is it ethnographic evidence?

[nadiaa]

for my MA research i work on i business meeting i recorded myself. i need background info onthe meeting,namely the meeting agenda(programme). having attended the meeting and been in the research site (company) for 40 days can i assume myself to be an ethnographer and prepare the agenda of the meeting from what i saw. i could not get any document simply because participants of the meeting have planned the meeting activities orally at the beginning of the meeting itself.. what do you think?

[Dr Ann Lawless]

I suggest you report it exactly as you have here – there is no need to “create” an agenda as one does not exist.  You can report on what you observed, this is participant observation, but I dont think you should reconstruct an agenda (but if you do then make it very clear it is your reconstruction and not an original document).  The principles are trustworthiness of your process and trustworthiness of reporting it, and acting ethically in relation to your data..

[nadiaa]

thank you for your instructive reply

 

[Daniel R.T. Hartley]

Only what is evident is evidence. Evidence is a positivist construct not necessarily applicable to ethnography. Evidence gives the idea of a neutralized withdrawn position of scientific representation, something that most ethnographers would never attest to doing.

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