Participant-Observation in Informal Learning Spaces: The Role of Rapport and Ethnographic Detail in Data Collection and Analysis

• In Event: 42.072 - Observational Methodologies Across Informal Learning Spaces

Abstract

Objectives.
• To define participant-observation and discuss its role in cultivating rapport with youth.
• To identify merits and shortcomings of participant-observation, particularly within informal learning contexts.
• To call attention to the type of data that emerges when combining participant-observation with interviews.

Perspectives. Participant-observation is fundamental to the ethnographer’s toolkit. Indeed, it “represents the starting point in ethnographic research” (Schensul & LeCompte, 2013, p. 83). Participant-observation brings to the fore social interactions, behaviors, and “daily rounds” (Logan & Molotch, 1987) of the people with whom we work. This presentation argues that by joining participant-observation and interviews, the learning sciences and science education fields will gain rich insight concerning the experiences of young people in out-of-school time programs. Further, the “participation” or “deep immersion” component of this methodology is critical to building rapport with youth, shores up prospective respondents, and cultivates strong connections that yield thoughtful responses in interviews.

Techniques & Modes of Inquiry. This presentation maintains that the strengths of participant-observation lie in its pairing with other methods, such as open-ended interviews. The manner in which social actors actually experience their behavior and/or involvement in any given activity may diverge greatly from the observer. By combining participant-observation research with interviews, we are able to highlight the areas of disjuncture and/or overlap. Anthropologists love this space, which lies between what people say they do and what they actually do, opening up opportunity for further inquiry and examination whereas previously it was unintelligible or invisible. Moreover, participant-observation provides the “5-senses” detail (Levi-Strauss 1964) that contextualizes data uncovered in an interview. Such ethnographic detail avoids presenting interviewees as “disembodied” individuals but, rather, frames their narratives, offering a more powerful story (see Lareau and Rao 2016).

Data Sources & Evidence. This presentation draws on preliminary data gathered for a
NSF-funded, longitudinal study of career impacts on the participants of an urban, museum-based OST program in Chicago, IL. The study will follow three cohorts of adolescent youth over a 4-year period. About 240 hours of participant observation were logged along with 25 one-on-one interviews.

Results. Preliminary interviews indicate that field notes documenting observations are only partial representations of what is transpiring “on the ground.” For example, a young woman who was often quiet and appeared disinterested during programming related in a one-on-one interview her level of investment in the program. While to an outsider she may have appeared “checked out,” the interview demonstrated how the student was thoroughly engaged and quite concerned with what her peers and the program staff thought of her participation. Contrary to her behavior and social interactions, then, she actually cared a great deal about the program and the people in it.

Scientific or Scholarly Significance. Such preliminary findings are significant in that they: (a) provide a compelling case for triangulating research methods; (b) underscore the importance of building rapport as a way to heighten effective recruitment; and (c) enhance the level of candor, comfort, and thoughtfulness on the part of respondents in interviews.

Author

• Faith R. Kares, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago