Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
researcher to narrow the scope almost immediately, for example, stress,
puberty, marriage, employment, and so on. Typically, the autobiography
focuses on social, educational, or career development. Rather than learning
about the participant's life in a holistic fashion, the ethnographer learns in
some depth about one facet of the participant's life. The depth of perspective
these techniques provide is invaluable in putting the pieces of the puzzle
together. This approach is most likely to pay off by generating useful insights
into a participant's view of the world and relating those insights to the specific
topic of study in a short period of time (Spindler, 1983, p. 293).
LISTS AND FORMS
A number of techniques can stimulate the interviewer's recall and help orga-
nize the data. During a semistructured interview, the ethnographer may find a
protocol or topical checklist useful. Printed or unobtrusively displayed on a
laptop computer screen or a PDA (personal digital assistant), such a list usu-
ally contains the major topics and questions that the ethnographer plans to
cover during the interview. A checklist can be both a reminder and a mecha-
nism to guide the interview when a more efficient approach is desirable.
Similarly, after some experience in the field, the fieldworker can develop
forms that facilitate data capture. For example, I developed a classroom obser-
vation form for myself and other fieldworkers in the dropout study. It consisted
simply of spaces for the date, site, observer, teacher, and class subject at the
top of the page, with the rest of the page divided into three sections: preclass
observation, description of classroom instruction, and postclass description.
The form was simple to follow and complete. It was also open-ended, allow-
ing the observer to record any events. The only explicit structure I imposed on
the form—and thus on the observation—was a categorization of the types of
activities before, during, and after class, including mention of which students
came to class early or remained after class and specifically what they were
doing. Documenting the mood that teachers and students brought to the class
through interviews and observations often helped explain classroom behavior,
particularly during periods of extracurricular activities such as election cam-
paign periods and big games.
Checklists and forms help organize and discipline data collection and
analysis. Their construction should rely on some knowledge from the field to
ensure their appropriateness and usefulness. Checklists and forms also require
consistent use, thus allowing the fieldworker to compare, for example, various
dropouts' views about a new rule or regulation in their system. However, such
lists and forms are not cast in stone; new topics emerge that merit exploration.
