Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
try to be sensitive to the group's cultural norms. This sensitivity manifests itself
in apparel, language, and behavior. Wearing expensive designer clothes to con-
duct an informal interview with a disenfranchised and impoverished high
school student is as insensitive and inappropriate as wearing cutoff jeans and a
T-shirt to conduct an interview with a chief executive officer. Inadvertent
improprieties or faux pas will occur, and people will generally forgive them. A
consistent disregard or lack of concern for the group's basic cultural values,
however, will severely impede research progress.
Second, an overarching guide in all interviews is respect for the person. An
individual does the fieldworker a favor by giving up time to answer questions.
Thus, the interview is not an excuse to interrogate an individual or criticize
cultural practices. It is an opportunity to learn from the interviewee.
Furthermore, the individual's time is precious: Both the industrial executive
and the school janitor have work to do, and the ethnographer should plan ini-
tial interviews, whether formal or informal, around their work obligations and
schedules. Later, the fieldworker becomes an integral part of the work. Even
greater sensitivity to the nuances of timing are essential at this point, however.
The observant ethnographer responds to signals from the interviewee.
Repeated glances at a watch are usually a clear signal that the time is up.
Glazed eyes, a puzzled look, or an impatient scowl is an interviewee's way of
letting the questioner know that something is wrong: The individual is bored,
lost, or insulted. Common errors involve spending too much time talking and
not enough time listening, failing to make questions clear, and making an inad-
vertently insensitive comment. The ethnographer must listen to the language
of the interviewees. In one fashion or another, they are always communicating.
In formal settings—such as a school district—a highly formalized, ritualis-
tic protocol is necessary to gain access to and to interview students and teach-
ers. Soliciting and securing permission may involve an introductory meeting
with various stakeholders (including the superintendent and principal) to
exchange pleasantries, a formal explanation of the research project (including
submission of the proposed research), letters of permission, and periodic
formal exchanges, including notice of the study's termination. Similarly,
structured interviews require a more structured protocol of introductions,
permission, instructions, formal cues to mark major changes in the interview,
closure, and possible follow-up communications.
Informal interviews require the same initial protocol. The researcher, how-
ever, casually and implicitly communicates permission, instructions, cues, clo-
sure, and follow-up signals. Pleasantries and icebreakers are important in both
informal and formally structured interviews, but they differ in the degree of
subtlety each interview type requires. Sensitivity to the appropriate protocol
can enhance the interviewer's effectiveness.
