I met my informant through a pal of mine at school. I really did not want to have my informant as old as 19, but my options are scare so he will do. I called him up which was awkward, but had to be done. I asked him if he would still be a participant in my research and he sounded enthused which made me relieved. We scheduled our first meeting for this Wednesday. I decided that the first meeting would be to meet up and go over the consent form and my plans for this project. In order for it to be comfortable I scheduled for us to meet at our mutual friends house.
Over the weekend I went to Cape May with my friend, Taylor, who has a younger brother. I am undecided if I want to travel 40 minute a week to spend with this 16 year old. I thought it would be a good idea to observe him in the manner as I would my informant, just incase I decide to take that trip to Cape May.
Taylor asked his little brother to come out with us to lunch. He said yes, and jumped into the shower. It was a Sunday afternoon and for a quick lunch he sure took along shower. Taylor is 22 years old and his parents divorced when he was younger and his mother remarried to her current husband and they have a 16 year old son, which makes him Taylor’s half brother. In the car the conversation was about daily life events and what was happening in his current highschool life. Taylor used to have long hair and recently cut it, while his younger brother just started growing his out in hopes to get it longer than what his brothers was. He was thinking about putting dreads in, but was sad that he would never get them to be like Lil’Wayne (a contemporary rapper).We ate at a place that is famous for its burgers in Philly known as, Five Brothers. As a skinny 16 year old he sure could eat, he ate his whole cheese burger (which was double stacked) and ate most of the large fries we ate. He wanted to get an application to work at Five Brothers because he liked the music playing, which was all classic rock. When we arrived back at his house, he went right in the room while we chatted with his parents. As we were going to leave, Taylor’s mother called him out to say good bye. He walked into the room with his head down, never making eye contact with me, only to his brother. I waved and said goodbye
Depending on how Wednesday goes I was thinking of having him ask one of his friend, to be my second informant.
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4 comments:
Good post Jennifer but I am bit unclear. You have the 19 year old, but Taylor's brother seemed great--rapper reference, etc. Why not him?
Yes I do have an informant that is 19. But since I hadn't met up with him at the time, I wanted to try and write as if Taylor's brother had been my informant (a test informant). The reason I don't want to use Taylor's brother is that I would have to drive 40 minutes there and 40 minutes back.
great field notes. Yes I know what you mean about the travel. My informants are from my old neighborhood 1 hour away. I try to have other things on my list while up that way...
Jennifer, did you ever think that your informant could find and then read your weblog? How would he feel about reading things like: "I really did not want to have my informant as old as 19, but my options are scare so he will do."
Andrea, anthropology student, Vienna University
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