Benefits of "Observer Effects": Lessons from the Field.
Benefits of "Observer Effects": Lessons from the Field.
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DOI：
10.1177/1468794110362874
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发表时间：
2010-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Fisher JA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Monahan T;Fisher JA
本文回应了关于人种学研究中的“观察者效应”必然产生偏见并因此使研究结果无效的批评。民族志研究的最大优势不是追求距离和超然，而是培养与他人的密切联系，并共同塑造该领域的话语和实践。线人的表演——无论是为观察者上演的还是受观察者影响的——常常揭示有关社会和/或文化现象的深刻真相。为了说明这一点，我们首先利用科学研究领域的方法论见解来说明所有知识的偶然性和偏向性，并挑战民族志不如其他研究方法客观的观念。其次，我们利用我们的民族志项目来说明可以从线人的“舞台表演”中获得的丰富数据。最后，通过详细说明线人的一些可疑行为的例子，我们挑战了民族志学者的存在会导致线人自我审查的谬论。
This paper responds to the criticism that “observer effects” in ethnographic research necessarily bias and therefore invalidate research findings. Instead of aspiring to distance and detachment, some of the greatest strengths of ethnographic research lie in cultivating close ties with others and collaboratively shaping discourses and practices in the field. Informants’ performances – however staged for or influenced by the observer – often reveal profound truths about social and/or cultural phenomena. To make this case, first we mobilize methodological insights from the field of science studies to illustrate the contingency and partiality of all knowledge and to challenge the notion that ethnography is less objective than other research methods. Second, we draw upon our ethnographic projects to illustrate the rich data that can be obtained from “staged performances” by informants. Finally, by detailing a few examples of questionable behavior on the part of informants, we challenge the fallacy that the presence of ethnographers will cause informants to self-censor.