Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

FIELD RESEARCH AND FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH

KEY TERMS

acceptable incompetent
access ladder
analytic memos
appearance of interest
argot
attitude of strangeness
breaching experiment
competent insider
performance
defocusing
direct observation notes
ecological validity

ethnography

ethnomethodology

external consistency

face sheet

field site

focus group

freeze-outs

fronts

gatekeeper

go native

guilty knowledge

hierarchy of credibility

internal consistency

jotted notes

life history interview

marker

member validation

natural history

naturalism

normalize social research

separation of inference

social breakdown

thick description

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1.What were the two major phases in the development of the Chicago School, and

what are its journalistic and anthropological models?

2. List five of the ten things that the “methodological pragmatist” field researcher does.
   3.Why is it important for a field researcher to read the literature before beginning
   fieldwork? How does this relate to defocusing?
   4.Identify the characteristics of a field site that make it a good one for a beginning
   field researcher.
   5.How does the “presentation of self” affect a field researcher’s work?
   6.What is the attitude of strangeness, and why is it important?
   7.What are relevant considerations when choosing roles in the field, and how can
   the degree of researcher involvement vary?
   8.Identify three ways to ensure quality field research data.
   9.Compare differences between a field research and a survey research interview and
   between a field interview and a friendly conversation.

10.What are the different types or levels of field notes, and what purpose does each
serve?

NOTES

1. See Lofland et al. (2006:2–20).


2. For studies of these sites or topics, see Neuman (2000:
   345–346). On studies of children or schools, see Corsaro
   (1994), Corsaro and Molinari (2000), Eder (1995), Eder
   and Kinney (1995), Kelle (2000), and Merten (1999). On
   studies of people who are homeless, see Lankenau (1999)
   and on studies of female strippers, see Wood (2000).
   3. For a background in the history of field research, see
   Adler and Adler (1987:8–35), Burgess (1982a), Douglas
   (1976:39–54), Holy (1984), and Wax (1971:21–41). On
   the Chicago School, see Blumer (1984) and Faris (1967).
   4. Ethnography is described in Agar (1986), Franke
   (1983), Hammersley and Atkinson (1983), Sanday
   (1983), and Spradley (1979a:3–12; 1979b:3–16).