Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes - Emerson/ ch4 / 태정 /25.03.16
『Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes』
「4. Writing Fieldnotes II: Multiple Purposes and Stylistic Options」
이 장에서는 민족지 필드노트 작성의 다양한 목적과 스타일을 검토함. 단순히 관찰 내용을 기록하는 것을 넘어, 연구자의 입장, 예상 독자, 관점 선택, 시간적 시각, 내러티브 구성, 분석적 메모 작성 등의 다양한 요소들이 필드노트의 내용과 표현 방식에 어떻게 영향을 미치는지 설명하고 있음.
Ethnographers have multiple purposes in writing fieldnotes; these goals both shape and reflect their choices about styles of writing. (89)
But in “getting it down,” field researchers also decide how to represent a particular scene, event, or interaction, decisions that involve choices, often implicit, about writing strategies.(89)
In brief, we contend that awareness and understanding of writing strategies enable field workers to more easily make writing choices that realize their ethnographic purposes. (90)
The structural flow of Chapter 4 Moves from personal stance → narrative perspective → cohesive structure → analytical writing → reflection.
Stance and Audience in Writing Fieldnotes
1.1. Stance
Definiton of Stance: The researcher’s personal background, training, and worldview affect what they notice and emphasize in fieldnotes.
Prior experience, training, and commitments influence this stance, predisposing the fieldworker to feel, think, and act toward people in more or less patterned ways. Whether from the fieldworker a particular gender, social, cultural, political, or theoretical position or orientation,not only interacts with and responds to people in the setting from her own orientation but also writes her fieldnotes by seeing and framing events accordingly. (90)
자신의 근본적인 입장을 자각함으로써 연구자는 자신의 입장이 제공하는 통찰력을 강조하고 전경화(foreground)하는 현장 노트를 작성할 수 있으며, 자신의 입장이 다른 사람과의 주요 상호 작용을 형성하는 방식을 더 잘 인식할 수 있음
By self-consciously recognizing his fundamental orientation, the fieldworker can write fieldnotes that highlight and foreground issues and insights made available by that orientation. (91)
Example
one heterosexual male often wrote about the ways students pressed him to reveal his sexual orientation and watched for his responses to their jokes and teasing. But an openly identified gay male researcher in the same field site became sensitive to how students “sexualized” stories about their experiences as they constructed gay identities in everyday talk.(91)
must know: Recognizing one’s stance helps use it productively while guarding against bias
1.2. Audience
Definiton of Audience: Who the Notes Are For/ 예상 독자
연구자가 관찰된 사건에 대해 쓰는 방식은 무의식적인 독자에 대한 가정과 관련이 있음
According to the type of Audience:
Self (primary) – Notes can be loose, informal because the writer understands their own shorthand.
Immediate reader (professor, research team) – Notes become more detailed and structured for clarity.
Envisioned broader audience (future readers of an ethnography) – Notes include more background, explanations to ensure outsiders can understand.
"In sum, stance and envisioned audience significantly prefigure the way a researcher composes fieldnotes, even though both take on heightened salience when the field researcher self- consciously prepares texts for wider audiences." (93)
Writing is shaped by both stance and intended audience, influencing level of detail, clarity, and focus.
2. Narrating Choices About Perspective
2.1 Multiple Voices and Points of View
Every fieldnote has an implicit narrator, choosing whose perspective to emphasize. → 기록의 내용과 독자의 이해에 큰 영향을 미침
In our approach to ethnography, we do not ignore the presence of the ethnographer as both the observer of, and often participant in, the interactions occurring in the field site. Nor do we try to obscure the consequential effects of that presence in fieldnotes, acknowledging the ethnographer’s presence, both explicitly as a character interacting with people in the field site and implicitly in stylistic choices that reveal, rather than obscure, the writer’s perspective." (94)
Narrative choices:
First-person point of view ("I observe") – Highlights ethnographer’s own experiences, emotions, reactions. → 자신을 연구 대상 이해의 도구로 활용
"Writing in the first person is particularly effective when the ethnographer is a member of the group she is studying."
