Transcript Qualitative Field Research

Field Research
(質化田野研究、田野調查)
Social Research Methods 2113 & 6501
Spring, 2006
April 3-24, 2006
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(Qualitative) Field Research
(Ethnography, Participant observation)
(民族誌、參與觀察)
• produce qualitative (non-numerical) data
• very old and very new in social science
• direct and face-to-face social interaction with
“real people” in a natural setting (自然情境下的
與人面對面的社會交流)
• Interesting but could be time consuming,
emotionally draining and sometimes physically
dangerous
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Part I
• Research questions appropriate for field
research
• A short history of field research
• The logic of field research
• Choosing a site and gaining access
• Relations in the field
3
Research Questions Appropriate
for Field Research
•
•
•
•
•
Provide a very comprehensive perspective, so it’s
appropriate for topics defying simple quantification (完
整深入的觀察，適合無法以量化方式呈現的研究主題)
Study attitudes and behaviors best understood within
their natural setting (適合在自然情境下最能被理解的態
度和行為)
appropriate when studying a group of interacting
people
Study: people in a location, amorphous social
experiences (不定型的社會經驗)
The strength: reveal things that would not otherwise be
apparent (發現顯示那些並非顯而易見的事物)
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Terminology of Field Research
• Members (成員): people who are studied
in a field setting (被研究者，即觀察對象)
• The Outsider (局外人): 即研究者
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A short history of field research
(也可視為不同質性研究典範興起的過程)
• Academic field research began with anthropology
• Chicago School of Sociology (芝加哥社會學派)
– 1910s~1930s: journalistic and anthropological models
of research (探討真正發生什麼事 & 用局內人的觀點看
世界)
– 1940s~1960s: developed participant observation (參與
觀察)
• In situ, direct interaction, members’ perspectives
(研究自然場域、直接與人互動、以成員觀點
瞭解世界)
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A short history of field research
(也可視為不同質性研究典範興起的過程)
• Declined after WW II
• Revived in the 1970s and 1980s
• Today: an activist or social constructionist
perspective on social life (行動主義或社會
建構觀點納入社會生活)
– Social processes of negotiation, discussion,
and bargaining to construct social meaning
質性研究的重點在於每天面對面協商、討論、討
價還價的社會過程中建構出的社會意義
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Ethnography (民族誌)
• Ethnography: describing a culture and
understanding another way of life from the
native point of view (描述某種文化及從原始觀點
去了解另一種生活方式)
• Moving from what is heard or observed to what
is meant (從所觀察聽聞到的推演到其意義)
• Cultural knowledge: explicit knowledge (顯性知
識—人們能描述事件的發生) and tacit
knowledge(隱性知識—為了和他人有所區隔而沒
有明說的文化規範)
• Thick description: rich, detailed description of
specifics (豐富、充滿細節的描述)
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Ethnomethodology (俗民方法論)
• The study of common sense knowledge (對常識
的研究，觀察在自然情境持續的社會互動中常識
如何被創造及運用)
• Assuming that social meaning is fragile and fluid
– Meaning is constantly being created and re-created
• People “accomplish” commonsense
understanding by using tacit social-cultural rules
(人們藉由隱性社會文化原則完成對常識的理解)
• Breaching experiments (破壞實驗:證明人們在日
常生活中創造現實感的簡單隱性原則)
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The logic of field research
• More of an orientation toward research
than a fixed set of techniques
• Naturalism(自然主義): observing ordinary
events in natural settings, not in
researcher-created settings
• Direct involvement in the field: fun, exciting,
but time, physically and emotionally
demanding (實際田野研究有趣但花時間，
且身心影響大)
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What Do Field Researchers Do?
• Observe events/activities in natural settings
• Directly involved with the people being studied
• An insider and an outsider (得到圈內人的看法但
維持局外人的分析觀點)
• Use different techniques and social skills flexibly
• Produce extensive written notes (and other
forms of data)
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What Do Field Researchers Do?
