Doing Ethnographic Research. Kimberly Kirner

decided which services and programs to offer and whether they consulted with other organizations in the area.

      Optimal sampling plan:

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       Justification:

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      Problem 2

      A student in a methods class has to interview at least five people about their experience in transitioning from high school to college in order to complete a class project. The student has two weeks to get that part of the project done.

      Optimal sampling plan:

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       Justification:

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      Activity 3.4: Critiquing the Choice of Informants

      Background: In qualitative research projects that have few participants, where each participant will count for quite a lot in the analysis, another consideration researchers have to make is how to select individual informants for interviews.

      This activity will help you identify problems in selecting key and specialized informants that need to be addressed in planning for research and drawing conclusions from data.

      Key Terms and Concepts

       Key informants

       Specialized informants

      Instructions

      Using the case study prompts, evaluate how the researcher’s choices of key/specialized informants may have impacted the data in terms of their accurate representation of the target population. Then provide one way the researcher could have improved their choices.

      Common Mistakes

      Common mistakes students make when selecting key informants:

       Selecting any willing participant, without consideration of the person’s expertise or suitability

       Failing to question how the self-selecting process impacts the kind of person who is willing to participate

       Failing to adequately describe how key informants were selected, who was excluded, and why

      Ask Yourself

       Am I monitoring my understanding? Have I backed up to reread a section to better understand content?

      Sample Problem

      When Shavon, a graduate student in ethnoecology, first entered her field site in an Andean village, she felt a bit shy. The only Westerner there, and not yet a fluent Quechua speaker, she was greeted very early on by a young woman who was learning English. This young woman introduced her to her whole family, and her grandfather (who seemed very knowledgeable) became Shavon’s primary specialized informant for her study about high-elevation agricultural practices.

      Example

      How the researcher’s choice may have impacted the study: By relying on the first informant who may have been suitable and not pushing herself to get to know people despite her language barrier, Shavon potentially excluded informants who would have been more knowledgeable.

      One improvement the researcher could make: Shavon could include the young woman’s grandfather if he seemed knowledgeable but also make an effort to introduce herself to other townspeople, assess their relevance to the study, and invite multiple specialized informants, so as to not be dependent on one family.

      Non-example

      How the researcher’s choice may have impacted the study: Shavon needed more informants. Maybe the grandfather is the best option, but more people would be better.

      One improvement the researcher could make: Shavon needed to improve her Quechua. She should have asked the young woman for help with learning the language rather than spending so much time with her family.

      Problem 1

      Kaden, who was conducting their senior thesis, was seeking key informants for a study on interfaith romantic relationships in Los Angeles. They decided to seek key informants by requesting participants from a Los Angeles Unitarian Universalist church, which focuses on interfaith education.

       How the researcher’s choice may have impacted the study:

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       One improvement the researcher could make:

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      Problem 2

      When José first entered the field, conducting research on the varying attitudes that doctors had toward body mass index (BMI) as a measurement of health (and how this reflected body positivity or not), he found it challenging to get participants due to doctors’ busy schedules. Eventually, he managed to get his first key informant: Dr. Reddy. Dr. Reddy was sociable and highly opinionated, and he offered lots of information for the study and introduced José to all his colleagues at the clinic where he worked. José felt he’d finally gotten some luck!

       How the researcher’s choice may have impacted the study:

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       One improvement the researcher could make:

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