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hand, I did not want to engage in talk too much as I was hesitant about a) using
my own contributions as conversational data. On the other, I had the feeling that
if I kept too quiet the others might think that I was observing or analysing
them16. My solution to this seemingly catch 22 situation was to try to forget that
the data was important to me and just relax". Indeed, as the gatherings
progressed my involvement as sociable guest gradually superseded my
involvement as researcher (this being helped along its way via the consumption
of alcohol and the emergence of an ethos of heightened sociability). My attitude
subsequently changed from one of slightly anxious researcher, concerned that
tapes were inserted, machines were running, and mikes were well positioned, to
one of "Oh, I've got enough data for tonight", or even "Sod it" (this in part being
effected by the reduction in dexterity associated with even small amounts of
alcohol, resulting in the increasing difficulty of unobtrusively changing tapes
etc). Alongside this the cognitive effects of sociable milieus are such that one is
aware that full attention cannot be given to the act of recording and eventually
makes the decision to stop for fear of for example, recording over the same side
of a tape twice (which on one occasion did actually happen). In short, one 'goes
native' very quickly in sociable gatherings, and arguably perhaps, is under an
ethical obligation to do so at the expense of other obligations brought in from
the outside world (see Philburn 2003).
4.5 Conclusion
In this chapter I have provided an account of my general methodology for
gathering and conducting an initial analysis of my conversational data. In
addition, I have outlined my attempts to conduct the study with ethical concerns
in mind. In the next chapters I will draw upon this data to explore more closely
the propositions and research questions set out in this and the previous
chapter.
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