July 9, 2009

Transcribing and Coding - the less glamorous part of fieldwork

This morning, I decided to transcribe the interview I did with Dwayne last night myself. The interview was over two hours long, and he went off on a lot of tangents. I figured I would transcribe it myself so I could just summarize the parts where he went on about his philosophy on life. Usually I prefer to transcribe word-for-word so as not to miss anything. However, yesterday, I read in Analyzing Social Settings by Lofland and Lofland that word-for-word transcription is not always necessary. Also, the people I have transcribing are very slow about getting back to me, and I want this project to move forward at a faster pace. Once I transcribed the interview, I coded the transcript for themes related to transnationalism, as that is my first major project.

I finished just in time for the kids and Nando to come home from camp. Nando had spent the morning walking around the Blue Mountains with his friend from Trenchtown, Ska, who almost never leaves the garrison. I offered them lunch. Nando served himself rice and chicken stew, but Ska is vegetarian, so just had rice and bread with cheese.


Nando and Ska having lunch on the patio

Meanwhile, the girls went for a dip in the pool. After being in camp all day, a refreshing swim hit the spot for them.

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