Larsen's thoughts on virtual ethnography field notes

I found Larsen's posting interesting (click on pic). Larsen reported on her online observations and experiences with several Danish social networking websites that formed part of her virtual ethnography. She found that by keeping the perimeter of her report solely around her online observations and experiences of the websites, she was not getting enough what Geertz calls "thick descriptions". She felt that she need to extend the perimeter to encompass her larger observations and learning experiences beyond the websites.

I believe she is likely to do grounded theory because her supervisor had asked her to explore the work of Adele Clark on Situational Analysis. The folklore theory is that everything is situated and to better address the complexities of social life, Clarke (2003) argues that we need to "situate research individually, collectively, social organizationally and institutionally, temporally, geographically, materially, culturally, symbolically, visually and discursively" (p. 554) to produce "thick descriptions" data. Clark's situational analysis is an adaptation to some aspects of Glazer and Strauss' classic grounded theory analysis, and which according to her can bring to light "the usually invisible and inchoate social features of a situation more visible: all the key elements in the situation and their interrelations; the social worlds and arenas in which the phenomena interest are embedded" (p. 572).

Putting Clark's Situational Analysis aside, I would like to reflect on the fundamental differences between traditional ethnography of qualitative research (Rock, 2001; Mohan, 2004) and grounded theory ethnography (Dey, 1999; Charmaz, 2006) based on Larsen's posting above, course readings and additional readings I had, and my writing of my methodology chapter.

What I realise immediately about comparative method analysis of grounded theory is that whatever you do in ethnography (taking down fieldnotes, intensive interviewing and textual analysis of elicited and extant text), everything is guided by theoretical concerns. The comparative method begets continuous comparing of new data with all prior data collected to draw out, if any, emerging conceptual categories. These categories are used to identify theoretical concerns and the theoretical sampling is then enlarged to address these theoretical concerns. The comparative analysis is then repeated with new data and data collection concludes when category saturation is reached. Category saturation is where no new conceptual category emerges from new data collected. As such, decisions on what kind of evidences, how they will be used, how data gathering will be designed and how the evidences will be collected, are continuously shaped throughout the process of simultaneous data collection and analysis.

Even if we have supplementary data sources, like in Larsen's case, data from these sources should be subjected to the same comparative analysis method with our ethnography data so that they can also be used to draw conceptual categories and theoretical concerns to direct where our research should go. You cannot find all these in traditional ethnography. That is why many researchers are attracted to include comparative analysis of grounded theory into their ethnography.

Traditional ethnography is focused on describing a setting. That is why you can afford to wait for a "fairy godmother (informant)" to come by "to help the forlorn ethnography" (Rock, 2001, p. 34) in traditional ethnography. There is also a danger in traditional ethnography that you will end up having a lot of data (more than you could probably digest) and it is not so much for the sake of "thick descriptions" but because you do not know when to stop collecting.

Grounded theory ethnography is concerned with a phenomenon or a process. Grounded theory ethnographer looks into what is happening in a setting, makes "a conceptual rendering of these actions" (Charmaz, 2006, p. 22), and creates connections between events to understand the studied process. He or she is willing to cover more grounds and expand access within a setting, in anticipating a possibility of more understanding of the studied process. So the direction is clear with grounded theory ethnography. Even at the start of the data collection stage, the ethnographer will find relevant information before coming up with an initial sampling. Theoretical concerns drawn from the initial sampling will guide in drawing up a theoretical sampling, and the comparative analysis method follows to shape the direction of the research.

Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnography (Rock, 2001)

I can't shrugg off this image of Paul Rock looking like a character in CSI because of his work in criminology. He is an academic in Mannheim Centre for Criminology, an educational institution that provides undergraduate and postgraduate courses related to criminology. I guess if you want to do the work CSI people do, this is THE PLACE you need to go.

Anyway, his paper entitled Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnography (2001) is cited in 21 papers/books. I list below those resources which I can get access to and share how his paper is cited by others.

1. Rosenblum, L. F., (2008) "The ArXiv as a model for open Access: An Anthropoligical Analysis"
Rosenblum argues of the need to look into the cultural practices of users in order to better design, in this case, an institutional repository that will meet their needs and attract them to use it. I find this interesting because I know of a committee whose work is to look into facilitating internal communication in an organization but in their discussion, no one talks about culture and practices within each section (micro level) and in the organization at large (macro level).

2. Tan, T. K., Wang, X. W., & Zhu, L., "Symbolic interactionist ethnography: Implications for information systems (IS) research and practice"
Tan et al. posit that taking symbolic interactionism as theoretical framework will help researchers to look at a phenomenon in IS from a larger perspective that include complex social relations found in the scope of research. They also talk about adopting contant comparison approach in grounded theory will allow for greater focus in structuring data collection and data analysis process.

3. Carlsson, C. S. (2006). "Culture of practice of Ministry of Education, special education occupational therapist and physiotherapists" Master thesis. Auckland University of Technology
This paper reinforces the need to adopt constant comparison approach technique (highlighted by Tan et al. - see no 2) so that researchers do not walk away at the end of an ethnography journey feeling that they have not cover everything.

4. Tianinen, T., & Koivunen, E. -R. (2006). "Exploring forms of triangulation to facilitate collaborative research practice: Reflections from a multidisciplinary research group". Journal of Research Practice, 2(2), Article M2.
Tianimen and Koivunen discuss about triangulation in ethnography research using at least 2 comparable process to "enhance the comprehensiveness of data, to contextualise the interpretations and to explore a variety of similar and dissimilar viewpoints". They cite Rock here to say that triangulation would mean that researcher have to look into many social setting and analyse many persons assuming different roles. At another point they agree with Rock that information given by an informat may not be comprehensive and representing the view of the entire community. These information are context specific to the informant's experience. Further, they see no reason preventing an informant from lying.

