Chapter 11

Question 1

acceptable incompetent

Answer 1

when a field researcher pretends to be less skilled or knowledgable in order to learn more about a field site

Question 2

analytic memos

Answer 2

the written notes a qualitative researcher takes during data collection and afterwards to develop concepts, themes, or preliminary generalizations

Question 3

appearance of interest

Answer 3

a technique in field research in which researchers maintain relations in a field site by pretending to be interested an excited by the activities of those studied, even though they are actually interested or very bored

Question 4

attitude of strangeness

Answer 4

a technique in field research in which researchers study a field site my mentally adjusting to “see” it for the first time or as an outsider

Question 5

competent insider performance

Answer 5

a method field researchers use to demonstrate the authenticity and trustworthiness of a study by the researcher “passing” as a member of the group under study

Question 6

defocusing

Answer 6

a technique early in field research when the researcher removes his or her past assumptions and preconceptions to become more open to events in a field site

Question 7

direct observation notes

Answer 7

notes taken in field research that attempt to include all details and specifics of what the researcher heard or saw in a field site. They are written in a way that permits multiple interpretations later

Question 8

ecological validity

Answer 8

a way to demonstrate the authenticity and trustworthiness of a field research study by showing that the reseacher’s description of the field site matches those of the members from the site and that the researcher was not a major disturbance

Question 9

ethnography

Answer 9

an approach to field research that emphasizes providing a very detailed description of a different culture from the viewpoint of an insider in that culture in order to permit a greater understanding of it

Question 10

ethnomethodology

Answer 10

an approach to social science that combines philoshophy, social theory, and method to study

Question 11

external consitency

Answer 11

a way to achieve reliability of data in field research in which the researcher cross-checks and verifies qualitative data using multiple sources of information

Question 12

field site

Answer 12

one ore more natural locations where a researcher conducts field research

Question 13

focus group

Answer 13

a type of group interview in which an interviewer asks questions to the group and answers are given in an open discussion among the group members

Question 14

gatekeeper

Answer 14

a person in an offical or unoffical role who controls access to all or part of a field site

Question 15

go native

Answer 15

what happens when a researcher in field research gets overly involved and loses distance or objectivity and becomes like the people being studied

Question 16

guilty knowledge

Answer 16

when a researcher in field research learns of illegald, unethical, or immoral actions by the people in the field site that are not widely known

Question 17

internal consistency

Answer 17

a way to achieve reliability of data in field research in which a resesrcher examines the data for plausibility and sees whether they form a cohorent picture, given all that is known about a person or event, trying to avoid common forms of deception

Question 18

jotted notes

Answer 18

in fiel research, what a researcher inconspicuously writes while in the field site on whatever is convenient in order to “jog the memory” later

Question 19

members

Answer 19

the insiders or native people in a field site who are being studied

Question 20

member validation

Answer 20

a way to demonstrate the authenticity and trustworthiness of a field research study by having the people who were studied read and confirm as being true that which the researcher has reported

Question 21

naturalism

Answer 21

the principle that researchers should examine events as they occur in natural, everyday ongoing social settings

Question 22

normalize social research

Answer 22

techniques in field research used by researches to make the people being studie feel more comfortable with the research process and to help them accept the researcher’s presence