Re: halo hawthorne
Katherine Brown (kbrown who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu)
Tue, 26 Sep 1995 09:20:41 -0700 (PDT)
What a good topic!! Glad to see people saying more about participant
observation. Another example of the embracing of rather than the
denying or downplaying of the presence and effect of the researcher(s)
in and around the phenomena of interest is found in a lot of Developmental
Work Research, as carried out by Yrjo Engestrom, Ritva Engestrom and
others who do long-term studies (many that go on for several years)
where they show research subjects the videotapes that are made of
them in the workplaces under study and use the tapes and the interviews
about the tape contents to help research subjects actively and reflectively
think about their work and look for solutions to problems that are captured
on tape.
In my field observations in the photographic darkroom, I would often sit
there watching new groups of students go through the time-consuming processes
of learning how to mix chemicals, develop film, make prints, etc. and would
watch as they made really horrible mistakes that I knew would cost them
precious hours to fix. When photographic paper costs a quarter per sheet,
it adds up when you keep repeating the same mistakes. Sometimes, students
would ask me questions or would be talking out loud to each other and I would
want to jump on and save them time, money and trouble. Should I say anything
that would disturb the group problem solving dynamics that I had experienced
myself as a novice (i.e. give someone an answer that would cause them not
tand identify more capable peers, interact with them, bond with them,
etc. ) or should I play the role of the more capable peer for a moment,
being responsible to my status as an intermediate student-user of the
darkroom. THe dilemma was especially pronounced when I saw a mistake
being made that would screw up the working environment (contaminate
equipment wth chemicals, ruin baths, break lenses, etc.) that I would
be returning to later in the afternoon as a USE of the darkroom.In
the end, I chose to abandon the prtense of disinterested observ, and
helped when I was there.In a 24-hour access darkrom, plenty of mistakes
were made to serve as object lessons for the group of users to learn the
hard way as necessary, and when an easier route was found or a mistake
avoided,beneficiarieof the help turned around and helped others.
I am sure that criticism can be made of either the help or not help
approach, but since one of the things I was interested iwas "members
methods" in ethnomethodological jargon, it was an authentic demonstration
of the fact that all work done in the darkroom affects the work of everyone
who uses the darkroom and that people attended to each others successes and
mistakes in a heightened way (for selfish reasons) and that "pure selfishness"
on the other hand is intolerable, because there were lots of shortcuts that
would help an individual at the expense of the group that would come back
to haunt you, whether you were a particant observer or not.
Sorry for the long note its stuff very much on my mind just now.
Katherine Brown
LCHC/UCSD