Post on 24-May-2015
Lucille Roberts… The Study of Women in Astoria and
Forest Hillsby: Lisseth Ramirez
My
Obje
ctiv
e(s
)…
I would like to study how the
people in the communities of
Astoria and Forest Hills can
affect the establishment and
the service provided back to the
community by the employees.
BUT… with the progress of my
fieldwork my point of interest
changed and so did my
objective. It turned out to be that my
objective was to study the
similarities and motivations of
women in both establishment
for going to the gym.
Main
Q
uest
ions?
?
How does the establishment impact or benefit the community? What are some of the challenges of being an employee?How does the community benefit the establishment?What kinds of people are considered regular customers? >> There are more questions BUT they became too broad….
Well, my main questions evolved with the project and became less superficial…
These questions adjusted from a focus on physical aspects and appearances of the gym to details about motivations of clients to become involved in a health club!
I was looking to compare differences in the effects of socio-economic status from one location to the next. But as I continued to observe what I noted were similarities in motivation and I decided to switch my focus to that key factor.
How did I do
this?!
aka picture
time!!!
Welc
om
e t
o
Ast
ori
a!!
!
Welc
om
e t
o
Fore
st H
ills
!!!
I used participant-observation and informal interviews
Interviewed employees from both locations who have worked for more than two years
Interviewed clients who have been there for over five years from both locations
And I over heard a conversation here and there.. Shhhh!!!!!!
More
Tact
ics…
I conducted a total of
six informal interviews. I spent approximately
one and a half hours,
two or three times per
week observing depending on my availability with work
and school schedule. I tried to vary my time
frame of observation.
Resu
lts
My research questions allowed
me to learn a lot from the
employees and the customers
in the community as a whole.
(ex: self-esteem) I believe my methods were
suitable for my research
because the interviews
allowed me to get closer to the
customers. The participant-observations
allowed me to sit and be a
passive observer and
understand the undercurrents
of the environment
Som
e o
f M
y O
bse
rvati
ons
At the beginning of my
fieldwork I observed that the
members would act different
around me. Women were simply talking,
laughing, telling stories,
talking about their families
and friends, and this didn’t
vary from race to race or
social status. Then the idea and interest to
compare and contrast two
different neighborhoods
according to an establishment
went downhill !!
Ups
and D
ow
ns
I was not too sure about
what the employees might
say to me because they
would probably avoid
hurting the image of the
company. Being bilingual allowed me
to ease-drop on conversations allowing me
to gather information about
the customers. Listening to conversations
led me to changing the
topic of my project.
Field
work
and
Cla
ssro
om
conve
rsati
ons…
hm
m
According to Freud, many
people store painful memories deep into their
unconscious mind to try and
forget those things but
regardless they will always
be there. In Lucille Roberts a lot of the
members store painful
memories deep into the
recesses of their minds and
use the establishment to
help make them less
apparent and less of a
burden on their daily life.
Freud a
nd
Tere
sa…
Teresa had a son who at the
age of 27 committed suicide
a few days before Christmas.
I learned that due to her
depression she became
obese and one day she
passed the establishment
and decided to join. She doesn’t miss a day since
then and she is able to cope
with her circumstance by
having something to look
forward to.
Freud a
nd B
ok…
Bok is a 70-year-old Chinese woman who
has no contact with her immediate
family. Bok has attended the gym daily for the
past five years. She caught my attention
because I would see her come in at 8AM
and not leave until 2PM and then later I
would see her return in the evening for
approximately two hours.
Bok’s children all married and made
their lives and do not even contact her...
She presents as an aggressive person
and is difficult to interact with. I feel that
it may be a defense mechanism to avoid
having to deal with inquiries regarding
her family and her personal life.
Cla
ssro
om
readin
gs
and m
y field
work
!
The course readings, discussions,
concepts and theories helped me
by giving me the skills to make
connections between the
information presented in class to
real-life applications.
“The Woman in the Body” by
Emily Martin. Emily Martin was deeply
engrossed in her research because
she was also part of the
population she concentrated on.
Similarly, prior to becoming an
employee at Lucille Roberts I was
a customer, which I thought would
alter the results but it didn’t.
“The Gift” by Marcel Mauss
The author posits an interesting
theory of reciprocity. In essence an
act of kindness is not without its expectations.
In Lucille Roberts, you join and I give you FREE guest passes so that you can bring your friends to workout. In essence my actions are tainted by my own underlying agenda, I aim to obtain more memberships through your advertisement.
Eve
ry s
ituati
on
has
its
pro
ble
ms…
A significant challenge I faced
during this study was the fact
that I am an employee.
A secondary challenge can be
found in the act of obtaining
information as the main source
of my information came from
informal interviews. Under the guise of a member, I
would go to the gym in order
to observe the occurrences at
the gym. However because my
identity as an employee was
known, this guise was
compromised.
For
futu
re
refe
rence
…
In the future I would have
a third-party conduct the
observations in order to
eliminate some of the
biases I may have encountered as a result of
being an employee. I think this would be more
successful than the alternative possibility of
informing members that I
am conducting research
because this secondary
option may yield non-
genuine results as well.
At
last
…
This ethnography project allowed me
to integrate with the people that I
work with, as well as with the
customers that I deal with in a daily
basis. The most interesting thing out of this
field work was my own enthusiasm. I
seemed to enjoy the field work
because it was unpredictable the way
these women had something in
common besides wanting to fit in a
pair of jeans. I truly enjoyed sharing words and
conversations with the members and
I feel that I learned from them as well
as they learned about me.
I am very glad that I learned to see
women in these communities as if it
was the same place.