1. 1. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Slow Research: What can ethnography contribute to public health research? Matt Maycock MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit 17th February 2015
2. 2. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. The slow movement The Slow Movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. This has resulting in; Slow Cities, Slow living, Slow Travel, Slow Design, Slow Science and now Slow Research perhaps, the most powerful reason why we find it hard to slow down is the cultural taboo that weve erected against slowing down. Slow is a dirty word in our culture. Its a byword for lazy, slacker, for being somebody who gives up. C. Honore
3. 3. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. The five principals of slow research 1) Local is best Slow research takes the local as a starting point It focuses on the importance of particularity and specificity 2) Preservation is good, or value what is already working Slow research shifts the question from will the new work here to what works and what does not work here already? This shift moves away from a priori valorising the new 3) Deliberative temporality, or resist anticipation In the moment of pause, attention is drawn to the immediacy of the present and to its rich complexity Anticipation eviscerates the impulse to remain local in time, or to remain attentive to immediacy and problem solving in the near tenses.
4. 4. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. The five principals continued. 4) Quality takes time, or strive toward knowledge rather than information acquisition Information tends to displace knowledge through a focus on the mass (and often mass-mediated) production of information. Therefore, the question of what to study is governed not by concerns with what matters to the communities targeted for interventions but by concerns with what would provide good numbers or enough data to run quantitative analyses. 5) Responsiveness improves research, or allow the iterative process to inform our work Results are analysed in the course of the research in order to recalibrate the methods and techniques, getting at more targeted goals. This reciprocal process produces knowledge that is deeper and more responsive to context, and liberates research from its temporal constraints (faster is not always better; newer is not always more productive).
5. 5. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Ethnographic Methods From one point of view, that of the textbook, doing ethnography is establishing rapport, selecting informants, transcribing texts, taking genealogies, mapping fields, keeping a diary, and so on. But it is not these things, techniques and received procedures, that define the enterprise. What defines it is the kind of intellectual effort it is.... Ethnography is thick description (Geertz 1973: 6, 9-10)
6. 6. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Ethnography entails Participant observation Observation, Just being around or Deep hanging out (Geertz) Group discussions Recorded discussions/ Interviews Informal interviews use of existing sources Surveys Genealogies (Willis, 1974: 1214)
7. 7. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Some Practicalities of Participant Observation live in study site for extended time learn local language and dialect participate in wide range of daily activities use everyday conversation as interview technique informally observe while participating record observations in fieldnotes continually reflect on experiences and data use both explicit and tacit information in analysis (adapted from Dewalt and Dewalt, 2002)
8. 8. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Strengths of Ethnography Produces rich and detailed research material Validity of research material: Research material does not arise from artificial research setting Reported behaviour can be compared with observed behaviour Actions can be seen in relation to specific social contexts Area of enquiry is only partially pre-defined inductive
9. 9. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Strengths of Participation Greater understanding of how life is experienced embodied experience tacit knowledge Development of trusting relationships long-term contact solidarity of shared experience Almost continually open to new data over long period observe different social contexts witness unexpected continually testing/ confirming appropriate behaviour
10. 10. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Limitations of Participant Observation Relatively expensive very time consuming both collecting and analysing data requires skilled researchers Can create substantial amounts of research material Private behaviours v. difficult to observe Difficult to replicate Inherently conservative
11. 11. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Ethics Informed consent initial introductions but continual process fully informed consent undermines main strength of PO concealing specific foci Confidentiality and reciprocating gossip Intervening against local practices Maintaining integrity across different groups degree of candour about own views
12. 12. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. PhD research far-west Nepal Masculinity, Modernity and Bonded Labour: Continuity and Change amongst the Kamaiya of Kailali District, far-west Nepal (School of International Development, UEA, Norwich)
13. 13. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. PhD fieldwork far-west Nepal 2009 Yearlong fieldwork in Nepal: Three month language training and key informant interviews Nine months in two fieldsites My thesis addressed the the following research questions: How have the links between Kamaiya bodies and Kamaiya masculinities changed following freedom from slavery? How are working patterns changing following freedom, and what implications does this have for Kamaiya masculinities? What are the Implications of modernity for Kamaiya masculinities in family settings? I have subsequently visited the my main fieldsite in 2011, 2012 and 2014
14. 14. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Methods Household survey Life History interviews Participant observation I wore clothes similar to my research participants and made a conscious effort not to display conspicuous signs of consumption. I tried to behave like the men of my age at both fieldwork sites as far as possible. On occasion this involved doing the work that the men in Kampur were involved in, although this did not include driving a rickshaw as the rickshaw drivers found the idea ridiculous. I took part in various agricultural and hunting activities. I took part in the social life, which posed various difficulties for me.
15. 15. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Positionality As Reinharz (1997) indicates, researchers have multiple identities apart from those associated with being a researcher; mine include being white, Welsh, heterosexual, male and, at the time, unmarried. My positionality through the various identities I brought to the research my gender, race, class etc. influenced both how I collected data and its interpretation (Mullings, 1999) My position constituted both an advantage and a disadvantage. West (2003) found that being positioned as an outsider brought certain benefits in his research with victims of torture in Mozambiques war for independence. It allowed some of his research subjects to discuss issues that they found it difficult to speak about with members of their community.
16. 16. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. My home for nine months
17. 17. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Participant Observation - Going hunting
18. 18. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Ethnography commercial uses and abuses Intel started using ethnography in the early 90s Ethnography helped to illustrate the potential for home commuters, through deeper understandings of domestic spaces The Anywhere at work study of fishermen in Alaska helped Intel focus on mobile computing Intel has one of the biggest corporate teams of anthropologists In house anthropologists now focus on a range of healthcare solutions and technologies Intel is studying people in an effort to drive healthcare solutions and technologies to help people look after their health in their own home
19. 19. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
20. 20. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Conclusions Do we have time for slow research? If we do: Ethnography is well suited to slower approaches to public health research Ethnographic methods can contribute rich and illuminating insights into health and illness within and between cultures Ethnographic methods are being utilised in an evolving and diverse range of contexts, illustrating the unique contributions these methods can make to public health research
21. 21. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Thanks I'm slowing down the tune, I never liked it fast, You want to get there soon, I want to get there last. Leonard Cohen, Slow, 2014