Main Argument and Thesis
The main point of the article is that becoming personally involved in a population through the role of participant observation often may require a period of orientation, the challenging of moral/ethical standards, unforeseen emotional side effects, and wavering objectivity, making it a complicated and unpredictable process.
Supporting Evidence
The author, Claire E. Sterk, supports the main idea through providing details of her experience as a participant observer. Instead of just speaking about her research, Sterk talks about specific challenges she faced along the way. For example, Sterk initially acknowledges that sexual behavior, especially in regards to the promiscuity attributed with prostitution, can be difficult to talk about. She also explains the challenge she faced of finding a physical location to begin her research, the lengthy process of developing trust, and being able to clearly communicate what her role was. Sterk goes on to explain the personal emotional side effects she faced, like feeling overly fortunate
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Sterk goes on to describe some methods she used in her fieldwork experience when studying prostitution. As background context, Sterk provides information about the sample itself, as well as the research process. To conduct her research, Sterk first had to find a location, get used to the culture, and then find a way to really get introduced/immersed in the group. After gaining entry into the group, Sterk recounts other challenges she faced, like gaining the trust of women she was studying, learning how to make the most productive in-depth interviews, understanding how her position and outsider position could affect interview responses, and dealing with the emotional toll of the participant observer role. Sterk also describes how difficult it was to leave the field entirely at the conclusion of her
Jennifer Saake is the daughter of Ralph and Betty Camp. Jennifer was born in 1972, after her parents struggled with infertility issues. Saake spent her childhood years on the mission field in Japan.
Gender Importance of the Anthropologist of Ethnography What importance may the sex of the anthropologist have on the ethnographic process? There are many factors which can influence the ethnographic process for an anthropologist, and a very important one is his/her sex. This essay will examine the different attitudes towards sex, the problems that face all ethnographers when they embark on fieldwork in a different environment to their own, as well as the problems and benefits which can arise due to the sex of an anthropologist. In order to produce a written work about a certain culture or society (an ethnography, anthropologists must embark on what is known as the ethnographic process". This term refers to all of the various activities and research methods which the anthropologist must undertake if he/she wants to obtain a profound and objective understanding of the culture being studied.
Ethnographic fieldwork in Anthropology challenges the experts to be less attached to the subjects of study; to leave their own believes, understandings of culture, and opinions outside of the research. While “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” by Richard B. Lee takes place in foreign location, “Fieldwork on Prostitution in the Era of AIDS” by Claire E. Sterk occurred in a familiar urban setting; nonetheless, they both experienced the advantages and disadvantages of working in a known area versus an unfamiliar location.
In the following assignment, it is my intention to produce a research report, examining women involved in street prostitution and how they end up entering the criminal justice system. Within the report I will look at three pieces of research, review their main findings, the type of research that was used, and look to identify where I believe further research is required. My reason for choosing women in the criminal justice system is that I have expressed an interest in the criminal justice setting and my elective module is in this area. Anything that I learn from undertaking this assignment will aid my understanding and increase my knowledge base when undertaking my second placement. Prostitution has been defined as: "Prostitution involves the exchange of sexual services, sometimes but by no means exclusively
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Participant observation is a method of collecting information and data about a culture and is carried out by the researcher immersing themselves in the culture they observing. The researcher becomes known in the community, getting to know and understand the culture in a more intimate and detailed way than would be possible from any other approach. This is done by observing and participating in the community’s daily activities. The method is so effective because the researcher is able to directly approach the people in the community in a natural context as opposed to taking the participant out of their environment. The aim of participant observation is to gain an understanding the subject’s life from their perspective, with the purpose of collecting more detailed information about a community’s habits, opinions, relationships and issues.
Researches who interview people and perhaps particularly women, need an awareness and a sensitivity to the fact that, although a subject may have agreed to take part in a study, it cannot be known for certain, what that interview will uncover (or) give rise to.
Murphy, L. S. (2010). Understanding the Social and Economic Contexts Surrounding Women Engaged In Street-Level Prostitution. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 31(12), 775-784.
...ion, to help their subject as with Chagnon and Kaobawä; this could be something as minimal as offering a ride to providing financial rewards for their help. However, this may raise the ethical question of involving oneself in a situation and its effect on the study. Moreover, as demonstrated by Sterk, engaging the subject in a two-way dialogue – as opposed to a formal, questionnaire-based conversation – usually proves beneficial for the study because it lets the subject feel like they have something substantial to offer, like an opinion that is valued. Another aspect that I found intriguing in Sterk’s case is removing oneself from the field; an anthropologist must be able to find a balance to not let emotional baggage of a case interfere with their own life but keeping a specific part of it to emotionally engage with the subject during the process of the research.
I chose this research project because it appealed to me. I wanted to know how criminalization’s of sex work or prostitutions were causing structural violence in society. This presentation itself proved to be interesting in the sense that it goes against what my friends and I were thinking. I always thought that criminalizing sex work was a beneficiary for the society because that would stop the flow of HIV as well as other STI’s between sex worker populations. I never realized that it had the opposite the effect, and instead of being a beneficiary, it caused high-risk environments as well as even more ease to find a sex worker. At first, I thought that this research project was going to be about how the “Criminalization of Sex Work” was going to be about how Sex workers stopped working due to the criminalization, however as I came across it, it was the complete opposite and that grabbed my attention and made me curious, and now I completely understand why it was viewed as structural violence. The focus of this research project was to demonstrate to us that the policing of sex work do...
Clemmit, Marcia. “Prostitution Debate.” CQ Press. 18.19 (2008): 435-438. CQ Researcher. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.
Using the author’s field research I felt that many of them tried to enter their situation as an outsider looking in as most researchers do. Given time most of them were able to some what be accepted into their social surroundings. No matter what role or relationship the researchers developed along the way they still had to make choices to would affect their data in different ways. They just had to pick the correct approach and apply it. Finally all stories proclaimed different discussions of social science by using different forms of "objectivity" and "subjectivity."
Ulin,R.P., Robinson,E.T.,Tolle,E.E. (2005) Qualitative Methods in Public Health: A Field Guide for Applied Research. San Francisco: Family health international. in Humanities a
Shaffir, W. (1986). In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research/Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct (Book). Sociology of Health & Illness, 8 (2).
This then encouraged the women to adjust or explore the issue as far as they wanted to be. This ended up producing a more complex outcome in the interviews. The.. Section C. – Reasons for selection of research design. Ethics were crucial in Dobash and Dobash’s choice of method. They were probing into the personal lives of the women and needed a method that gave them time to establish a more personal report.