Something that stood out to me from Chapter 3 of the Murchinson book was what comes before the formal research design that I would assume many of us are familiar with from research, science, and statistics classes. Exploratory research, specifically, is something highly relevant to life, even outside of specific research contexts. I think that I’ve used some form of exploratory research for every school project and professional task I’ve ever done. Exploratory research is fundamental to not only forming a research question but forming an opinion about what you are passionate about as well. Another part of this chapter that stood out to me was the strategies for ethnographic research. In class, we’ve talked thus far about interviews and participant observations, but maps and charts are another research method I’ve not used nor heard about as much. We discussed the kinship chart and class, and as I was reflecting on this section I also realized that I have consumed a lot of maps and charts from ethnographic research before. Specifically, the news media includes a lot of ethnographic maps and charts when we think about things like voting behavior or the location of things in relation to each other. Even though I am less familiar with charts and maps as a part of ethnographic research, I think they are a highly effective way to understand and visualize certain things.
Aside from Chapter 3, one question that I was left with from this reading was from Chapter 2. Something from Chapter 2 that stood out to me was the discussion of the importance of the “non-obvious.” However, I think sometimes that the non-obvious can be the answer to our ethnographic research questions, and should therefore not be discounted. How can you avoid bias towards the obvious while also recognizing what might very well be a possible answer to a research question?