Doing Field Projects

11 Process Documentation

In this chapter, you will locate a participant who has a particular skill or ability to produce something tangible. You will then document the process by which they use their skill using photographs, notes, and audio recording in order to produce a step-by-step description of the process. Finally, you will interview your participant about their skill to uncover how they learned it and what it means to them. Documenting such processes in ethnography can be useful for a variety of reasons not limited to research on particular processes or skills. Understanding why people do what they do, how they do it, how and why they learned it, and why it is important can reveal valuable cultural themes that other research techniques cannot replicate.

Learning Goals

1. Document a person at work on a skilled project
2. Integrate interview technique, voice recording, photo documentation, and possibly videography.

This project requires you to locate someone who is skilled at a process, and to document the process in action. In this case “skilled” does not necessarily mean a professional, but it can be. Someone who is a good cook or who makes one dish well is perfectly adequate. The absolutely hard-and-fast rule is that the finished product must be something physical, such as a bowl of soup or a picture frame. Do not consider an actor rehearsing a part for a play, or a musician writing a song (Chapter 14 can deal with these).

Many of my students chose a cherished family ...