A Spanish Sherlock

In order to complete my first Methods Practice I had to become a participant observer in a social situation (which is defined by three factors: place, actors, and activities).  I chose to observe the groundhog's day party that my roommates and I were throwing last Friday.  The place: My apartment.  The actors: my friends.  And the Activities: cards and party games.

It is interesting to me that each of these three elements, especially the first two, were very personal to me.  Because the setting and the actors were familiar I felt at ease, comfortable and ready.  The activities were also familiar to me, and as party games for me have the a positive effect, I once again felt at home and comfortable in the environment.

I wonder how this factor of familiarity played a role in my role as an observing participant.  I admit that it was easier to loose sight of my task in an environment that I had done almost everything but field work before.  I had to be careful not to get too wrapped up the the activities that I left my role as an observer.

In Mexico I think I will have a different problem. Here all of the actors were my friends beforehand. There I will be an observer, an outsider from the start.  I may have to take into account some skewed results from reactivity. At my party I could easily hide the fact that I was an observer, but in Mexico it will be blatantly obvious.  It may take some time for me to gain a level of trust with the people whom I will be associating with.

I really enjoyed that activity, even the part about writing the notes up afterwards. I felt a little like Sherlock Holmes, recording all of my observations. Yes, yes, quite smashing actually. I shall have to keep up my observations once I have reached the field; it's elementary, really.