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MODEL SYLLABUS
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES:
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
CLASS FORMAT AND SCHEDULING:
Lecture and discussion, with 2 - 2 hour sessions per week.
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION:
Intensive focus on participant observation as it is practiced in communication
studies with emphasis on methodological issues, design, and implementation.
CREDIT HOURS:
5 credits
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
The course is designed to provide the student with an intensive exposure
to participant observation practice in the field of communication and how
it is informed by and challenges methodological roots and issues. The course
covers the origins of the use of participant observation in the communication
field, methodological roots and issues, and the full range of implementation
concerns, including design, gaining entry, observing, interacting, note-taking,
analyzing, and communicating results. While the primary context of application
is communication research, students whose interests are in communication
practice, design, or policy should still find much of value in further developing
in an intense way their understandings of what is involved in observing.
Class discussions will include applications to everyday communication issues
and concerns.
DEVELOPED IN 1996 BY:
Brenda Dervin, PhD., Professor (Communication), 3016 Derby Hall, 154 N.
Oval Mall, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA dervin.1@osu.edu. Note:
This syllabus was developed for curriculum committee review purposes and
as a model for alternative instructors. The readings come solely or primarily
from authors writing in the various communication fields. Actual presentations
of the class will vary and most versions will rely 30-50% on works from
sources in other fields.
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
While attendance is not a formal course requirement, there are four ways
in which missing class can hurt you. One is in your participation grade
for which attendance is a necessary pre-requisite. The second will be in
the resources you will be able to bring to bear on the take-home exams because
class lectures and discussions will necessarily impact the selection of
the exam questions. The third will be in the resources you will be able
to bring to bear on your class paper because class sessions will be in part
orient toward assisting students with their selected class projects. If
you miss a class you must acquire the missing notes from another student
and not from the instructor.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
For both undergraduate and graduate students, class grades will be calculated
based on:
| Class participation & discussion | 20% |
| Two take-home exams | 40% (20% each) |
| Class paper | 40% |
The two take-home exams with each consist of four
sets of three questions from which students are to choose one question per
set to be answered in no more than one double-spaced typed page.
The class paper is to report on the result of the student's own involvement
in a participant observation project throughout the term. Each student may
chose his/her own context for observation. Graduate students are expected
to choose a context relevant to their scholarship directions. Undergraduates
may select, if they wish, a context pertaining to communication practice,
design, or policy
The final paper is to include the following components: a) a commentary
on the experience using concepts derived from class readings and discussion;
b) an analysis of the results obtained from the observations; and c) an
appendix including at least 15 pages of systematic field notes taken during
the quarter. Sections a and b of the final paper should be about 10 pages
in all. Significant class time will be devoted to selecting class projects
and to discussion of concepts useful in assessing results. Students are
encouraged to hand in portions of their papers in draft form for feedback.
These drafts may be handed in at any time and will be handed back with comments
within one week. The target size for the final paper is 25 pages.
Graduate students will be expected to do graduate level work including covering
the extra readings assigned to them as well as preparing a class paper of
quality suitable for submission for convention or journal referee.
CLASS READINGS
There are four texts for the class available at the bookstores. Copies of
the assigned articles are also on reserve in the library.
Anderson, James. Communication research: issues and methods. New York: McGraw
Hill, 1987
Fetterman, David M. Ethnography: step by step. Newbury Park, Ca.: Sage,
1989.
Jorgensen, Danny L., Participant observation: a methodology of human studies.
Newbury Park, Ca.: Sage, 1989
Lindlof, Thomas R., Qualitative communication research methods. Thousand
Oaks, Ca.: Sage, 1995
In addition to the texts there is a selection of additional readings on
reserve at the library. Full citations for all the readings are included
in Master Bibliography
for Model Syllabi Focusing on Qualitative Research in Communication Studies. In the schedule below, readings are identified by last
name of senior author and an abbreviated document title. Items are marked
as follows:
+items are required readings for both undergraduate and graduate students
*items are required readings for graduate students
-items are available for those who wish to pursue issues in more depth
COURSE SCHEDULE:
| WK | FOCUS, READINGS, ASSIGNMENTS |
| 1 | INTRODUCTION |
| 2 | METHODOLOGICAL ROOTS OF PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Reserve list: |
| 3 | DESIGN AND PLANNING Course texts: +Anderson 10, Design *Fetterman 3, A wilderness guide: methods and techniques +Jorgensen 2, The process of defining a problem *Lindlof 3, Design 1: planning Reserve list: Grover, Structured participant observation... Lee, On not missing the boat: a processual method for... Phillipsen, Linearity of research design in an ethnographic study of speak... Phillipsen, Ritual as heuristic device in studies of organizational discourse |
| 4 | GAINING ENTRY Course texts: +Anderson 11, Participant observation: getting started +Jorgensen 3, Gaining entree to a setting *Lindlof 4, Design 2: Getting in |
| *** | TAKE HOME EXAM #1 DUE AT BEGINNING OF FIRST
CLASS SESSION THIS WEEK |
| 5 | OBSERVING Course texts: +Anderson 12, Participant observation: creating the research text +Jorgensen 4, Participating in everyday life *Jorgensen 5, Developing and sustaining field relationships *Lindlof 5, Observing and learning Reserve list: Frey, Ethnography (observational research, pp.255-284) *McDermott, Criteria for an ethnographically adequate description... |
| 6 | ELICITING EXPERIENCES Course texts: +Jorgensen 6, Observing and gathering information +Lindlof 6, Eliciting experiences Reserve list: *Frey, Ethnography (interview research, pp. 285-311) |
| 7 | FIELD NOTES Course texts: +Fetterman 4, Gearing up: ethnographic equipment +Jorgensen 7, Notes, records, and files |
| 8 | ANALYZING Course texts: +Fetterman 6, ...Analysis *Jorgensen 8, Analyzing and theorizing +Lindlof 7, Creating and analyzing texts in the field Reserve list: *Agar, Interpreting discourse: coherence and the analysis of... |
| 9 | COMMUNICATING RESULTS Course texts: - Anderson 13, Epilogue +Fetterman 6,...Writing - Fetterman 7,...Ethics *Jorgensen 9, Leaving the field and communication results +Lindlof 8, Authoring and writing Reserve list: *Philipsen, Two issues in the evaluation of ethnographic studies of ... *Sigman, Some notes toward ethnographic responsibility... |
| *** | TAKE HOME EXAM #2 DUE AT BEGINNING OF FIRST
CLASS SESSION THIS WEEK |
| 10 | METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES (CURRENT DEBATE) Reserve list: *Ang, Ethnography and radical contextualism in audience studies... - Bantz, Ethnographic analysis in organizational cultures *Eastland, The dialectical nature of ethnography: liminality, reflexivity... +Lindlof, Seeking a path of greatest resistance: the self becoming method... - McDermott, Making sense of feeling good: the ethnography of comm... - Morley, Communication and context: ethnographic perspectives on... - Press, Toward a qualitative methodology for audience res: using ethno... +Stacey, Can there be a feminist ethnography? - Stacey, Imagining a feminist ethnography... |
| EX | |
| *** | FINAL CLASS PAPER DUE AT END OF REGULARLY SCHEDULED EXAM PERIOD FOR THIS CLASS |
This syllabus is available in alternative formats upon request. Students with disabilities are responsible for making their needs known to the instructor and for seeking available assistance in a timely manner.
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Page last updated 2/25/98