Updated Project 1 research question: How do school choice programs communicate with families at public events in the Hartford region?
On February 25th, we will discuss our field notes with Mira Debs (Yale doctoral candidate in sociology and Wesleyan instructor), and later share our findings on the public web. Here’s why she is interested in our study:
http://youtu.be/pJF07Kz7BeQ
To begin this small-scale study, members of the seminar will do basic qualitative research by attending a school choice open house or fair, preferably in the Hartford region, between now and February 24th. You are welcome to work in pairs on this assignment and submit co-authored field notes (with both of your names at the top), or you may work alone, and/or submit solo field notes.
1) Select an event below. Check web source and phone the school to confirm date/time/location.
2) To coordinate transportation, write your name(s) on the CSPL 341 Project 1 public event sign-up sheet, OR the Soc 399B school choice field trip sign-up sheet. Contact Elaina or Jack if you need help.
3) Print out, sign, and hand in the Wesleyan waiver form to participate in this off-campus research project.
4) Read more about the school open house or choice fair before you go. All schools above are listed in the Regional School Choice Office (RSCO) website and catalog, and/or the Hartford Public Schools (HPS) Choice catalog.
5) Take a photo of yourself outside of the event, next to a school sign, to prove that you were there.
Exercise A Guidelines: Write richly detailed ethnographic field notes about your school choice event, and what you observe and hear there. Be sure to describe:
– What type of event was this, what time of day, and what did you notice about the location?
– Who were the event organizers and what role did they play?
– What different types of people attended the event?
– Which key themes did organizers communicate to participants? How did they convey them?
– Who asked questions? Who answered them? Who did not participate?
– What kinds of questions did participants ask? What were they most concerned about?
– Did anyone discuss any successes or challenges of school choice? How?
– Did anyone discuss curriculum? Transportation? School uniforms? Odds of admission by lottery? How?
You are NOT expected to write a verbatim transcript of everything that was spoken. Instead, write rich ethnographic field notes with examples of what stood out in your observations, snippets of interesting conversations you heard, and so forth.
Read these sample field notes from an open house event in 2014
What you CAN do for this assignment:
- Watching and listening is your primary goal.
- If feasible, spread out from other Wesleyan students to cover more ground during the event.
- Sit or walk with other families, not alone by yourself. If appropriate, feel free to introduce yourself by first name to another family by saying something like, “I’ve never been to something like this. May I follow you and listen?”
- If you happen to attend an event or booth where no parents are present, you may start a conversation with a school choice representative by saying, “Tell me about your school. . .”
- If someone asks what you’re doing at this event, feel free to say that “I’m here to learn about this school.” Always be truthful if you are pressed to identify yourself further. But avoid introducing details about our seminar that may influence how people talk to one another.
What you CANNOT do:
- You do not have permission to conduct an interview. Watch, listen, and engage in conversations as needed, but do not interview people.
- You do not have permission to record any audio or video. But you can speak your notes into a recording device immediately AFTER you step out of the event, to help you write them up later. See tip about recording your spoken notes on a smartphone.
Learn about Wesleyan’s Institutional Review Board for ethical research practices (including this helpful chart), and read our seminar’s IRB proposal
Deadline: Your field notes must be submitted as a Google Document by Tuesday February 24th at 10pm (one day before Mira Debs visits our seminar on Feb 25th).
Insert > Image to attach the digital photo that proves you attended this event.
In the sharing settings, grant “editing” privileges to jackdrty@gmail.com.
Your instructor will remove your digital photo and mask any personally identifiable details (such as names of people at the public event) before making the notes viewable by all in the seminar.