• Sees events holistically and individually (全面
獨立的觀察)
• Understands and develops empathy for
members in a field setting (對成員的同理心)
• Notices both explicit and tacit aspects of
culture (文化中外顯與隱藏的面向)
• Observes ongoing social processes without
disrupting or imposing an outside point of view
• Copes with high levels of personal stress,
uncertainty, ethical dilemmas, and ambiguity
(能調適高度的個人壓力、不確定性、道德兩難、
模糊情況)
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Steps in a field research project
• Flexibility: researchers can shift direction and
follow leads
• Getting organized
– Can begin with their own experiences
– Careful looking and listening, short-term memory, and
regular writing
– Learn concepts and data collection methods
– Defocusing (去除焦點: 看更廣大的情境或場域，不要
把焦點放在研究者身上)
– Self-knowledge
• Strong impact on a researcher’s identity and outlook
13
Choosing a site and gaining access
(選擇研究場域然後進入)
• Selecting a site: consider your research
questions
– Consider: richness of data, unfamiliarity,
suitability
• Level of involvement: depending on the
degree of detachment or involvement with
members
– A detached outsider vs. an intimately involved
insider
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Level of involvement
• Complete observer
｜
observer as participant
participant as observer
(researcher participant)
｜
complete participant
• As an outsider:
– Less time, overrapport
less an issue,
sometimes can helps
members open up
• Misinterpretation more
likely
• As an insider
– Empathy (同理心), can
share a member’s
experience
– Some difficulties exist
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Gatekeepers (守門者)
• A gatekeeper: someone with the formal or
informal authority to control access to a
site (有著正式或非正式的權力，能控制人
們進入某個場域)
• To negotiate with gatekeepers and bargain
for access (與守門者協商以進入某場域)
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Strategy for entering
• Planning: needs
commonsense
judgment and social
skills, re-entry
possible (須要計畫:
常識判斷及社交技巧。
有時需再進入一場域)
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Strategy for entering
• Negotiation (協商): to form social relations,
use connections, networking, or use
informant
• Disclosure (揭露研究者的身分和研究計劃):
how much to reveal about yourself and the
research project
– Explain the project to gatekeepers and others
unless you have a good reason not to
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Entering the field
(進入研究場域)
• Presentation of self (呈現研究者的自我)
• Researcher as instrument (研究者為研究
工具)
• An attitude of strangeness (持陌生的態度)
• Building rapport (建立關係)
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Entering the Field
• Presentation of Self: be conscious about it
– Presentation depending on the occasion
– Self-presentation may influence field relations
(研究者的自我呈現可能會影響田野中的社會關
係)
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Entering the Field
• Researcher as instrument: the researcher is the
instrument for measuring field data (研究者為研
究工具: 研究者測量蒐集田野資料)
– Be alert and sensitive to what happens in the field
and to be disciplined about recording data (對田野中
發生的情形時時保持警覺與敏感度，並記錄觀察資料)
– It has personal consequences (實地觀察的經驗對研究
者個人有一定影響)
– Be honest about personal, subjective experiences (誠
實記錄個人主觀的經驗感受)
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Entering the Field
• An attitude of Strangeness: question and
notice ordinary details (持陌生的態度: 以外
人的態度質疑注意一般細節)
– difficult to recognize what we are very close to
– People rarely recognize customs they take for
granted
– The Martian vs. the convert (a stranger’s and
an insider’s point of view) (局外人與圈內人的
觀點)
– Reconsider your own social world
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Entering the Field
• Building Rapport by getting along with
members in the field (與觀察對象建立關係)
– Not always easy
– Charm and Trust: Need social skills and
personal charm, takes times to build trust
– Freeze outs (不願合作或不願參予研究的成員):
members refuse to cooperate or become
involved in the study
– Understanding: precondition for greater depth,
create empathy
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Relations in the Field
(研究場域裡的關係)
• Roles in the field: needs to negotiate selfrepresentation, social roles, preexisting
roles assigned early by members
– Roles affected by ascriptive factors and
physical appearance, ex: gender is important
– Any role limits access to some part of a field
site, may become a friend or an enemy of
some members, be aware of danger and high
risk (see box 13.4)
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Relations in the Field
Learning the rope
• Stress: some emotional stress is inevitable,
ex: embarrassment, discomfort,
overwhelmed by the details in the field,
loneliness, isolation, etc.
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Relations in the Field
• Normalizing social research: help
members redefine social research (將社會
研究正常化: 幫助成員重新定義社會研究)
– Explaining yourself, explaining field research,
accepting minor deviance, appearing
nonthreatening
– Explaining research in terms members
understand
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Relations in the Field
• Acceptable incompetent: partially
competent but accepted as a
nonthreatening person who needs to be
taught (可接受的無能: 某人只具備部分能力，
但不具威脅性，可被教導)
– To learn, not to be an expert
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Relations in the Field
Maintaining relations (維持社會關係)
• Social relations: developing, modifying,
breaking social relations
• Small favors (舉手之勞，小忙): small
tokens or favors are exchanged, ex:
deference and respect
• Conflicts in the field
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Relations in the Field
Maintaining relations
• Appearing interested (表面上的興趣):
researchers pretend to be interested in
members’ activities even though they are
actually uninterested
• Social breakdown (社會衝突): two cultural
traditions or social assumptions fail to mesh,
hidden routine expectations and assumptions
become explicit in a breakdown
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