Blog 3- The Cultural Difference - New

The Cultural Difference (Cultural Informants) - Ethnography

Choosing a micro culture can be easy, the hardest part is actually getting out there and finding the people in that Micro culture to  talk to you about it.I have chosen to do my ethnography project on Volleyball, and so will be gathering information from both interviews and the internet.

Anthropologists on the other hand will usually spend long hours with their cultural informants often become closer friends over that period of time.

There are many ways in which to find an informant. Many people will struggle to start off with, especially if they do not know the person personally. Some ways of finding an informant include:  
Talk to someone you know – By speaking and asking someone you know, it not only makes it easier for that person to trust you, but makes the atmosphere around both parties more comfortable. Although this can be very good, a negative to it, is that you and your friend might not be able to change your role of friends to roles of ethnographer and cultural informant.

 Find an Informant (cold Turkey) – The direct approach gives you the chance to experience what it is like to enter the field of a stranger. It is however the most difficult one to do. It can lead to many rejections, take the most time and cause you the most anxiety. When doing this it is often wise to have a backup micro culture you can look into just in case. 

Find the Informant through a go between –  Locate an informant through a person you know who is acquainted with a suitable informant. You should also try and ask you contact if they have any more people you could go to in case one of the informants can’t do it. There is an advantage to a go between as because the informants will trust the person who is the go between and that will allow them to trust you and the ice will be a lot easier to break. One negative that can happen is if the go between person is of higher ranking authority than the informant can result in the informant not feeling comfortable enough talking about that place of work honestly in case it gets them in trouble with the higher authority figure.

When looking for an informant, there are attributes that you should look for such as an informant that is currently involved in that culture and  not previously involved. It is important to get a person who is a sociable person with verbal skills to communicate with you properly and give you the information you are wanting. A plus is if the informant lives close by so you are able to go a number of times without the struggle of time and travel issues.

The book (The Cultural Experience) recommends that you should stick to one informant, 2 max, as they felt that the students would have all the time in the word to get around to asking any more informants questions etc. I have used two informant for my Ethnography, one being a coach and another being a player.

Once you have found a likely informant you must prepare yourself to explain what you would like from the informant.  Many of the informants will be expecting you to just ask those questions like a survey. you will have to explain what you shall be expecting from them. Explain what ethnography is and what kind of research is done by other anthropologists when they do their own research.

It is hard to remember what that person is always saying, especially if they talk about and explain lots of details. It is important to make lots of notes or take a tape recorder to help you so you can go back and listen to the conversation again.The informant might tell you things that are personal so you must always remain professional during it. You should always let the informant read your draft before you send it out there.

The first interview  should preferable take place away from the persons place of work as to avoid distractions and influences of others and distractions.

Stay away from the direct questions like their age, income and where they were born etc. Instead you will be asking questions that a new employee would ask at a new job, such as what things are called, where they are and how they work. 

Try and explain to the person what an ethnography interview is as well as a little history about it. Ask descriptive questions such as: Culture categories, folk terms, analytical terms and translation terms.There are two ways to discover folk terms - hang out with people who belong to that culture or interviewing them, which is usually the best way.
Folk terms in volleyball would be certain called being said whilst playing the sport, such as 'Spike' the ball means hit the ball for the ball. Can be called Analytical terms.

It is important that when interviewing someone to follow a set of rules, such as do's and don't s.

1. Do-  what members of the micro culture do and what things are called and look like.

2. Do -put questions into context.

3. avoid asking "what is a...." question - Don't

4. do not ask informants why they do something?- Don't

There are four types of descriptive questions that should be approached, such as: 

1.Grand tour questions- most general types of questions

2.Mini tour questions - descriptive questions that ask for more details

3.Story questions - Based on folk terms you have learned from responses

4.Native language check - check whether or not a particular term is really a folk term

Throughout the Interview you should gather a set of field notes which are written accounts of what transpired. If you recorded the interview, you should write up your notes. Add observations about how the interview went and how was the interviewee. 

It is important to collect taxonomies through the interviews as they add a sense of how members of a group order or structure their cultural knowledge. It can help remind an informant to remember what they know about their own culture, eliciting  more detailed and exhaustive data. It finally helps provide illustrations and occasionally the structure for the final ethnographic report.

I shall be following these guide lines when researching Volleyball for my ethnography project. I think I would have struggled to have done my ethnography properly and asked the write questions to the informant if I do not follow these guide lines provided.