Social Psychology IP4

Ethnographic Study

Social Psychology IP4

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Class

Date

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Ethnographic Field Study

The ethnographic field study was conducted in a Baptist church. Ethnography literally means to “write (or represent) a culture (Parthasarathy, 2008). On two days during the week the church as services. This is on Sundays’ and Wednesdays. The first visit to the church occurred on a Sunday morning. Prior to attending notes were taken on how people in the church setting should act. In these notes the type of behavior expected was people being quiet, listening quietly, and welcoming. The congregation would be made of a diverse group of people and everyone would be dressed in their best clothes. These observations were correct in the fact the people were quiet and solemn during the services but more friendly and outgoing when services ended. Everyone listened to the each very respectfully with the occasional amen by men in the congregation.

The preacher of the church was a man and every function in the church proceeding was conducted only be men. There were male deacons that passed around collection plates and various men said prayers but for the choir the women in the church just sit quietly and listen. When people entered the church they entered quietly but usually smiling and nodding their heads in acknowledgment to friends. I expected everyone to be dressed fairly formal or in their Sunday best but was surprised to see there were some people in the church dressed more casually.

The congregation was made up of married couples and families as well as the single and the young. The young people sat together in one large group while married couples were smattered all around the church. There were very few small children in the church and only one baby. Everyone who entered took their seats and talked quietly until the choir entered and began to sing. This was followed by the music director leading the congregation in prayer and then asking everyone to stand and sing along with a hymn.

When everyone enters to the church they do so quietly and respectfully. There are no exuberant greetings just polite smiles and quiet greetings. After the first few songs and a prayer the preacher asks everyone in the church to take a moment and visit with their neighbor. During this time everyone mingle quietly and says hello to other members of the congregation. Everyone is smiling and speaks far less quietly than when they first enter the church. It appeared that congregation members either sought out people they already knew while others sought out the new faces in order to introduce themselves.

After everyone spent a few minutes visiting with each other they took their seats and the preacher stood up and once again led everyone in prayer. During prayer just about everyone in the church bowed their head and listened quietly. As I looked around I noticed every adult in the church has their heads bowed and only a few of the youth seemed to be talking rather than listening to the prayer. The mood in the church during prayer time is very solemn but filled with faith and fervor. Once this last prayer was said the preacher began to give his service.

In this sermon the preacher was preaching about treating others as you would like to be treated and discussed someone in society having a bad day and maybe being rude but because the members of the congregation can’t know their struggles and their battles people should not judge but take the time to treat the person being rude with kindness. The preacher told stories similar to the topic ad pointed out Bible verses that support his sermon. The preacher, David Sarton, preached for well over an hour while everyone in the congregation sat quietly and listened avidly.

The second visit to the community Baptist church occurred on Wednesday night at six pm and lasted a little over an hour. This time when people entered the church they were still quiet and respectful but less solemn. The clothing of the congregation in the Wednesday night service was causal for some and a little dressier for a few. Many of the youths were in school uniforms or sports shorts and t-shirts as if they just left school or sports activities to come to church. Everyone sat down but continued to talk quietly.

On this visit the congregation consisted of the same population of people. There were few families, a group of youths, and a few single people and unmarried couples. Each of these people was Caucasian. There was absolutely no diversity in the congregation at all which was surprising. At this church service, similar to the Sunday service, the service began with a song and a prayer. The congregation sang several hymns and then the preacher provided a thirty minute service on the responsibility of Christians to spread the word of Jesus and gather followers to the faith.

Ethnographers generate understandings of culture through observation (Hoey, 2013). In both the Sunday and the Wednesday service the people seemed friendly and nice and treated the environment with deference and respect. It is clear at this church the members are from one distinct background with no diversity. Each has the same beliefs and rejects any alternative cultures or religious beliefs. Similar to other church services in other faiths the service followed a specific schedule and the people displayed similar behaviors. Before going to the church the assumption everyone would be friendly and welcoming which was the case and that everyone would be faithful and deferent to the religious process. This was also the case. The one assumption; however, was the church would be made up of people from all races and cultures but this was not the case.

Going to the two church services most of the behaviors that were observed were expected but some behaviors were surprising. The people in the church were only friendly and welcoming to a stranger during the period when the preacher instructed them to get to know others in the congregation. Once church was over people gathered in groups and began to visit. The unknown stranger was not invited into their conversations either or Sunday or Wednesday. If was obvious members of the church were welcoming at some times during the church service but at other points not as welcoming.

The observed behavior that could become experimental research is the welcoming on unwelcoming behavior of church goers. Experimental design employs random assignment and a systematic approach to ensure the most valid, reliable results in the research (Hall, 2013). In order to better understand at what point during the church ceremony the church goers are the friendliest the researcher will manipulate one or more variables, and control and measure any change in other variables (Hall, 2013). The researcher will create a hypothesis and determine variables in research.

The variable that will be manipulated will be the church goers. In other words data will be generated on the friendliness of church goers when the person is a regular member of the church versus when the person is a visitor. The friendliness of church goers will be measured at three points during the service. The points include before church starts, during the church service, and after the church service. The research would provide information on whether or not congregation members at the Baptist church were actually welcoming to the visitor.

The theory was that church goers would be welcoming to a stranger. After conducting the ethnographic study the theory was proven to have weaknesses. For one many members of the congregation were not friendly and those that were friendly were instructed by the preacher to visit with members of the congregation during the service. Once the service ended members of the congregation left or grouped together. The stranger was ignored and not invited into their conversations. In order to better understand why people group together and prevent new members from joining the group a case study on group behaviors can be conducted.

In social psychology research is conducted on human behavior using descriptive research, correlational research, and experimental research. Descriptive research provides an in depth analysis of what already exists in a group, such as why church goers are only friendly to strangers during the service. Correlational research looks for relationships amongst the variables in the research. In correlational research surveys and observations are used to gather research on the group in society. This type of research only recognizes potential relationships. It cannot determine cause.

Experimental research uncovers causal relationships using a control group and an experimental group. If the study was on the friendliness of church goers the experimental group would consist of strangers attending church while the control group would consist or regular congregational members. This will give the researcher information on how the congregation typically acts towards each other without the presence of a new visitor. The goal is to develop the data of the effects of adding the stranger to the group.

The most beneficial of the social psychology research designs is experimental research. While descriptive research provides an in depth analysis of the group, the experimental design can provide information on the casual relationship between the variables. This will provide information on how the group acts when a variable is manipulated. In this case the presence of the stranger in the church congregation will yield information on group behavior. Another benefit is the results yielded by the research are more valid and reliable. This type of research involves less bias and the results can be replicated if the research is conducted again. A weakness of this research is it can be expensive and time consuming.

References

Hall, S. (2013). What is Experimental research Design? Retrieved September 21, 2014 from

http://work.chron.com/experimental-research-design-9741.html

Hoey, B. (2013). What is Ethnography? Retrieved September 14, 2014 from

http://www.brianhoey.com/General%20Site/general_defn-ethnography.htm

Parthasarathy, B. (2008). The ethnographic case study approach. Retrieved September 14, 2014

from http://www.globalimpactstudy.org/2008/07/the-ethnographic-case-study-approach/