Can apprentice field workers be trained to be sensitive to their individual observational biases? Can these observational biases be altered to result in significantly higher data quality, reliability and validity? Results of an apprentice field worker training program using pre-training and post-training measures of field worker observational skills measured by responses to ethnographic documentary films indicates encouraging improvements in ethnographic reliability and validity skills of student trainees.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ARONSON, E., & CARLSMITH, J. M.Experimentation. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (eds.), Handbook of social psychology, Vol. II. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1968.
BENNETT, J. M.Individual perspective in field work: An experimental training course. R. N. Adams and J. J. Preiss, Human organization research. Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey, 1960.
4.
BROOKOVER, L. & BACK, K. W.Time sampling as a field technique. Human organization, 1966, 25, 64-70.
5.
CAMPBELL, D. T.Social attitudes and other acquired behavioral dispositions. Psychology: Study of a science. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.
6.
CAMPBELL, D. T. & STANLEY, J. C.Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1963.
7.
CICOUREL, A.Method and measurement in sociology. New York: Free Press, 1964.
8.
DALTON, M.Preconceptions and methods in men who manage. In P. Hammond (Ed.), Sociologists at work. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964.
9.
ERICKSON, W. L. An urban commune as a quasi-kindred. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois-Chicago Circle, 1971.
10.
ERICKSON, W. L.Some observations on self-observation research. University of Missouri-St. Louis, Social Obseration Center, Research Report No. 1, 1973.
11.
GLAZER, B. & STRAUSS, A.The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine, 1967.
12.
GOLD, R. L.Roles in sociological field observations. Social Forces1958, 36, 217-223.
13.
JAMES, R. W.A note on phases of the community role of the participant observerAmerican SociologicalReview1961, 26, 446-450.
14.
KAHN, R. L. & CANNELL, C. F.The dynamics of interviewing. New York: Wiley, 1957.
15.
KAHN, R. L. & MANN, F.Developing research partnerships. Journal of Social Issues1952, 8, 4-10.
16.
KISH, I.Survey sampling. New York: Wiley, 1965.
17.
KRIPPENDORF, K.Bivariate agreement coefficients for reliability of data. E. F. Borgatta and G. W. Bohrnstedt (Eds.), Sociological methodology 1970. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1970.
18.
LEWIS, O.Life in a Mexican village: Tepoztlan revisited. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1951.
19.
McCALL, G. J.Data quality control in participant observation. In G. J. McCall & J. L. Simmons (Eds.) Issues in participant observation: A text and reader. London: Addison-Wesley, 1969.
20.
McCALL, G. J. & SIMMONS, J. L. (eds.), Issues in participant observation: A text and reader. London: Addison-wesley, 1969.
21.
MAZANEC, N. & McCALL, G. J.Sex, cognitive categories, and observational agency. Psychological Reports, 1975, 37, 987-990.
22.
MAZENEC, N., & McCALL, G. J.Sex Factors location of attention in observing persons. Journal of Psychology1976, 93, 175-180.
23.
PARTEN, M.Surveys, Polls and Samples. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950.
24.
PELTO, P.Anthropological research: The structure of inquiring. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
25.
POGGIE, J. J.Toward quality control in key informant data. Human Organization1972, 31, 23-30.
26.
REDFIELD, R.Tepoztlan: A mexican village. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 1930.
27.
RITZER, G.Sociology: A multiple paradigm science. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1975.
28.
ROBINSON, P. & SHAVER, P. R.Measures of social psychological attitudes (2nd ed.). Ann. Arbor: Survey Research Center, 1973.
29.
ROSENTHAL, R.Experimenter effects in behavioral research. New York: Ervington Publishers, Inc., 1976.
30.
ROSENTHAL, R., HALL, J. A., ARCHER, D. D., MATTEO, M. R., & ROGERS, P. L.The PONS Test: measuring sensitivity to nonverbal cues. In S. Weitz (ed.), Nonverbal communication (rev. ed). Oxford University Press (in press).
31.
SCHATZMAN, L. & STRAUSS, A. L., Field research: Strategies for a natural sociology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
32.
SMITH, H. W.Strategies of social research. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1975.
33.
SUMMERS, G. F.Attitude measurement. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970.
34.
TART, C. T.States of consciousness and state-specific sciences. Science1972, 173, 1203-1210.
35.
WIGGINS, J. A.Hypothesis validity and experimental laboratory methods. H. M. Blalock, Jr. and A. B. Blalock (Eds.), Methodology in social research. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.
