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<\/a>One of my displays for the CAPC Conference<\/p><\/div>\n
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In Chapter 4 of my Fieldworking<\/em> textbook, the authors discuss the different perspectives a fieldworker my hold: as an insider or an outsider (referred to as the emic and etic perspectives, respectively).\u00a0 When I arrived at FHNH, I was experiencing the environment with an etic perspective:\u00a0 I was following directives about where to move different objects to prepare for the conference, and about who to process registration.\u00a0 Without the directives, I would have had no idea what to do.\u00a0 When parents visited the displays, I initially felt like an outsider, speaking to them as an objective, detached person with a scripted idea of what to say about breakfast, nutrition, and farmers\u2019 markets.<\/p>\n As the day went on, and I started to recognize similar themes in parents\u2019 questions and comments (for example \u201cis ____ safe to feed my child?\u201d or \u201cI prefer to serve my child ____ because it is healthier\u201d), I started to experience the conference from a more emic perspective.\u00a0 As parents visited my displays, I felt more comfortable about and aware of the types of concerns that they had, which I think enabled me to be a more effective volunteer.<\/p>\n For example, at my display, I had samples of healthy, dry cereal that could be served to children for breakfast.\u00a0 Many of the parents commented about how they liked the taste and thought it was appropriate to serve to their children, but those with younger children often expressed concern about the cereal being too crunchy and hard to eat. I don\u2019t have children and spend very little time around them, so these comments were really useful in giving me an insider\u2019s perspective about nutrition.<\/p>\n This experience helped inform my final research project which on the topic of breakfast.\u00a0 What I have been learning from most parents is that the biggest influence over what will be eaten for breakfast is efficiency. In addition to cooking, [arents with young children also have to do things like dress their children, pack their children\u2019s bags, make their lunches, drive them to school or wait with them for the school bus.<\/p>\n By contrast, when I get up in the morning to go to school, I just need to get dressed, have breakfast, and then run out the door!\u00a0 If I sleep in and don\u2019t have time for breakfast, I can still always grab an overpriced muffin at UBC on my way to class.<\/p>\n After helping out at the CAPC Conference this weekend, I better appreciate the hard work that goes into parenting, and I hope my contributions were helpful to those who attended!<\/p>\n References: <\/strong>FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research, by Bonnie Stone Sunstein and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater (2007)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Etic and Emic volunteer This past Saturday, I helped out at the CAPC Conference \u2013 an annual conference for parents about health and wellbeing, which was hosted at Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House (FHNH) this year.\u00a0 As part of my … Continue reading