[Air-l] ethnography and ethics

Jonathan Marshall Jonathan.Marshall at uts.edu.au
Sun May 16 19:44:38 PDT 2004


Ed Lamoureux  writes

> On May 14, 2004, at 8:54 AM, Kendall, Lori wrote:
> 
> The objection raised by my students is usually that if people know I'm
> observing them, they will behave differently, and therefore I won't
> really find out "the truth."
> 
> Ed notes:
> 
> Lori's student to the side, "Labov's Paradox" has been around in the 
> qual. literature for quite some time.  There are LOTS of professional 
> field researchers who would say, roughly, the same thing as do Lori's 
> students. And they would back their claim with writing by Labov and 
> others.

I would say a lot depends on how long people know you are observing them, because one thing that happens in social life is that we are always being observed by others.  After a while your 'special' observation often becomes little more intrusive than these other kinds of observation.  Of course it cannot be left out of the analysis, but then the observer and their social position never can.

People will misrepresent on occasions when questioned, which is why no one should ever just use questionaires, but this again is part of social life. It is interesting to compare the  different representations in different circumstances and with what people seem to do.

> Kendall, Lori wrote:
> a better way to find out what things mean  to
> people is to ask them.  This can provide for much richer, more 
> nuanced, and yes even *better* data.
> 
> Think I'd have to disagree with Lori on this claim that "a better  way 
> to find out what things mean is to people is to ask them."

It *is* more data, and data you can't always get unobtrusively. It does not mean it is 'truth', but in this case it is a commentary on what perhaps 'should' be happening.
Better data is not the same as truth.  It may not fit in with your views of what is going on after all :)

Competing and different meanings are also a 'social fact'.  I'd suggest we not be too much in a rush to assume we always know better about everything than the people we are studying.

jon





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