The interview as an ethnographic approach in education: from fieldwork to discovery and data

Abstract

This article seeks to provide some reflections on interviews as a research methodology in ethnography of education, especially when dealing with historical topics that cannot be observed directly. We will work on the basis of the field experience carried out for a research on the meanings constructed by university students regarding the reform of higher education in Argentina in the 1990s. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with five people who had been university students during the nineties. Recognizing that fieldwork can often be overwhelming, the question about what the ethnographic findings are in an investigation allows us to refocus on what is most relevant. Two methodological movements emerge from this: the first one investigates and defines what an ethnographic discovery is, and the second one guides the elaboration path until arriving at what can be considered as data. In order to define a discovery, it is proposed to rethink the place of researchers as mediators in the process of exchanging meanings in the research context, and then the data constructing process is considered as a dialogue between different meanings and realities. The result of all this is the recognition of ethnographic field notes as a discursive genre in itself, which contains communicative dimensions that allow us to recognize the link generated between researchers and field subjects. It is emphasized that, on the research side, it is necessary to maintain a constant epistemological vigilance in order not to take for granted the meanings found, but to recognize them as constructions in situ.