Ethonographers are somewhat like Detectives

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one has to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
-Sherlock Holmes (A Scandal in Bohemia)

I first saw this quote on a PowerPoint slide discussing Crime Scene Investigations. It displays a key idea that law enforcement must keep in mind if it wants to do its job effectively.

This is not unlike the job of the ethnographer. In qualitative research, of course, we go into a "project" with some theories in mind, but I would argue that it is critical to not get so hung up on one theory that we overlook other possibilities. Anyone can twist the facts to push them into a theory, but this is not the sign of a truly skilled person. Also, this is unnatural. Think about trying to fit a puzzle piece into the incorrect spot. It may somewhat fit the spot, but upon putting the piece in, we feel that it is too tight. As a child, I would just keep trying to push that piece in. My mom taught me that life doesn't work like that, and in order to get by, I would need to change my strategy rather than the materials in front of me.

To wrap up:
When detectives get hooked on a theory before looking at all of the facts, they can make (sometimes) fatal flaws. Once these flaws are found, if someone has been convicted, their entire career goes down the drain.

Likewise, if a qualitative researcher gets too stuck on one theory for his or her research, they will produce findings that do not adequately fit the situation at hand, and their credibility may be damaged.

Preview...

I am doing a visual ethnography in which I am watching Law & Order and thinking about how it may effect the public's view of the Criminal Justice system.

I am also in a Criminal Investigations class.

There are so many things in the show that I just want to yell out loud, "its not like that!!!!"

I know we're doing a presentation on this soon, but I felt the need to give a small preview.

Stay tuned (a.k.a. come to class on Thursday, April 30th) to find out more...

French Elle shows celebrities without make-up

Here is a link to the article that I found online:
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/yay-french-elles-amazing-no-makeup-issue-and-why-american-mags-need-to-step-it-up-446538/

If you click the link, you will be able to see a couple of the photographs that the French magazine allowed in. The magazine chose to show the women's natural beauty, which is definitely there, but is very different than a woman with enhancements to her looks.

At one point in the article, Romolini writes, "honestly, French Elle's April '09 issue is not the first time our women's mags have been out-classed by the Europeans. Last year--in protest of the serious lack of diversity on catwalks, ads and in women's magazines--Italian Vogue published an all-black issue featuring models of color from around the world. It sold out in days."

Why is it that we feel we can't show real women in the American media? Real American women don't wear perfect make-up all of the time. In fact, real American women don't wear perfect make-up most of the time. Real American women are not only white. Whites may make up the majority, but they (we, since I am white) aren't all there is to America. I'm not sure why we refuse to show this in popular media because its not like we don't all already know this.