tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606986552278957417.post8474474991807145566..comments2013-04-05T11:15:11.375-07:00Comments on Research Methods to the EXTREME: "Salsa Dancing into": Participant ObservationAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00047431081245424412noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606986552278957417.post-54154415510384171672013-03-05T17:41:43.801-08:002013-03-05T17:41:43.801-08:00That is an interesting thought that I had not cons...That is an interesting thought that I had not considered. I do agree that when Shaffir describes what not to do it represents a form of codification. I believe he would argue however, that the flexibility lies with no clear statements on what one needs to do to conduct participant observation. Still, if a researcher limits the possible actions to a high degree this will limit the choices and by extension the flexibility that is possible. Thinking back to Shaffir’s woodman metaphor, the woodman could only tell the lost man what roads not to take. When I think about this I wonder if the woodman was able to exclude the majority of the roads, would there not be few possible paths left? In both the Shaffir and Stebbins articles I do not think that they present enough descriptions of what not to do limit the possibilities to a great extent. For me they still leave participant observation to be a flexible and variable enterprise.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15233381159572790124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8606986552278957417.post-442510796922214002013-03-05T16:22:36.064-08:002013-03-05T16:22:36.064-08:00'The flexibility of thinking' coupled with...'The flexibility of thinking' coupled with the act of ethnographical research; that of cherry-picking from a list of research options the research method one thinks will produce the best results. By naming ethnographic research, and defining what it is not, it could be argued that the authors are indirectly establishing what it is, in effect, 'codifying the process'? It's only my opinion, but it seems to me that the while the flexibility of thinking may support the act of observing, it loses some, if not all of its flexibility once those observations are transcribed into text.Mandihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07643507466024879356noreply@blogger.com