Doing Field Projects

8 Recorded Interviews

In this chapter you will practice one of the earliest established and most widely used ethnographic research techniques: gathering recorded interviews. Ethnographic interviews allow the anthropologist to get closer to an insider’s perspective and to appreciate the ways that a person makes sense of and categorizes their world. By examining what people talk about as well as how they speak about such things, ethnographers gain valuable insight into the specific ways in which people understand their culture and communities. Learning to listen and ask questions as an ethnographer does is a valuable skill for nearly any profession or area of study.

Learning Goals

1. Practice person-to-person interview skills using both directed and undirected formats,
2. Articulate the advantages and disadvantages of various transcription methods.

Ethnographic interviews have a long and checkered history. At one time, interviews were the main, or sole, method of gathering data, but Malinowski’s invention of “open air” fieldwork changed all of that. It was clear that Malinowski’s method not only garnered a greater variety of data than simple interviewing could, but use of participant observation as a field strategy also pointed up the differences between what people say they do versus what they actually do. Nowadays, ethnographic interviews are more likely to be an adjunct to other field methods rather than the sole means of acquiring information, but they are still a fixture in ...