led by Dr Ashley Rogers and Dave Namusanya
This session will largely focus on in-person ethnographic research both within your own country or a country other than that within which you live. Please note that the session will include a short introduction to ethnography and then proceed to cover five main areas:
Defining your field and your role (“Who am I and where should I be?”)
– For some ethnographers, there is a clearly defined ‘field’ with neat boundaries (spatial or otherwise). For others though, ‘the field’ and its boundaries are something that you must navigate early on in your research. How might you make those choices and what does that mean for your research? This session begins by getting you to think about the boundaries of your research and the choices you have made, or indeed will need to make.
Writing Fieldnotes (“What should I be writing down in my fieldnotes?”)
– You’ve arrived at your ‘fieldsite’ and now it is time to DO ethnography. You listen, observe, talk, participate, but what do you need to write down? How do you decide what is important? Do you add your reflections alongside your observations or keep them separate? Do you document quotations? When do you use recorders and when do you not? In this session we attempt to answer some of these questions from our own knowledge and experiences.
Ethics and Relationships in the Field (“My ethics form didn’t ask me about this!”)
– Given that ethnographic research involves immersion in the field of study over prolonged periods of time, relationships are formed and ethical issues encountered that might not be anticipated. We discuss some of these here, and reflect on the challenges of common ethical procedure forms that rarely cover the complexities of ethnographic work. We also discuss issues around friendships, insider/outsider opportunities and challenges, and the need to reflect on our own positionality.
Leaving the Field (“Where does the field end and how do I transition to the next phase?”)
– Rarely discussed by ethnographers is the often emotional and challenging process of leaving the field and returning to the desk. Friendships left behind, experiences ended, anxiety rising about the next phases of research, researcher guilt.
Data analysis and Re(presenting) Narratives (“I’m writing stories about stories”)
– And now you need to organise your data, which is often messy and disjointed, revisiting memories woven with emotions, transporting yourself back to the field. This final section engages with how ethnographers might approach the analysis of their data, and lays importance on the responsibilities that researchers have to reflect and re(present) the stories of their participants.
This session will consist of a mixture of talks and reflections from the two facilitators as well as create and hold space for discussion around the opportunities and challenges of ethnographic work. We invite you to ask questions throughout our session but we also provide you with opportunities to take part in tasks that include you speaking with others in small groups or as a whole class, working on your own to consider your own approach and particular challenges, engaging in self-reflection on your identity and positionality, and discussing as a group the issues we have faced or anticipate. The intention is to ensure that you feel more prepared to conduct your ethnographic research if you have not yet started, and if you have, to take the time to reflect on your own practice and methods and how you can grow as an ethnographic researcher.
Dr Ashley Rogers (University of Stirling) conducted her ethnographic research in Bolivia over a period of 12 months and has presented on, and written about, being an ‘outsider’ in research and conducting research in another country and in another language (with a book chapter on ‘leaving the field’ in press). Dave Namusanya (Abertay University) is currently undertaking his PhD and returned from 8 months of fieldwork in his home country of Malawi, towards the end of 2021. As an ‘insider’ researcher, he offers a different perspective on relationships, ethics, and researcher identity. He is also able to offer insights in to how he is currently navigating the transition from fieldwork to data analysis and writing in his third year of the PhD.
Come join us and share your ethnographic insights, research areas and buzzing ideas alongside your fears, anxieties, emotions or regrets. Ethnographic research is intense and we want to build a community of ethnographic researchers that can all come together and support one another. A group on Social, the SGSSS social networking platform, will be established to ensure ongoing support and interaction after the training.
Who’s it for?
Students attending this session are expected to have an understanding of qualitative methods in social research and are planning to conduct or have recently completed a piece of ethnographic research.