Mary Cassatt: The Boating Party (1893-94).
Notes on "Becoming Invisible"
In ethnographic (i.e., participant observation) studies, the reseacher knows that his/her presence will influence the behaviors of those persons being studied. Thus, the researcher seeks ways of not disturbing the subjects being studied, or "becoming invisible," so to speak. Bruce Berg, author of Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, gives some advice on becoming invisible.
Becoming Invisible
- Disattending: Erosion of visibility with time.
- Disattending: Erosion of visibility by display of no symbolic attachment
[the large fly on the wall].
- Disattending: Erosion of visibility by display of symbolic attachment
["going native"].
- Disattending: Erosion of visibility by personalizing the ethnographer-informant
relationship [suspension of concern because of liking of the researcher].
- Misrepresentation: Masking real research interests.
- Misrepresentation: Masking identity as an ethnographer [covert ethnography].
Dangers of Invisibility
- Intentional misidentification: the researcher goes in, but doesn't get
out!
- Accidental misidentification: the researcher might be inadvertently
drawn into deviant behavior or other acts that need to be held in confidence.
[see: Federal Certificates of Confidentiality]
- Learning more than you want to know: the researcher as accessory before
the fact.
- Legal problems.
- Personal injury.
