This topic has been chosen, firstly, because of the relative ease with which most of us can access a relevant fieldwork setting. Through rendering the everyday and familiar strange (through engaging with a structured observational exercise) this should give some indication of what the ethnographic gaze might involve. It is, of course, likely that you will choose not to take such a structured approach; nevertheless, this exercise should give some indication of the importance of defining categories to be employed and being systematic about recording data:

• Select 3 or 4 work-based meetings which you would normally attend in the course of your job.
• Decide what basis to use for selecting these – e.g. narrow or wide membership (or a combination); task involved.
• Use the provisional template presented below to record your observations, thinking about what items you might wish to add.

N.B. You are unlikely to start with such a detailed template for recording and I have included the timing of contributions merely to illustrate the sort of thing you might possibly elect to include in your interests and focus as these develop. Nevertheless, this should give you a taste of both the insights that observational work can afford and the discipline required to record relevant items.

Click here to download the provisional observation template

Commentary:

You might find that you become increasingly intrigued by the ways in which gender influences vocabulary and style of speech, in which case you might want to consider employing an approach that draws more explicitly on conversation analysis. There is, of course, an ongoing debate about the utility and appropriateness of using such referents as ‘gender’ in CA – particularly if this is not a notion appealed to by participants. However, Stokoe and Smithson (2001) observe that:

“some researchers combine CA with social constructionism which sees common-sense and cultural knowledge as being negotiated and maintained in everyday talk” (Stokoe and Smithson, 2001: 236).

It is in this spirit that I would recommend CA as a potential resource in developing an observational template and beginning to interpret your data. This is consistent with the broad licence and possibilities that I have claimed are afforded by employing a social constructionist approach at the outset of a qualitative study (as advocated in Chapter 1) with the potential to opt for a specific designated method at a later stage, once you have refined your interests and seen the sort of data you are likely to generate..

Another paper, addressing the issue of gendered relations in a specific academic setting, and which might help you to develop your focus and potential analysis, is:

Conefrey, T. (1997) ‘Gender, culture and authority in a University Life Sciences laboratory”, Discourse and Society, 8(3): 313-40.

Commentary:

Decide in which supermarket/s you wish to carry out your observations. Different chains cater to people in differing socio-economic bands, so you might want to think about including more than one supermarket in order to maximize comparative potential

You should also decide when to carry out the fieldwork. Obviously, if you carry out fieldwork Monday to Friday during school hours this will normally preclude observing parent-child interaction with older children.

You may find that different time-slots are likely to yield different combinations of parents and children – with, for example, fathers being more likely to be present at weekend shopping expeditions. This may also be when estranged parents – probably overwhelmingly fathers - may shop with their children. Think through the implications for inclusion and exclusion of your choice of time-slots

Contextual Details:

• Is negotiation a feature of the entire shopping expedition?
• Or does it surface in specific parts of the supermarket – i.e. in relation to particular types of product?
• Is negotiation more likely to arise in relation to expensive items?
• Do your observations – so far as you can tell - cover extensive monthly shopping expeditions or ‘top-up’ shopping? You may wish to include both.

How do family characteristics appear to affect negotiation?

• Are specific family combinations more likely to give rise to negotiation - or to different types of negotiation (see observing the interaction below) - (e.g. mother accompanied with 2 or more children; children of differing ages or genders?)
• Is negotiation – or different types of negotiation - more common with families of different socio-economic status (assuming that you are able to allocate families to useful groupings)?
• Do differing levels – or type - of negotiation appear to be associated with families who are overweight?

Observing the Interaction:

• What sorts of appeals do children make?
• What language do they use?
• Do they appeal overtly to advertisement for specific products?
• Do they invoke comparisons with their peer group?
• Does this differ by age, gender, social class. ethnicity (if appropriate)?
• Whether and how do parents counter these pleas or ploys?

Reading Exercise:

I would suggest that you revise your question template in the light of further reading, which might also lead you to change your focus, depending on whether it raises issues of particular interest to you:

• Eldridge, J. and Murcott, A. (2000) http://www.socresonline.org.uk/11/2/boden.html
• Evans, J. and Chandler, J. (2006) ‘To buy or not to buy: Family dynamics and children’s consumption’, Sociological Research Online, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/.html

Commentary:

Possibilities in terms of research sites for this work could include participants’ homes or, alternatively, re-cycling points – both of which would allow the researcher/s to question people about their practices and decision-making. However, concentrating on the latter option might mean that you were missing out on taking to people who do not make the effort to travel to re-cycling sites, or, indeed (depending on local arrangements for refuse collection) those who can re-cycle without having to deposit materials in person.

Socio-economic circumstances and locality are likely to play an important role in relation to views and practices regarding re-cycling

If opting for the first option, you might consider using elicitation methods, such as diaries, photos or videos with follow-up interviews/discussion. These supplementary data sources may be particularly valuable in highlighting discrepancies between stated practice or intentions and actual behaviour

It is likely that observational/questioning templates would evolve over the course of the study, but initial questions might include:

• Who does the re-cycling?
• Is this responsibility always allocated to one person or is it the subject of negotiation?
• When does this happen – at specific times, or integrated into daily routines and practices?
• Are some household members more committed to re-cycling than are others?
• What considerations are brought to bear on decision-making? Are these internal dialogues (which can, nevertheless, be made explicit through questioning by the researcher) or are they the subject of discussion amongst household members?
• Do re-cycling decisions and behaviour ever give rise to disagreements or arguments between household members? (If so, you might – depending on your research focus and interests - wish to focus on the opportunities thus afforded and/or exercised in terms of allowing individuals scope to ‘perform’ certain roles and personae.
• Do household members behave differently when visitors (other than the researcher/s) are present? (Peer group pressure may have an effect on behaviour.)
• What rationalizations are presented for choosing not to re-cycle (perhaps in relation to specific types of waste) or ‘lapses’ (either at the time or retrospectively)

If you are opting for the second possibility suggested, an important decision would be when to carry out observational fieldwork at re-cycling sites – as different groups are likely to use these facilities at weekends, for example, or during ‘regular’ working hours. You might also opt to carry out this research to coincide with a particular campaign in order to determine its impact. In this case it could be useful to generate data also from policy makers.