Designing for observation
(2022) 2. p.716-730- Abstract
- Design can be tricky for qualitative researchers who want to use observations. In the academic world we are often asked to have linear ambitions: proposals, applications, personal websites and presentations. But good practice in ethnography means documenting social life as process, not as a box, and grasping people’s active “doing” of social life rather than rendering it reducible or machinelike. In this chapter I explore a set of accounting procedures for designing observational studies that I find accessible and productive for dealing with this and other dilemmas, and I also explore a kind of flexible preparedness that many projects most likely will benefit from. I try to clarify hands-on ways of managing the design task in this area, I... (More)
- Design can be tricky for qualitative researchers who want to use observations. In the academic world we are often asked to have linear ambitions: proposals, applications, personal websites and presentations. But good practice in ethnography means documenting social life as process, not as a box, and grasping people’s active “doing” of social life rather than rendering it reducible or machinelike. In this chapter I explore a set of accounting procedures for designing observational studies that I find accessible and productive for dealing with this and other dilemmas, and I also explore a kind of flexible preparedness that many projects most likely will benefit from. I try to clarify hands-on ways of managing the design task in this area, I exemplify how to account for the method in advance and how to employ such accounts in practice, and I discuss how to set up a feasible project in terms of getting close to phenomena and sustaining field relations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/ea1606cf-040c-492b-b166-661cbb3ed5f9
- author
- Wästerfors, David LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design
- editor
- Flick, Uwe
- volume
- 2
- pages
- 14 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- ISBN
- 978-1-5264-8432-1
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- ea1606cf-040c-492b-b166-661cbb3ed5f9
- date added to LUP
- 2022-04-06 10:09:14
- date last changed
- 2023-02-06 11:36:19
@inbook{ea1606cf-040c-492b-b166-661cbb3ed5f9, abstract = {{Design can be tricky for qualitative researchers who want to use observations. In the academic world we are often asked to have linear ambitions: proposals, applications, personal websites and presentations. But good practice in ethnography means documenting social life as process, not as a box, and grasping people’s active “doing” of social life rather than rendering it reducible or machinelike. In this chapter I explore a set of accounting procedures for designing observational studies that I find accessible and productive for dealing with this and other dilemmas, and I also explore a kind of flexible preparedness that many projects most likely will benefit from. I try to clarify hands-on ways of managing the design task in this area, I exemplify how to account for the method in advance and how to employ such accounts in practice, and I discuss how to set up a feasible project in terms of getting close to phenomena and sustaining field relations.}}, author = {{Wästerfors, David}}, booktitle = {{The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design}}, editor = {{Flick, Uwe}}, isbn = {{978-1-5264-8432-1}}, language = {{eng}}, pages = {{716--730}}, publisher = {{SAGE Publications}}, title = {{Designing for observation}}, volume = {{2}}, year = {{2022}}, }