#OneVoiceforCraft - Chapter 1: India - 12 days of interview transcriptions (ethnographic research)

I decided to leave the third field study post for after my return from India.

I couldn't have predicted that the analysis of the data gathered would prove so challenging. 

Being the first ethnographic study I ever conducted, I went equipped with a folder full of questions not realizing that many of the answers I would get would only generate more questions.

It took me more than a month to process all the information I collected, categorize the responses and map the relationships between the interviewees and the Initial Connectors (see #OneVoiceforCraft - Chapter 1: India - day 48 in India - http://textilemanagement.blogspot.com/2019/05/onevoiceforcraft-chapter-1-india-day-48.html). There was little surprise to find out that after doing so it became clear from the data that the subject of the Field Study needed to be reformulated. "Designing & Conducting Ethnographic Research" by LeCompte, M.D, & Schensul, J.J (1999) has been a fundamental tool.

It became clear that during the 60 days in India the most relevant result of this study was the actual profiling of the artisans - artisans with different personal stories, different degrees of access to opportunities, different levels of income, different dreams - all part of the same culture and with access to the same heritage in textile knowledge. 

As such I decided to restrict the focus of the Field Study Report to concentrate on artisan profiling. Out of the 30 interview questions I selected the 11 most relevant to profiling and grouped them in 3 categories - questions relative to competences & relationship with the craft (role determinants) - skill level and design autonomy determine the artisans' professional role in the craft community; questions related to income and reputation  (status determinants) and personal, intimate questions. 

I. ROLE DETERMINANTS (COMPETENCES & RELATIONSHIP w.CRAFT)

COMPETENCES: 

1. How did you learn to do this specific activity/craft? 

2. Do you conceive/come up with the design yourself?

RELATIONSHIP WITH CRAFT:

3. What are you thinking about when you exercise your craft?

4. What does your craft mean to you? To your family? 

5.     Do you enjoy what you do?

II. STATUS DETERMINANTS (INCOME & REPUTATION) 

6. What distribution channels are available to you (how do you sell?)

7. What nationalities do your customers have?

8. What do you consider to be a fair payment for your contribution?

III. PERSONAL:

9. What is your biggest dream?

10. If you could choose anything else in the world to do, what would it be?

11. What is your life advice for me?

The actual transcription of the interviews (short form as per the 11 questions selected) took 12 days. Inevitably listening to a recording implies re-living the actual interview, it takes the ethnographic researcher back in time and often reveals new meanings of the information. It also gives you the opportunity to analyse yourself as an interviewer, potential biases, mistakes or limitations. 

I never transcribed more than one interview a day in an attempt to mirror the initial interviewing process. I also kept the initial interview sequence for the transcriptions, in accordance to the #onevoiceforcraft interview timeline - https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d5b008_e4583b861e52455487873d0524f81db8.pdf.

After completing the stages presented about and once I applied the Pentagon of Research test (Rieneker and Jörgensen, 2006), I am now elaborating the content of the Report.

I hope this information proves useful to anyone conducting ethnographic research as part of their Individual Field Study project.