Journal #20

I thought that the reading for today's lecture/the lecture itself was very interesting. I always find non-verbal communication to be very interesting. We all know that non-verbal communication is something that is important, we have all been taught this many times;however, very rarely do we actually pay attention to what we are doing and the possible signs that we are giving off. In addition, how we act and our non-verbal communication changes with each situation. After I read this article I paid closer attention to my body language: how I acted when I was angry, tired, at work, at home, etc. etc. And I found that I changed quite a bit. While I was at work I focused more on my posture and made sure that I was trying to be "proper" but when I got home I threw my coat on the couch and the farthest thing from my mind was if I was sitting up straight.

I always think about a discussion one of my roommates and I had a few years back. She had just gotten off her date and was mad becuase her date did not pick up on the "hints" she was giving him. She never actually vocally said that she was not interested; however, she felt that she had told him non-verbally that she was not interested. He thought otherwise. Even within the same culture certain non-verbal signs can be taken differently. Now this can be hard when trying to go to a new culture. Especially if you are just learning how to act and what is acceptable and what is not. I have found that it is fine to be observant and view what others are doing. However, I think it's also important to take that with a grain of salt and be careful with what you emulate because what might be ok for one person can be very different for another (as seen in our own culture). Regardless I think that learning about different ways of communicating (whether in your own culture or another culture) is an interesting life-long process.

Journal 15

I think that the article we read for this upcoming class period (Choosing a Site and Gaining Access) was interesting. The idea of the different types of involvement and ways of gaining confidence in an area were particularly of worth. The read in and of itself wasn't really that captivating but it did make me think about where I will go and what I will be doing. Of the 4 different types of roles researchers play in their study I think I hope to be a "Participant as Observer" (researcher that is overt and an intimant friend of the participants). The reason I am hoping to be able to be a participant as observer is because I feel that since I am going to be retrieving personal information about HIV it would be best to have a relationship with the women that I am interviewing. In this way I would be able to really get a feel for, and understand their relationship with HIV, their story, and how much they know about the disease. I agree with the quote by Holy, "The researcher does not participate in the lives of the subjects in order to obseve them, but rather observes while participating fully in their lives..."I think that ideally, being able to conduct this type of research will lead to a better understanding of the lives of women in India. However, the problem with this type of observation is that it assumes that you are able to become friends with the people you are observing. I think that this might be a difficult task to gain the confidence and trust enough to talk about a sensitive subject; however, I believe that it is possible. I also think that getting in contact with the gatekeeper (I believe in my case it would be the organization I am working with, Shanti Ashram), will aide in getting in contact and gaining the trust of the population I am observing. Luckily I think that the gatekeeper in the community I am observing will have a positive affect and not a negative one, on how the women will react. I am assuming that Shanti Ashram has a positive reputation (from what I have heard from other students who have been there) among that community and that through them I will be able to get into contact with the necessary women in order to conduct the research.
One thing that I realize that I have not yet thought of is my strategy for entering the community. How I will do it and how I will gain their confidence. I also think that I need to narrow my target population more so that I will be able to more easily identify what I am researching and so that I will be able to ask women more effective questions. I guess that is something that I will have to think about and figure out.