East Asian Ethnographic Research Paper

East Asian Ethnographic Research Paper
Outline:

Ethnographers supplement what they learn from participant observation by interviewing people who can help them understand the setting or group they are researching. Interviews can be very valuable in fulfilling the main goal of ethnography: gaining an insider’s (emic) perspective.

In Stage Three of the project, you will prepare your interview questions and get them approved by your instructor, before you interview your informants. For your interviews, plan open-ended questions. Please note that if you would like to tape interviews, make sure to ask for consent from your informants.

Develop a list of questions. These questions provide a framework for your research; it is not a script to be followed strictly.

Ethical Concerns and Ethnography: Ethnographic research involves people, real human beings, so you must be aware of a number of special ethical concerns before beginning your project. Ethnographers must make their research goals clear to the members of the community where they undertake their research. Researchers must be sure that the research does not harm or exploit those among whom the research is done.

Interview:

In this stage of your ethnographic project, you will participate in a cultural event, activity, ceremony or tradition involving your topic. In addition to your participation or observation of the event, you also should talk with one or more informants, conducting brief interviews with them.

During each interview:

Give an adequate ethics statement at the beginning
Ask permission to tape record (if this is at all possible)
Word questions and probes carefully
Make smooth, conversational transitions between topics
Take notes on body language, tones of voice, emotions
Take notes on your own thoughts and feelings as well as any change in your relationship to respondent
Thank the respondent at end of interview
The notes from your participant observation and interviews are called your field notes. Field notes should be written as soon as possible after leaving the event and interviews. You are likely to forget important details unless you write them down very quickly. Turn in a copy of your field notes exactly as you wrote them, so that your instructor can see your methodology.

Good field notes include:

Date, time, and place of observation
Specific facts, numbers, details of what happens at the site
Sensory impressions: sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes
Specific words, phrases, summaries of conversations, and insider language
Questions about people or behaviors at the site for future investigation
Page numbers to help keep observations in order
Whenever you are about submitting any of your ethnographic paper related assignments (now, field notes), you must make it sure that it has a title and your name on it!

Also, whenever we talk about interview transcripts, it really does mean a transcript of the conversation not the description of the content of what was said during the interview, using third person for your informants. So, in your interview transcripts you were actually expected to use a form of a dialog with questions and answers that uses always first persons.

Final

For your final paper, you will synthesize the information that you have obtained in the previous stages. You also will identify one (or more) of the anthropological theories (discussed in this course), and apply it to your data in order to better explain the data. It is through theory that ethnographic data gains meaning.

Please see the Components of Final Paper (Ethnography) for information on what to include in your final paper.

Example of Components of Final Paper (Ethnography)

Introduction

Reflexivity: A discussion on your own background, recognizing your own cultural position and how it may affect your research.

Guiding Question: What specific question do you want to answer with your ethnography?

Thesis Statement: After conducting your ethnographic research, what is your answer? What will your paper be trying to prove?

Body Paragraphs

Theory Sections: The theory you chose is clearly introduced and explained.

Background Research: This section places your fieldwork in context, discussing your 5 sources.

Fieldwork: Include Evidence and Data.

Evidence: Interviews, excerpts from field notes, quotes, information from documents, pictures, diagrams are included and interpreted in fair and accurate ways. Validity and credibility of sources and material used for support or evidences are evaluated.

Data: How many people you interviewed, how many times you visited, how much material you have is organized either in charts or clearly within the paper.

Conclusion

Implications and Consequences of your Thesis are addressed:

Did your Thesis prove correct? Why or why not?

Placing your individual study in a wider context (e.g., human universals, social awareness and self perception)

Bibliography & References

Bibliography (at least 5 sources)

Texts and resources are documented appropriately (avoiding plagiarism). Uses a uniform (e.g., APA) style for all in-text and Footnote/Endnote references.

Writing (grammar/punctuation/style):

College-level writing which exhibits insight and independent thinking/original ideas

Appendices

Include copies of Field Notes

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