• coffee shops: Café Kopi, C; Café Paradiso, U
• breakfast: Courier Café, U; Le Peep, C
• wine selection: Corkscrew, U
• vegetarian food: Red Herring, U
• Jazz: Iron Post, U
• Movies: That’s Rentertainment, Campus Town