Week One

Ethnographic project, writing due at 5pm on Friday, Sept. 3 at 5pm by email

This week I am asking you to begin thinking about the topic you’d like to consider over the course the semester. Not all your work will be based on this topic, but you will have to think seriously about it in different short assignments. You will be conducting participant observation and interviews about this topic.

To be able to have group conversations about your ongoing research, I would like you to pick a topic from one of these three broad categories. Please realize that there is much space in each of these for you to narrow down your interests. The options include:

1) How do friendships happen on Lafayette’s campus?

2) How does being an athlete (or non-athlete) shape a Lafayette student’s experience at this college?

3) How do elderly residents of Easton understand the city and the changes it’s gone through in recent decades?

In at least one (double-spaced) page, write about which topic you’d prefer to consider and why. Why do you think this is an interesting topic? What are your first thoughts about it? Broadly, how would you begin to do qualitative research on this topic?