Insider/Outsider Observation While conducting a field study and reporting on your findings, it is extremely important for the researchers to specifically clarify their roles related to the subject and setting of the research topic. People who are insiders to a particular setting being studied and reported on, typically have a different perspective and findings on the subject than outsiders do who are researching the topic. Individuals with a multitude of past experiences and thoroughly posses knowledge on a subject or setting are considered to have an insider role, while individuals who lack past experiences and knowledge related to a subject or setting are considered to have an outsider's role. These considered roles can range from being …show more content…
The advantages of taking the role of an insider researcher and an outsider researcher while conducting observations and research on a topic will also be covered. The settings I chose to conduct my research in are a Christian church and a high school sporting event. I would consider myself to be an insider researcher when it comes to engaging in church sermons since I was raised in a Christian household and attended church services regularly with my family. I would then consider myself to be an outsider researcher when it comes to high school sporting events; more specifically a high school girls soccer game, since I never have been to or been associated with any high school sports or sporting …show more content…
In the church setting the participants were working towards enacting the teachings of the sermon in their everyday lives. They were achieving this by actively radiating positive energy throughout the building and parking lot. They are subconsciously achieving what the teachings the pastor was giving, which was to be happy and full of positive energy and radiate that energy to the people around them. The patterns performed by the participants in the sporting event are which team the people are rooting for to win, without verbal communication i.e. the colors they are wearing and which side of the field they are sitting on. They are of course also showing who they are rooting for with verbal communication i.e. screaming and shouting when a player scores a goal or pulls off a
During the late 80’s, Phil Alden Robinson developed a sensational story that revolved around a real life account of a sport tragedy. The viewers were immersed in a touching account of how sport, a social interest, can play a powerful role in human bonding; thus becoming a very spiritual component of life. It in itself has a profound effect on the societies’ spiritual experiences; and just like religion can respectfully be considered a form of spirituality for a modern society, as exemplified in Robinson’s movie ‘Field of Dreams’. This story resonates far beyond the power of dreams, its appeal lies in a vision of a perfect sport and the love for which can inadvertently resolve issues no matter how grand. The plot at first presents itself as a complex; or maybe even a strange series of events, but somehow its scenes string themselves into a moral about redemption and deep interpersonal bonds.
In the world of today, people of different ethnicities, cultures, and groups, such as religion, live in the same communities more often times than not. Although they are technically an association, there still tends to be a “black sheep”, or in other words, an outcast among the group. These unlucky or perhaps lucky, depending on the point of view, individuals are then alienated either in a positive or negative way. On one hand there exist a variety of people that believe being an outsider is only experienced by a select few. On the other hand some argue that everyone at one point or another is isolated from the rest of society. However, the fact that there lives so many distinct individual’s tends to make people favor only one of the claims. The experience of being an outsider is undoubtedly universal due to people belonging to different groups, having distinct personalities as well
The baseball games were conducted at Heritage Park on March 22, 2014. This sporting event presented many traditions that seemed to be a vital part of the experience fans and players sought to attain. The rituals that were practiced before the game were seen through people engaging in pregame celebrations. Observations of people gathering in large groups, to celebrate a common interest in their particular team were seen among most of the participants. These game day celebrations seem to be more common in our society today, especially in most sports where some fans may even spend their entire day, participating in these celebrations.
I conclude this because I observed that everyone was smiling and cheering on one team or the other. Even the spectator that burst out into moments of defensiveness for their child seems to be having a good time and happy. I say seem to be happy because I am only seeing these people at this time at the game and in no way can draw the conclusion that these people are happy individuals. I use my own experience of what happiness and joy look like to draw the conclusion that they are happy. For example, I see a women clapping her hands and cheering on her son with a large smile on her face. Based on my own experience of cheering on my child during events I conclude that she is happy. This relates to when Rosaldo observs the Ilongot people saying that “Only after being repositioned through a devastating loss of my own could I better grasp that Ilongot older men mean precisely what they say when they describe the anger in bereavement as the source of their desire to cut off human heads”( Renato 3). This means that only through his own tragic loss could he understand the emotions and the rational behind the behavior of that culture. This is much like my understanding that the spectators and the people involved in the game are happy. Only through my own experience of playing sports and being a spectator do I have the knowledge to describe them as being
Men and women from all walks of life in the United States watch sports and identify themselves with a team. Fathers and sons watch the big game together and talk endlessly about the outcome. This American culture has developed over the course of generations.