5. Keezhangatte, J. J. (2006). "Transnational migration, resilience and family relationship: Indian household workers in Hong Kong" PhD dissertation. University of Hong Kong
The author introduces Natasha who was his informant and who Rock would call deus ex machina (fairy godmother who will come and help the forlorn ethnographer) - an informant, helper, a source of introductions and so on.

6. Thomas, M. L., (2008). "Faith-based organizations and legislative advocacy: A qualitative inquiry" PhD dissertation. Virginia Commonwealth University.
Thomas makes use of symbolic interactionism as theoretical perspective and social constructionism as epistemology and argues that both are congruent to each other. Also symbolic interactionism is in congruent with ethnography because methods employed in ethnography afford researchers understanding of their research subjects' context and their (research subjects) understanding of the context. Quoting Crotty (1998), ethnography using symbolic interactionism as theoretical perspective can be structured in many ways including grounded theory.

7. O'Reilly, K. (2005). "Ethnographic methods".
Quoting Rock (2001), (1) there is definitely be a topic of interest to pursue in social science research using ethnography, (2) ethnography is iterative-inductive and so researchers need to know a fair bit of their study before going down to the "field", (3) be prepared that people may not be open to be observed, (4) someone will appear "like fairy godmother to help the forlorn ethnographer", (5) tension between writing down everything observed to being selective for fieldnotes in interest of time, and (6) knowing background information first so that interview does not have to be long, repeated (to the annoyance of the interviewee).

In brief, key themes I find here are (1) symbolic interactionism as theoretical perspective allows understanding a phenomenon from a larger scope encompassing cultural practices, (2) ethnography using symbolic interactionism as theoretical perspective can be structured in many ways including grounded theory - for example, enhancing ethnography with constant comparison from grounded theory will ensure all grounds are covered, and (3) key features of ethnography research are discussed.

Reimagining Community (Mohan, 2004)

Dia Mohan or now she is known as Dia Da Costa is a faculty member of Queen's University in Kingston, Canada.

Her paper Reimagining Community (Mohan, 2004) is cited in 5 papers (4 of which are written or co-written by her). I would like to thank both Da Costa and Ruwanpura for providing me access to their papers.

1. Da Costa, D. and Philip McMichael, (2007) "The Poverty of the Global Order" Globalizations 4(4): 588-602.
Da Costa talks about institutional mandates and one's action may not run congruent, especially when poverty comes knocking. She cites an example where institution mandates that a father should invest in their children education but often in reality this may not be possible when the family runs into poverty and both parents' lack of success in securing a job. Hence when this happens, they turn to their children to work to help ends meet. The institution judges both parents for not caring for their children's future and parents do not have the institution to empathize with them. Da Costa calls this representational inequality between institution and self and makes people stricken with poverty believe that they befitting a less dignified place in the economic order. Jana Sanskriti Theater performance allows them to speak out what they feel and engage the communtiy in social dialog about the issues they face.

2. Da Costa, D, (2008) "'Spoiled Sons' and 'Sincere Daughters': Schooling, Security, and Empowerment in rural West Bengal, India" in Signs: Journal of Women and Culture 33(2): 283-308.
Da Costa shares that there are men who are comfortable intervening in Jana Sanskriti Theater performances taking the role of female characters. She feels that such enagement has potential to transform social norms (men recognize the rights of women who are often discriminated in a patriarchic society) . Some anecdotes from this intervention was when men voiced their objection about dowry and lack of opportunity given to girls to advance their education.

3. Da Costa, D, (2008) "Tensions of Neo-liberal Development: State Discourse and Dramatic Oppositions in West Bengal" in Contributions to Indian Sociology 41 (3): 287-320.
Da Costa talks about Jana Sanskriti Theater Group's activities and she in the view that they have potential to be the catalyst to get the local community (where the group carries out its activities) to engage in rich social dialog about social issues through its performances and fieldwork activities.

4. Caron, Cynthia M. and Dia Da Costa, (2007) "There’s a Devil on Wayamba Beach: Social Dramas of Development and Citizenship in Northwest Sri Lanka" Journal of Asian and African Studies 42(5): 415-445.
Da Costa talks about legitimacy that it is not determined by one person or institution because the power to determine meaning rests upon every individuals in a society. She see the potential of getting audience to intervene in stage play (what she term as "social drama") to shape the outcome of a performance as a way to encourage them to make meaning not based on what society or institution imposed of them but that reflects more of their inner voice.

5. Ruwanpura, K. N., (2007) "Awareness and action: the ethno-gender dynamics of Sri Lankan NGOs" Gender, Place and Culture - Journal of Feminist Geography 14(3): 317-333.
Ruwanpura talks about NGO activities and in particular theater work where she feels to have the potential to be the engine for social transformation and change. When given the opportunity to script plays on issues central to their lives, women in a patriarchal society see this as a social space for them to create real life realities in a way that will empower them to be active agents to initiate change to their daily lives and thus enhancing their self-worth.

In brief, the common theme I see here is that representations in cultural play have potential to enhance individual self-worth and transform society where participants make commitment to their off-stage lives through their scriptwriting and on-stage experiences in shaping alternative outcomes to the performances.