Third-person point of view ("He, She, They, he participants did") – Centers on participants’ actions and speech, keeping the writer in the background.
"Writing in the third-person point of view is particularly effective for conveying others’ words and actions."
Focused Third-person
"Field researchers might self-consciously write in ways that convey the point of view of one person directly involved in the scene or action."
Avoid Omniscient Point of view → acknowledge what was known at each moment rather than retroactively inserting conclusions.
"However, writing from an omniscient point of view often introduces serious distortions into writing fieldnotes."
Shafting points of view is beneficial → Combining both first- and third-person perspectives provides depth to fieldnotes.
2.2 Time Perspective: “Real-Time” vs. “End-Point”
Two ways to write about events:
a) Real-time narration → Writing as events unfold, capturing uncertainty and the process of meaning-making.
Example: An ethnographer at a skid-row mission initially didn’t know why people were standing in line and only later learned they were waiting for sleep tickets.
Advantage: Preserves the researcher’s gradual discovery and moment-to-moment understanding.
b) End-point narration → Writing with the benefit of hindsight, incorporating later knowledge.
Example: Writing about a meeting and referring to participants by name and role, even if the researcher only learned this later.
Advantage: Produces a clearer, more synthesized account of an event.
Risk: Can obscure how knowledge was acquired and give an illusion of full understanding from the beginning.
Must-know: Choosing between real-time and end-point narration affects how the reader experiences events.
3. Fieldnote Tales: Writing Extended Narrative Segments
3.1 What Are Fieldnote Tales?
Ethnographers should consider structuring some fieldnotes into longer, story-like accounts(coherent narratives) rather than fragmented observations to track an event from beginning to end. ⇒ key chracteristics: chronological order, follow social actors’ perspectives, connections between actions.
Why Use Them?
Provides coherent accounts of social interactions.
Helps capture the flow of events as participants experience them
Example: A high school dean’s disciplinary response is presented as a sequence of linked events, creating a full picture of the situation,
⇒ Start: Incident begins → Middle: Events unfold through dialogue and actions → End: Case is resolved.
Caution: Ethnographers should avoid overly polished storytelling that distorts reality—narratives should still reflect the messiness of everyday life.
must know:
3.2 Two Ways to Structure a Fieldnote Tale
Following Member-Recognized Units(e.g., a legal case, class session)
Example: A court hearing naturally begins when the judge calls the caseand ends when the session adjourns.
Tracking a Thematic Thread Over Time(ethnographer chooses key moments)
Example: Following "interesting moments"across a workdayrather than just one event.
Key Insight: Fieldnote tales show that ethnographers actively shape narratives, rather than just recording data.
4. Fieldnotes as Both Descriptive and Analytic Tools
Description and analysis are intertwined: writing is already an interpretive act.
In-process analytic memos:Short analytic reflections written alongside fieldnotes.
Ethnographers should not only describe events but also pause to reflect on their significance.
Example: A student researcher revised her understanding of “nuisance calls” at a shelter after deeper analysis in a memo. Writing a memo helps them see differences in staff perceptions.
Balancing Description & Analysis:
Too much memo writing can take time away from description.
However, regular reflection sharpens ongoing observation.
must know: Best practice is writing descriptive fieldnotes first,
then periodically inserting reflective memos
5. Reflections
Fieldnotes are not "neutral" recordingsof reality.
Instead, they are shaped by the writer’s choices(stance, audience, point of view, structure).
Key Ideas:
Writing is both descriptive and interpretive.
Style influences understanding– e.g., writing in an omniscientstyle can create a false sense of objectivity.
Ethnographic writing is persuasive– fieldnotes ultimately convincereaders of the researcher’s portrayal of reality.
Summary
Fieldnotes are crafted texts, not raw data
Writing involves intentional choicesabout perspective, detail, structure, and analysis
Ethnographers must be aware of their biasesand how audience, stance, and styleinfluence their accounts.
Blending description and analysisin notes improves ethnographic insight.
Writing not only documents researchbut actively shapes how knowledge is produced.