The participant observation that I …show more content…
The questions I did revolve around determining what role they believe the lojanos in USFQ play, the role of their families in their lives, student-teacher relations and in general, the experience of studying (and living) in Loja and in Quito. I decided to make these interviews in a structured manner because I wanted to analyze what did the lojanos believed was their role in USFQ and what defined their identity as lojanos in USFQ, and contrast it with the attitudes and behavior I saw during the participant observation. I noticed that comparing the results of structured interviews and participant observation could help me and my investigation due to a problem I did not envisioned at first: lojanos may have lied to me before. To be clear, I do not mean to say they are liars, but rather they, trying to help me, would give answers that do not at all fit with their behavior and what they actually feel about Quito, USFQ, their families, etc. So I needed to contrast their discourse and their actions in order to generate a better understanding of their expectations, beliefs, and fears about this