Group Update 4

Points: 20
Due date: Friday, April 30 @ 11:55 p.m.
Resources: Ethnography & Interview lectures
Turn in instructions: Individually on Courses (PDF)
Individual or Group?: Group

Choose one angle of your semester topic to complete a mini-ethnography by Sunday at midnight (PST).

Ethnographies are made up primarily of three sources of data: observations, interviews, and artifacts.

Assignment:

• Interview two or more people about your topic: You must talk to 2 people for a minimum of 5 minutes about the topic of your choosing. It can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured. Make sure to take notes and/or record so you can use direct quotes! (Helpful hint: If you set up a Zoom meeting, Zoom has a function you can select that will transcribe the meeting for you.)
• Observations: Throughout the week, take field notes on what you see/hear about your topic. Then, at the end of the day, think about what you have observed, any patterns you’ve noticed or preliminary analysis, and how you feel about what you saw/heard. Keep a journal (take a photo of your observations–just 1 page–and attach it to your assignment submission). 
• Artifacts: Look for materials that you can use as evidence. This could include documents, social media, gadgets, photographs, symbols, etc. Artifacts can be many things, but they’re objects that are of that culture in that time. 

Assignment (4-6 pages, double-spaced, APA, 12-point Times New Roman, etc.)

Part 1: 1.5 pages

Individual

1. Discuss your position to the research (1 paragraph each)
   1. Be sure to note…
      1. Your biases
      2. Your experiences with this topic
2. Describe your data (approx. 1 paragraph)
   1. Who did you interview? Where? What was your focus? Structured, semi-structured, or unstructured? Why?
   2. What observations did you make? 
   3. What artifacts did you find?

Part 2: 2.5-4.5 pages (as a group)

Group

1. Analyze your group’s data (2-3 themes minimum, approx. 2-3 paragraphs per theme)
   1. What themes emerged? (Be specific!) Describe those themes briefly.
   2. What evidence do you have? (Again, be specific—use direct quotes, specific artifacts and observations)?
2. Conclusion (approx. 1-2 paragraphs)
   1. What do you conclude based on this (very short!) mini-ethnography?
   2. Your main task is to help your reader understand some important meanings about your culture in relationship to your topic
   3. Have your themes changed, complicated, or confirmed the way you understand or interpret this topic

What you turn in:

1. 4-6 page paper
2. Picture of your field notes (just one or two pages is fine)

Short Example of Part 1:

Let’s say my topic is Halloween.

My position to Halloween is that I participated in Halloween as a child until age 12, then participated ironically from ages 13-16, and then participated until age 28 as part of a larger social gathering. [I would then insert my feelings on Halloween, my upbringing, what I dressed up as, and anything else that might impact my understanding and interpretations of Halloween.]

For this paper, I interviewed two people—my wife, Anna Penner, and one of my friend, Jon Bosh, about their experiences with Halloween in 2020. I interviewed my wife in-person and Mr. Bosh via Zoom using semi-structured interviews. My focus was on their participation in Halloween in 2020. My wife does not have any children; Mr. Bosh has two 2-year-old fraternal twins. I also observed Halloween this year through the lens of a candy distributor. [I would then add more about my specific observations were.] Artifacts I found included social media posts, which contain photos and text. [I could then make some comments about patterns, such as how I’ve now hit the age where my Instagram is littered with peers and their young kids (roughly newborn to 5-year-old) dressing up for Halloween.] As is tradition on Halloween, many people dressed up as characters. Costumes were typically heroes (superhero or firefighter/doctor), fools (inanimate objects, animals, or anything that’s silly), or villans (The Joker, witches, Coronavirus, or anything that is evil). [Costumes are artifacts!] 

Short Example of Part 2:

Several themes emerged as part of my research. The first theme was that many people took part in what I’ll call “alternative Halloween.” Parents of young children were not trick-or-treating in a normal fashion, instead opting to stay home and create activities for their kids that involved candy in an effort to avoid large crowds. [I would then explain why that was. I would include evidence from my interviews, such as direct quotes from Mr. Bosh about his young two-year-old twins and staying home. I could also use evidence from from the CDC about COVID rates and precautions, or personal anecdotes—like how we didn’t get any trick-or-treaters!, etc.] 

The second theme was that of changing costume dynamics depending on children. When people have young kids, they tend to have inclusive family costumes, typically using animals or inanimate objects (e.g., fruit). On social media, I noticed a trend that those who do not have young kids typically dress up in more provocative, culturally relevant (e.g., using popular culture), or traditional costumes. [I would then add more evidence about this from interviews, observations, and artifacts.]

Based on data collected, it was apparent that, while many still celebrated Halloween, it was in non-typical/traditional fashion as people looked for alternative ways to celebrate in a more socially distanced manner. [I would then add more, tying this into either previous literature or anecdotes.]

Achievement Level per citation	Missing	Inadequate	Poor	Fair	Good	Exceptional
Reflexive Statement	0 points	1 points	2 points	3 points	4 points	5 points
Data Description	0 points	1 points	2 points	3 points	4 points	5 points
Analysis	0 points	1 points	2 points	3 points	4 points	5 points
Conclusion and Field Notes	0 points	1 points	2 points	3 points	4 points	5 points