Emerson's Writing Ethnographic Field Notes

Emerson’s “Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes” is a comprehensive study of how data collection within ethnography involves thought, participation, and the realistic illustration of important scenes. Emerson delves into the how’s and why’s of ethnographic field notes to demonstrate that ethnographic research is about immersing oneself and creating an analytical and descriptive record of one’s observations. This research is unique because the researchers become a part of the society to understand what is meaningful to the population they are studying. In many ways, one must replace their values with the moral and social rules of this new community in order to become an active participant. Therefore, they will be best set up to present the multiple …show more content…
Taking these field notes is about interpreting a situation from the perspective that you hold, rather than an unbiased bystander. The point of ethnography is to be a participant rather than a bystander, so your research comes with your own individual assumptions and perspectives. With that comes the unavoidable focus on some things while neglect of other details. In some ways, that is part of the research. However, as researchers become more immersed in the culture, they must pay attention to what is important in each moment to those they are studying rather than what is important to the researcher as an individual.
I found this most applicable to understanding how ethnographers take notes while also participating. Emerson notes that one must make “headnotes” (Emerson 1995, pp. 19), remember their initial feelings and assumptions, and then try to separate themselves in order to observe how others are feeling in the moment. When taking these notes after events, a lot of the process is about selecting what is important and what is not to the audience one is writing for. It is about processing the data through writing about