Everyone feels the need to belong. Some people find the answer to fulfill that need in sports. In the United States, the go-to sport is football. Following one’s hometown team or childhood NFL team through the regular season, playoffs, and hopefully, the Super Bowl has become a staple for today’s culture. Whether or not their favorite team makes it to the big Super Bowl game, they still find themselves cheering on one of the teams competing. T...
All over America, friends and families join together on Friday nights in order to watch their hometown’s high school football game. However, many of the spectators do not go to just watch the game. As suggested by Lewis Lapham, the players play and the spectators spectate in order to feel a sense of various abstract things. There is much more to sports than the game itself. In Friday Night Lights, sports establish the illusions of both innocence and hope.
Qualitative research is concerned with understanding people’s many layers of envisioned reality. It is observation of the human practice, descriptive in manner, with careful, detailed factual description of people, objects and action. Viewed in a nonpositivism style, those who look at research in this manner believe all that is important and cannot be measured as in quantitative, concrete measurement. They believe there is an interaction between researcher and participant that has to be accounted for. This being said, experiments cannot be reproduced from one environment to another because the conditions are different, the context of the situation changes and interactions cannot be the same for different researchers and participants (Long, 2014a).
Known as the world’s most popular sport, professional soccer has helped create and define different groups of people around the world for longer than a century. The hoopla surrounding teams, geographic areas fans dwell in, and political ideals associated with individual clubs have carved an identity for millions of supporters whose heart and soul becomes dedicated to their favorite players, stadiums, and coaches. Soccer teams and their fans can give us a window into how people can be divided and defined by their allegiances and ideals, and why those with similar views band together to create a familiar environment for themselves.
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."
In the beginning, there was football. The official said, Let the stadium lights come on, and they came on. The football players came onto the field, and they saw the light was good. Other teams started to show up and practice on the battle ground, otherwise known as the "playing field." Fans shouted, and cheerleaders went on about their playful acts. Parents, brothers, sisters, and close friends all piled into the stands to see the game of the year. The official stepped out onto the moist grass at Williams Stadium in Plano, Texas. The time was seven o'clock p.m. on a Thursday night. He paused for a moment, looked at his stopwatch, and blew his whistle. Gigantic muscular men came from out of nowhere as the fans began to cheer, waving various flags, and clanging cow bells. The bells sounded like a wind chime in an April shower, all different sounds at different times.
Qualitative research was designed as a way to be directly connected with the subjects researched. Participant researchers may choose to merely observe and collect data or to be an active participant. Covert participation has the advantage of reducing the “reactive effects” of the social setting or group (Bachman & Schutt, 2012). Most researchers who use the participation method of research will often strike a balance between participation and observation. Through participation, an observer may gain the trust of the research subjects which can provide more fruitful results. Some research may however be unethical or a violation of law. A good researcher should use prudence beforehand when crafting their research design.
Media sports provide dominant myths in modern culture. Rituals are the repeated activities that act out myths. There are a lot of important rituals for people who found of sports activities. One of the such rituals come to dominate for a few hours or days or weeks the life of traditional village, so the televised football, baseball, basketball, hockey, or other major game takes on central importance for whole communities and regions during specific periods. Fans schedule their lives on certain days, especially Saturdays or Sundays, around televised sports.
The movie Invictus brings up several key points about the media in everyday life. One of the most prominent points brought up in the film is that sports have the power to bring people together and unite them with a common goal. Sports are an enormous part of the media and cultures all over the world. Whether it be the Super-bowl, World Cup, or Olympics, millions of people continue to unite and cheer for the teams they support. The reason in which sports often unites people is that it gives people something in common with one another. No matter what race, age, or gender, people of all types enjoy watching and supporting sports teams which is why it is such a powerful means to unite people.
One type of characteristics in a qualitative research is that it is carried out in a natural setting. As a consequence, when a researcher is conducting a research they are committed to spend time doing field work. This will ensure that their claims are not bias or incorrect. Furthermore, the sitting for their research is typically places similar to a board room, or a class room. Also, it is usually limited to a smaller group. As a result, it allows the research to be more personal. (Smith & Davis, 2010)