To: tkubal@csufresno.edu
Sent: Sunday, March 9, 2014 9:58:37 PM
Subject: [Qualitative Methods] participant observation
Fabiola Reyes
This week, I conducted another participant observation technique as my research method. I was involved in a protest for the first time. During this event, there were different social causes like; Animal rights, Education, Environment, Pretrial Expansion, Sweatshops, Hunger, Peace, Women's issues and sexual violence. We all meet in the free speech area in Fresno State. This area is located outdoors; there are a couple of trees providing shade for the students who are participating in the event. Although, the space is spacious, most of the students were very close to each other, and limited to the amount of space, because everyone was placed in one area. There are tables for each group, the tables are placed vertically. They have posters and information about each cause. As the goal for the event is to educate and persuade others to agree with their causes. The groups used different items to accomplish this like; large white boards, glitter sticks, clip boards, different color markers, chairs, tables, dry erase boards, pan flips, poster, scissors, staples, raffles, refreshments. The people participating in this event were students; most of them appeared to be 19-29 years old, they were all dressed very casual; jeans, shorts, t-shirts, sweaters and sunglasses. When I arrived, I began working with my group S.T.A.R.T (students against rising tuition). I made some signs that read, "S.T.A.R.T getting involved" with black large bold letters. When I was finished two African American students came over to our table, with a smile I said, "hi" they both replied, "Hi." One was wearing jeans with a pink tang-top the other was wearing a dress with black and white stripes. They both appeared to be in their early twenties. I talked to them about tuition and how it effect's the student's especially middle-class society. I asked them what their major was and one answered, "nursing" she pointed at her friend and, said and hers is business" then; I asked if they can sign a petition to lower the cost of tuition without hesitation they both said, "yes". I gave them information on tuition and information about our group. Then I told them, "thank you for participating in our event with a smile. A few minutes later, I walked around to socialize with other groups. One of the groups I spoke to was against animal cruelty; I asked one of the members from the group about finding a shelter for my dog. She appeared to be Hispanic and in her twenties, she had bright-red lipstick and light skin. She answered, "There are different shelters around Fresno that don't kill animals, here's a list of all of them, I hope this helps" she smiled after saying this and, I smiled back and said , "thanks". During the event, I noticed most females from each group were explaining their issue. During the event everyone seems happy the groups are smiling and socializing with each other and the different students who come to their tables. I noticed most of the participants were socializing within their own groups as well as others. Therefore, the atmosphere had a loud setting. There was a mixture of males and females. However, I noticed most of the students were Hispanic and white. Nevertheless, there were a couple of African American and Vietnamese participants. After a few minutes, each of the groups had to read their mission statement. Some of the participants clapped and others didn't. After this, the attention was on the Raging Grannies. They are a group of older activist women in their 60's and 70's. They were dressed with clothing from this time period. They happily sang political songs many of us laughed after hearing specific parts of the songs, as they were humorous. After they were finished, we all clapped for them. And we got ready for our march; there was about 50 students walking with different posters and signs. Many of us placed the signs on our backpacks or raised them. We began walking around campus. I wanted to yell out a chant, but I was too embarrassed as no one was chanting. Nevertheless, we got some attention from the public two or three cars honked their horns. When we were walking down on Shaw a gray 1998 Toyota honked twice, we all yelled with smiles yea! And continued walking, the march was over around 2:45. This was a great experience for me; it felt really good to express my personal opinions. It gave me a better understanding of why people protest and organize marches. I will definitely work on making my voice herd to utilize the right of freedom of speech.
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Posted By kubal to Qualitative Methods at 3/09/2014 09:58:00 PM
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