Observer bias

Ethnographers in general, and observation-based researchers in particular, are frequently criticized for the subjectivity that informs their work. Even the most apparently unobtrusive observation can have unintended ‘observer effects’ – the tendency of people to change their behavior because they know they are being observed. Most contemporary researchers would agree that it is inadvis­able

Observations in public spaces

One of the most characteristic applications of observational research is that which is carried out in public spaces. Indeed, given the nature of this setting, observation is almost always the preferred technique, given the difficulty of arranging interviews in such a setting and the lack of archival back-up for a shift­ing, heterogeneous, ill-defined population.

Ethics and observational research

General questions of research ethics as they apply to ethnography are treated in a later chapter, but a few special points need to be dealt with in this focused dis­cussion of observation. On the one hand, the relatively unobtrusive nature of observational research lessens the opportunities for unfavorable interpersonal encounters between researcher and ‘subjects’.

Analyzing ethnographic data

1. Patterns How do you recognize a pattern? Basically speaking, a true pattern is one that is shared by members of the group (their actual behavior) and/or one that is believed to be desirable, legitimate, or proper by the group (their ideal behavior). We can systematize the recognition of patterns by going through the

Strategies for representing ethnographic data

1. Representing ethnographic data in traditional scholarly form Scientific writing of whatever length typically includes several key elements usually set out in a conventional order. (Berg, 2004, pp. 299-317, provides a very clear exposition of the principles of writing a scholarly ethnographic paper; see also Creswell, 1994, pp. 193-208.) A title is a direct

Ethical considerations in a ethnographic research

1. Levels of ethical considerations relevant for research There are three levels on which ethical considerations bear on the conduct of research: The official, published standards are those mandated by the government. They are operative in most universities and other research institutions. Codes of ethics are those promulgated by professional societies to which researchers

Ethnography for the twenty-first century

1. The changing research context: technology Participant observation once implied a lone researcher working in a self- contained community, armed only with a notebook and pen, and perhaps a sketch pad and a simple camera. The mechanics of research were revitalized by the introduction of audiotape recorders, movie cameras, and later video recorders. Note-taking

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Perceptual Properties: Sensory Effects and the Representational Structure of Perception

According to von Helmholtz ([1867] 1925, ill: 2off.), every property of natural things is an effect that is brought about by the interaction of physical objects or bodies, given their mutual relations due to the forces that objects exert on one another. He considers mechanical, chemical, optical, electrical, and magnetic properties as descriptions of

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Sensory Aggregates and the Projection of Knowledge

Von Helmholtz holds that every perceptual experience consists in the above- mentioned components, but the proportion in which these components occur may vary. For example, in a brightly sunlit room perception is characterized by vivid visual sensations, hence it has no element whatsoever that does not derive from an actual direct sensation. In the

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Normal Conditions and Experimental Observation

Von Helmholtz’s theory has an inferential and constructivist nature, but it does not overlook the function of the phenomenal component of perception. As Hatfield (2002) remarks, the minor premises are the sensory aggregates, and the inductive conclusions result in the appearances of things. However, the appearances are determined more by the epistemic interpretation of

Perceptual Properties at Face Value: The Phenomenal Basis of Science

When Hering outlined his view of the nature and science of perception, he made alternative claims to von Helmholtz’s theory on the epistemology of perceptual reference, the theoretical decomposition of perception and the associated methodological issues. For example, Hering considers it an un­questionably observable fact that naive subjects ascribe colors to things as independent

Appearances, Meaning and Relations

The problem of lightness and color constancy is a clear example of this fun­damental divergence. Hering’s account gives a different solution from von Helmholtz’s. It also vindicates the tenet that the terms, the concepts and the primitives of the theory have to fit the meaning of appearances, in the sense that their empirical specification

Observing Phenomena “from the Outside”: Series and Order of Appearances

Hering’s demand that the terms, the concepts and the primitives of theory have to fit the characteristics of appearances also has great methodological impor­tance. Von Helmholtz’s theory is charged with bringing in unnecessary mental constructs because of insufficient description. The phenomenal component of perception is reduced to the sensory effects that are considered something

The Empirical Grammar of Perception in Brentano

Brentano’s phenomenological claims on perception can be found in the the­ory of perceptual reference as well as in the philosophical, that is, descriptive psychology (1874, 1982). Brentano contends that denoting something makes sense only if it implies an intentional reference by a subject to whom some­thing appears. If generalized, this claim means that something

The Elements of Phenomena

Brentano (1982: 138-139) holds that in general the merely physiological expla­nations fail to account for the inherent articulation of perceptual phenom­ena. Regardless of the physiological level at which the correlates are identified, perception is treated as a simple state while the plurality of its constitutive elements and their connection is overlooked. However simple they

The Neutral Science of Appearances in Stumpf

Stumpf (1907) maintains that phenomenology is a “neutral science,” whose objects are different from those of natural and human sciences. As a paradigm of natural science, physics “deduces” its objects from expe­rience. Unlike the pre-modern view of science, this does not mean that the objects of physics are constructed directly from appearances of color,

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The Immanent Structural Laws of Appearances

Stumpf’s conclusion is that appearances are “objective,” that is, they are given outside of and before the subjects, and their properties do not arise by means of psychic functions but rather trigger and guide them. If psychic functions react to appearances, no perceptual change occurs that is not admitted among the variations allowed by

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Husserl and the Form of the Theories of Perception

Husserl considers phenomenology a kind of meta-theory of knowledge. He claims that a theory is not a bundle of sentences or observations. It is a rule- based connection of propositions obtained by inductive or deductive methods as well as a model of the domain of its objects (1900/1901). Philosophical or scientific theories have theoretical

Phenomenal Reality and Psychology of Perception in Metzger

Metzger (1941: 10, 25) recognizes Husserl’s phenomenological contribution to a science of perception that prevents common-sense assumptions as well as extraneous philosophical concepts and scientific findings from defining its primitives. If the latter were drawn from the known physical and physiological properties of stimulation, the research could be limited solely to those features that

Koffka on the Phenomenological Questions of Perception Science

Koffka (1955) claims that the psychological theory of perception has to address the question “why do things look as they do?” This question epitomizes the phenomenological commitment of experimental research. Koffka maintains that a valid theory of perception should answer this question to be true to perceptual experience, and is thus committed to finding

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