Ethnographic fieldnotes can contain richer and more thorough descriptions of social phenomena compared to other data sources. Their open-ended and flexible character makes them especially useful in explorative research. However, fieldnotes are typically highly unstructured and personalized by individual researchers, which makes them harder to use as a method for data collection in collaborative and mixed-methods research. More precisely, the unstructured nature of ethnographic fieldnotes presents three distinct challenges: 1) Ethnographic fieldnotes are traditionally handwritten in notebooks during fieldwork requiring hours of retyping and organization at a later point 2) Fieldnotes often contain idiosyncratic writing difficult to comprehend by any other than the author 3) These factors make it more difficult to compile and compare fieldnotes from different ethnographers in collaborative projects. To solve these three challenges, we introduce "EthNote" free progressive web app available on desktop and mobile for the systematic collection, processing, and analysis of fieldnotes. Via predefined fieldnote templates, EthNote allows individuals or teams to collect similarly structured fieldnotes, images, and audio, among other data sources securely in one place, using any mobile or desktop device. In this presentation, we present EthNote and use cases from our own mixed methods pilot study at a politics festival as well as user cases from testers of the platform to show how adopting this new digital tool can allow individuals and teams to overcome the three aforementioned challenges of fieldnotes, while retaining the flexible and explorative character of ethnographic research, which is a key strength of ethnographic fieldwork.
Note:
Seminari impartit per Morten Axel Pedersen, August Lohse & Emilie Munch Gregersen l'11 de abril de 2024
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