Researching People: Collaborative Listening

"Stepping into the Worldview of Others"

When we interview informants, we step into their worldview by stepping out of our own, we LISTEN CAREFULLY, but also notice the ARTIFACTS and MANNERISMS through which they express themselves and their identity.

  • Good Interviewing is a collaboration between you and your informant, not very different from a friendly talk.
  • skills:
    • establishing rapport
    • letting your informant drive the direction of the interview: digressing, topic changing, etc.
    • listening carefully
    • steering the interview in response to your informants' accounting
THE INTERVIEW

  • Expect the unexpected answer and follow its lead
  • Work from your structured (prepared) questions (theory/assumptions) but listen carefully to answers to see where they go-BE FLEXIBLE
  • It is our job to reveal our informants' perspectives and experiences rather than our own.
  • ASKING QUESTIONS
    • closed questions: answer is finite (don't ask too many)
    • open questions: answer begs elaboration (takes research to know what might be significant or meaningful to the informant)
      • demonstrates your level of interest
      • puts the informant at ease
      • creates a more comfortable interview situation
      • collects EMIC information
      • need to listen carefully and follow up taking the informants' lead
    • examples of OPEN questions
      • what do you think about the changes happening in this neighborhood?
      • describe the first time you ...on this street.(memory/oral history)
      • Who was the first person that taught you how to hustle? (activity/practice)
      • What do you remember about...? (memory/oral history)
      • What is that bag? Why do you carry it around? (artifact)
      • describe a typical day on this block. (cultural/daily life-ideal)
      • What stands out as a memorable event here? (cultural/daily life-real)
      • How would you describe yourself? Your community? The people who work here? (identity/indigenous categories)
  • Learning to LISTEN (THICK DESCRIPTION)
    • don't INTERRUPT or MOVE CONVERSATION back to THEMSELVES
    • use your body language to express the importance of informants words
      • look at your informant (eye contact)
      • don't check your watch or phone (put them away)
      • back-channel
      • encourage responses verbally (acknowledgement, follow-up questions, embellishments with examples, asking for clarification)
  • Etiquette
    • arrange interview at your informant's convenience
    • explain the project in plain language
    • agree on a quiet place to talk
    • arrive on time and be prepared
    • dress appropriately to make your informant comfortable
    • be sensitive to social cues (when someone is finished, doesn't want to answer, etc.)
    • express gratitude (thank you note, token -cup of coffee, etc.)
RECORDING AND TRANSCRIBING
  • bring notebook, pen and recorder
  • familiarize yourself with your recording device
  • test recording device.
  • take notes while you record (note time imprint of interesting statements, jot down basic information, make note of nonverbal information)
    • surroundings
    • body language
    • things that transpire during interview
    • informants appearance
  • Transcribe everything that your informant says. You may (for this assignment) leave out UMMMM, and like you knows, etc. although you may want to note 'hesitation', nervousness, other emotions)
  • bring your informants' language to life
    • do not fix/alter grammar
    • ... where necessary
      • pausing
    • note things like emphasis and other para-linguistic features

GATHERING FAMILY (subculture) STORIES

  • three ways to think about the stories informants tell, which lie at the heart of ethnography (our ability to tell their stories through us)
    • stories PRESERVE a culture's values and beliefs
    • stories help individuals endure, transform, or reject cultural values for themselves
      • stories that perform a function are told over and over again
      • important stories have been crafted and hold strong meaning
    • stories exist because of the relationship between story tellers and their audience.
  • family stories are expressions of individual differences and identities within families
  • strong emotions are tied into and expressive of contested stories within families (or subcultures)
    • stories have a STABLE CORE, but differ in terms of: 
      • embellishments 
      • individual temperament, 
      • ability as a storyteller
      • agenda
    • when we record important stories we must distinguish
      • what facts are stable (core)?
      • what is the chronology
      • what characters are key?
      • what is the central conflict in the story?
      • what is the theme (purpose/main point/cultural value)?
      • Does the story contain a "moral"?
    • Organize variants of stories
      • what are the features that vary?
      • why do these features vary (with whom)?
      • what do variations suggest about the tellers?
      • what do variations suggest about the audience (you only, group, outside, inside, overheard, etc.).
GATHERING ORAL HISTORIES
  • a life history is the story of an informant's life, shared with the fieldworker, which measures itself in terms of cultural significance. (ETHNOHISTORY)
  • a systematic collection of living people's TESTIMONY about their life experiences
    • can be mundane or significant
  • can be Visual, Auditory, or Textual




AUDITORY

Video Vietnam War

StoryCorps1

Story Corps 2

Story Corps 3

 FIELDWRITING: Using character, setting and theme to create a portrait

  • study your fieldnotes
  • use language techniques discussed to discover initial themes BEFORE any follow-up interviews
  • themes can guide the direction of interviews and analysis and bring your characters to life
  • place your character (informant) against a cultural backdrop
    • Details of character
      • physical features
      • material artifacts
      • body language
      • oral language patterns/characteristics (don't make judgement)
      • personal history
    • Details of setting
      • time
      • place
      • weather
      • color
      • other sensory impressions and information
      • (techniques)
        • outside to inside
        • general to detail
        • floor to ceiling
    • Details of Theme
      • come from active interpretation of your fieldnotes
      • themes are BIGGER than the details you collect
      • themes reflect important cultural trope (values, stories, beliefs, practices)
      • give reader the sense that they participated in the research


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