Learning Journal 23

In class this past Monday we talked about an article titled "Choosing a Site and Gaining Access" by Neuman. It is a rather important topic and needs to be considered for students planning on participating in a field study. The author mentions how gatekeepers need to be addressed. Give the gatekeeper as much information as you can without compromising the research. This will help the gatekeeper to develop trust and if something is discovered that the gatekeeper wasn't told about it could end in a termination of the research.
Presentation of self was another point that was addressed. It is important to address the subjects in a manner that will send a feeling of respect but not arrogance and an appearance of normal without standing out too much. I think to address the gatekeepers for our initial disclosure it would be important to dress professionally. If they get that we are serious about our project and professional, they may be much more likely to help us out. For talking with the students it is probably much more appropriate to dress in attire that would be similar to theirs.
One problem that researchers have is defocusing. This involves removing past assumptions and preconceptions to become more open to events in a field study. I don't think I will have had much experience similar to India before I travel there, so hopefully I will not have to blank my mind too much. I will need to remove a few assumptions and preconceptions that I have heard about India before I travel there but they are so lightly layered that they can be easily thrown away. Likewise, an attitude of strangeness will not be too much of a problem for me. The culture shock will be so new to me that identifying everything new will not be hard.
The last thing that I enjoyed was to build trust through charm. This is important because you need the informants that you are interviewing to be open with you. Oftentimes charm is sent through messages that we can't even control - like looks. I hope that I can work on building trust right off of the bat in order to receive better feedback from the informants. I have to be quick and charismatic to help the students feel comfortable and unpressured to answer my survey.