[nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research Techniques

Ashley Bramlett bookwormahb at earthlink.net
Fri Jan 27 22:37:39 UTC 2017


Carl,

Excellent advice. I agree that taking a sighted observer is an appropriate 
accommodation. I ran into issues with that as iI tried to observe for my 
first major of elementary ed. My disability counselor actually objected with 
the same things Elizabeth says. She thought that having a sighted person 
with me would mean they were doing the research, not me. I argued otherwise 
but did not convence her. What I did was pair up with another student who 
informed me of the visuals after we left the class.

Having sighted help as long as you are in control is fine.

However, I understand Elizabeth's disability office is not helpful and nor 
was mine at Marymount.
A few alternatives to getting the visuals down. She could ask the students 
after lunch about their experiences such as what they ate and if they liked 
it. Did they pick the food, or was it something their parents packed and 
imposed on them? If they have a lunch box, did they choose it and if so, 
why? A lunch box is an artifact in terms of communication and 
anthropological research.

She can also ask the lunch room monitor about what is happening.

HTH,
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Karl Martin Adam via NABS-L
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2017 12:10 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Cc: Karl Martin Adam
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research Techniques

Hi Elizabeth,

Well I was imagining the idea is to look at interactions between
students and others, which would involve other people telling the
students that they have to take certain things on there tray or
that they haven't eaten enough and such.  Measuring how much of
the student's food has actually been eaten, would, as you
suggest, probably require sighted assistance.  And just going and
looking around hoping something will strike you as interesting is
bad research design.  You should start out with a research
question before you go to your first observation.  Of course
something unexpected might come up, and you might change your
mind about what to study, but whether your sighted or not, to
make systematic observations you have to know what your looking
for to make sure you make a note of each instance.  Typically
anthropologists have to get a grant to fund research, which
requires having looked at the relevant literature and come up
with a research question and a detailed plan to answer it.  Given
that you are deciding what to focus your research on, you can
pick a question that can be answered non-visually.  Perhaps
something about the dynamics of conversations among the students?
Or something that involves you asking the students about their
opinions of the food that day or about their classes?  Or
listening for staff interactions with students?

Best,
Karl

----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 27 Jan 2017 03:53:13 +0000
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research
Techniques

Hello Karl,

I do not understand how someone could tell what someone is or is
not eating based on pressure and authority figures. Is there any
way you could explain this to me? I am not quite sure how
conversations alone could tell me what someone actually eats or
leaves behind on their plates or in their lunch box.

As for directing people to look for certain things, I would
believe this would be rather difficult in the beginning as I
would simply be observing while eating lunch with my first grade
buddy. I would simply be making general observations about what
is going on around me so that I could possibly find something to
focus my research paper on. However, if I am only looking for
specific things in the beginning then I could miss out on other
things that might be important for my research.

So would I simply ask other people to describe what is going on
visually around me? And if I am not able to find some sort of
visual assistant, then how else could I complete this project? We
need to observe during twelve lunch periods that are about an
hour and a half long. I currently do not have the money to pay
anyone to assist me, and I am already at odds with my
disabilities office regarding readers for other classes.

I would really like to be able to conduct the research on my own
rather than depend on the observations of others for my research.
I think it is one thing to have someone assist you by
interpreting words and a completely different thing to have
someone assist you by interpreting actual observations. It seems
like they would be the one doing the research and not me.

Thanks,
Elizabeth
-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Karl
Martin Adam via NABS-L
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 10:19 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Karl Martin Adam <kmaent1 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research
Techniques

Hi Elizabeth,

You would still be going to the sight, listening to the
conversations that go on, paying attention to all the other
auditory cues you can etc.  Taking someone with you could work
something like when an actual anthropologist uses a translator
except instead of translating one language to another, they would
be translating specific visual information that you asked them
for (like what the students eat, how much they leave on their
plates, etc.).  I think given your list of topics, a lot of this
isn't visual anyway, so you could do this on your own.  All the
things involving authority over food choices and peer pressure,
for instance, involve paying attention to conversations, which
you could do at least as well as any sighted person.

HTH,
Karl

----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org Date sent: Fri, 27 Jan 2017 02:17:12 +0000
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research
Techniques

Hello Justin,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my message. Can you
expand upon this idea? How would I use another person to conduct
my research without this person doing my research for me? If I
were to use another person for my research, would my research be
based on their observations and not mine? I am the one who needs
to be conducting the research and not someone else.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Justin Williams via NABS-L
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 8:46 PM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Justin Williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research
Techniques

You could have someone go with you.  It would be aloud as an
accommodation.
You could have the professor or disability help you find someone,
or you could find your own person.
You might have to pay them.  Such as paying another college
student, or a classmate.
Justin


-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 8:43 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>; social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org
Cc: Elizabeth Mohnke <lizmohnke at hotmail.com
Subject: [nabs-l] Seeking Opinions on Blind Research Techniques

Hello All,

I hope everyone is off to a good start to the beginning of a new
semester. I would like to participate in a service learning
project for an anthropology class I am taking this semester, and
I am wondering if anyone has any tips or advice on conducting
participant observational research for social science classes.

The research includes twelve visits observing a first grader
during lunch at a local elementary school. We are then asked to
propose a specific research topic related to behavior and food,
and write a paper based on our observations along with some
scholarly resources.

I have never conducted participant observational research before,
so I am not completely sure how I would be able to do this as a
blind student. Since observing other people includes both visual
and non-visual aspects of the environment and the people in it,
what would be the best way for me to be able to obtain the visual
aspects of the environment and the people in it as a blind
student while conducting my research?

Some suggested specific topics for the research paper include
food waste, peer pressure related to food choices, socialization
during eating periods, physical movement during eating periods,
gender differences, influence of authority over food choices,
aesthetic presentation of food and its relationship to food
choices, and marketing related to food choices.

If anyone knows how I could successfully conduct a participant
observational research project as a blind student, I would
greatly appreciate hearing from you. However, please note there
is also a more traditional research paper assignment for any
student who does not wish to complete the service learning
project. So this research project is simply an option that I
would like to be able to do if I can figure out a way to be able
to do it as a blind student.

Thanks,
Elizabeth
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