AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
The observer effect8/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Put simply, critics assert that the presence of a researcher will influence the behavior of those being studied, making it impossible for ethnographers to ever really document social phenomena in any accurate, let alone objective, way ( Wilson, 1977). Finally, by detailing a few examples of questionable behavior on the part of informants, we challenge the fallacy that the presence of ethnographers will cause informants to self-censor.Ī frequent criticism of ethnographic research is that “observer effects” will somehow bias and therefore invalidate research findings ( LeCompte and Goetz, 1982 Spano, 2005). ![]() Second, we draw upon our ethnographic projects to illustrate the rich data that can be obtained from “staged performances” by informants. ![]() To make this case, first we mobilize methodological insights from the field of science studies to illustrate the contingency and partiality of all knowledge and to challenge the notion that ethnography is less objective than other research methods. Informants’ performances – however staged for or influenced by the observer – often reveal profound truths about social and/or cultural phenomena. Instead of aspiring to distance and detachment, some of the greatest strengths of ethnographic research lie in cultivating close ties with others and collaboratively shaping discourses and practices in the field. This paper responds to the criticism that “observer effects” in ethnographic research necessarily bias and therefore invalidate research findings. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |