3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This is a graduate-level course in participant observation. Participant observation is qualitative field research conducted in the time and place of “subjects” rather than the observer. In this class, we will learn by doing. Students will pick a local field site within the first week of the course (and should thus enter the semester with a firm idea or two). They will then conduct participant observation at least twice a week every week for twelve weeks. Seminars will be devoted to presenting preliminary findings, commenting on each other’s field notes and discussing issues that arise in the field. Reading will be minimal, and largely practical and ethical in nature. Students will write a mid-semester literature review and produce a final paper based on their findings.