Book Review: Participant Observation, James Spradley, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1980
Review:
Spradley’s book is a classic in the field of ethnography. Although more recent publications have dealt with this subject, for the missionary seeking to do practical cross-cultural ministry this readable, lay oriented work provides the necessary tools for cultural understanding without the academic language of the more scholarly works. Spradley makes the science of ethnography easily accessible. This is the book I used for my PhD research and the one I recommend in my teaching session with phase four candidates. The book itself, however is not easily accessible. Therefore a summary of its main themes follows. Dr. M.L. Codman-Wilson, 7/20/2011
Summary:
“The central aim of ethnography is to understand another way of life from the native [or national] point of view… field work then involves the disciplined study of what the world is like to people who have learned to see, hear, speak, think and act in ways that are different. Rather than studying people, ethnography is learning from people” (3)… Much social science research has been directed toward the task of testing formal theories [deductive research]. Ethnography is inductive research “grounded in empirical data of cultural description” (15). “The ethnographer in consultation with informants must be willing to direct the investigation into paths suggested by the informants” (23). Ethnographers go beyond merely considering the interest of informants. “We have a positive responsibility to safeguard their rights, their interests, and even their sensitivities” (21).
The ethnographic researcher first determines an ethnographic project. Then the research begins with asking questions. In keeping with the concept of participant observation, “both questions and answers must be discovered in the social situation being studied” (32). “A participant observer comes to a social situation with two purposes: (1) to engage in activities appropriate to the situation and (2) to observe the activities, people, and physical aspects of the situation. The ordinary participant comes to that same situation with only one purpose: to engage in the appropriate activities” (54).
Participant observation for the ethnographer requires a “wide-angle lens” where one takes in a much broader spectrum of information” (56) than does an ordinary participant in a situation. It also requires keeping “a detailed record of both objective observations and subjective feelings, i.e. engaging in introspection to more fully understand your own experiences” (58). That record is referred to as a fieldwork notebook.
This fieldwork notebook has four parts—condensed accounts, expanded accounts, a personal journal, and a section for analysis and interpretation (72). The ethnographer documents the social situation under study via “field notes, tape recordings, pictures, artifacts, and a record of informants’ responses to the ethnographer” (63). The condensed account includes phrases, single words, and uncompleted sentences; “it is a record of key phrases and major events” (69). The expanded account uses the three principles of language: “(1) documenting the language used for field note entry (2) making a verbatim record of what people say and (3) concrete language, a description of every detail in specifics” (68). The ethnographer’s personal journal contains “a record of experiences, ideas, fears, mistakes, confusions, breakthroughs, and problems that arise during field work” (71). Each entry is dated separately. The final component of the notebook “is the place to record generalizations, analyses of cultural meanings, interpretations, and insights into the culture studied; it’s a place to think on paper about the culture under consideration” (72).
Next, the ethnographer needs to make “an intensive analysis of his or her data to discover cultural patterns before proceeding” (85). Once you have begun to identify these patterns of meaning, you can begin to make more focused observations. This requires taxonomic analysis—i.e. “the search for the parts of a culture, the relationships among the parts, and their relationship to the whole” (116). The ethnographer explores the similarities and the differences among things in the domain one is focused on. Interviews with informants are an important way to ask questions of similarity and difference and understand the relationship of the parts to the whole. Then one can make “a componential analysis—i.e. searching for contrasts, sorting them out, grouping some together as dimensions of contrast, and entering all this information onto a paradigm which one verifies or cross-checks through interviews and more participant observations” (133). The paradigm worksheet will quickly reveal the kinds of information one still needs to collect; it’s a way to search for missing attributes (137) and realize what other kinds of questions need to be asked.
From the componential analysis one can discover “cultural themes—i.e. the cognitive principles that occur again and again” (144). Often, “these themes are “tacit—i.e. taken for granted, slipping into that area of knowledge where people are not quite aware or seldom find need to express what they know” (143).
To find these themes, the ethnographer now has to make inferences about the principles involved. At this point immersion in relevant social situations “is the best way to discover and verify these cultural themes Immersion is the time honored strategy used by most ethnographers. By cutting oneself off from other interests and concerns, by listening to informants hour on end, by participating in the cultural scene and by allowing one’s mental life to be taken over by the new culture, themes often emerge. Sometimes immersion broken up by brief periods of withdrawal generates insights into the themes of a culture.” Immersion is different from “participant observation where you have taken several hours each week over a period of several months”. It is “a block of time where you spend entire days and evenings in the social situation looking for cultural themes” (145).
A key to understanding a culture is hidden in the inherent contradictions that people have learned to live with. Search for these contradictions “and then ask, “How can they live with them?” (152). Look also for universal themes, and see how they are lived and applied differently by the culture you are studying – themes like status, social conflict and social control, problems solving, impersonal relationships (153).
Finally, it is helpful to write the actual ethnography. There are 8 steps:
Step 1: Select the audience
Step 2: Select the thesis
Step 3: Make a list of topics and create an outline
Step 4: Write a rough draft of each section
Step 5: Revise outline and create sub-heads
Step 6: Edit the rough draft adding extra examples as needed
Step 7: Write the introduction and conclusion
Step 8: Write the final draft (169-171)
Using these tools of ethnography, people involved in cross-cultural ministry can be equipped to serve others in areas that will meet their need and embrace their understanding of their world as they know it. This makes the gospel of our Lord Jesus much more accessible to them and applicable to worldview and daily life.
Team application:
Many of these ethnographic principles are enhanced in a team setting. The input of various team members and each one’s informants will actually give a broader and deeper understanding of the culture the entire team is committed to reaching. Each team member should have a fieldwork notebook and share his or her findings each week at the stage where each one is in ethnographic research. This provides check and balance to your “findings,” clues that will emerge about cultural themes over time, ways to discuss contradictions you discover and ways to talk about tacit knowledge you uncover that is behind action and social situations. It also allows people who have been in the culture longer to provided needed interpretation and mentoring to newer team members to that culture. At the same time, it also provides these more “experienced” team members to stay current with the ever-changing values and patterns of thinking in their cultural setting that new members may raise. “Culture does not simply provide a cognitive map… one learns to read. People are map makers, continually revising sketch maps” (9). Hence sharing insights together from a “new” or an “experienced” perspective can keep team members current with the changes evolving within the culture itself.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion:
1. How would you paraphrase the key responsibilities of an ethnographer?
2. How can these skills in ethnography assist you in your outreach to the people around you?
3. How are you integrating the perspectives on your cultural context of new members and older established members of your team?
4. What surprises have you discovered in what the people in your context really value or think that are different from what you supposed?
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