SOC 495: Internship in Sociology

HINTS ON PEER REVIEWING FIELDNOTES AND CODING

On Tuesday, February 14, you will exchange your fieldnotes with someone else in class for the purpose of reviewing their notes and accompanying coding. You will have one week to complete this activity. Bring your partner's notes with you to class on Tuesday, February 21 when you will be given about 45 minutes to share your feedback with each other.

To help you in the peer review process, I am providing the following suggestions (please take them as suggestions, because you may work out a better review process for yourself):

If your partner already has a focus or thesis for her/his paper:

1. While exchanging fieldnotes with one another, find out if your partner already has a focus or thesis for her/his paper. If s/he does, ask them what it is. Your job will be to follow Steps 1-5 (described below) to establish whether there is data or evidence in the fieldnotes to support such your partner's focus or thesis. If your partner does not yet have a focus for her/his paper:* 1. Read the fieldnotes. Do you get a sense of some common patterns and themes that may be present in her/his fieldnotes? Jot down your ideas on a separate sheet of paper.
2. Go over the codes. What common patterns and themes do you detect in the codes? Also, do you discern any connections or linkages between these codes? Jot down your ideas.
3. Read the fieldnotes and codes together. Do you agree with the codes that have been assigned? If you notice something else, jot it down. Additionally, record any other connection or linkages that you may find between the codes.
4. Are there any sociological concepts or theories with which you are familiar that may help your partner in making sense of her/his codes? What are they? Jot down your initial thoughts.
5. Come to class ready to share your ideas with your partner. *It may be your preference to complete the review process as a three-step process. In other words, you will not read the fieldnotes and codes separately (Steps 1 and 2) before you read them together (Step 3). Do whatever works best for you. If you read the fieldnotes and codes combined, then you will go through Steps 3-5 only.