Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

368 Chapter 13
group?’’ In my study of ocean scientists (Bernard 1974), several informants
asked me what computer programs I was going to use to do a factor analysis
of my data.
Building Writing Skills
The ability to write comfortably, clearly, and often is one of the most
important skills you can develop as a participant observer. Ethnographers who
are not comfortable as writers produce few field notes and little published
work. If you have any doubts about your ability to pound out thousands of
words, day in and day out, then try to build that skill now, before you go into
the field for an extended period.
The way to build that skill is to team up with one or more colleagues who
are also trying to build their expository writing ability. Set concrete and regular
writing tasks for yourselves and criticize one another’s work on matters of
clarity and style. There is nothing trivial about this kind of exercise. If you
think you need it, do it.
Good writing skills will carry you through participant observation fieldwork,
writing a dissertation and, finally, writing for publication. Don’t be
afraid to write clearly and compellingly. The worst that can happen is that
someone will criticize you for ‘‘popularizing’’ your material. I think ethnographers
should be criticized if they take the exciting material of real people’s
lives and turn it into deadly dull reading.
Hanging Out, Gaining Rapport
It may sound silly, but just hanging out is a skill, and until you learn it you
can’t do your best work as a participant observer. Remember what I said at
the beginning of this chapter: Participant observation is a strategic method
that lets you learn what you want to learn and apply all the data collection
methods that you may want to apply.
When you enter a new field situation, the temptation is to ask a lot of questions
in order to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. There are
many things that people can’t or won’t tell you in answer to questions. If you
ask people too quickly about the sources of their wealth, you are likely to get
incomplete data. If you ask too quickly about sexual liaisons, you may get
thoroughly unreliable responses.
Hanging out builds trust, or rapport, and trust results in ordinary conversation
and ordinary behavior in your presence. Once you know, from hanging
out, exactly what you want to know more about, and once people trust you