Ethnography Proposal
Purpose: The goal of this ethnography project is to observe and analyze this group of lady basketball players known as the Hoopsters and understand their behavior, work ethic, personalities, etc. both on and off the court.
Assumptions: Off the court, I believe I’m going to find a divided team. Some girls will be snobby and standoffish where as other girls will be nice and outgoing. This team gives the allusion of a true belief in family and team work, but based on others’ opinions and some of my own observations, I see a group of high school girls that don’t know the true meaning of friendship. I believe that I will find that this team’s greatest struggles come from within the different personalities of each individual. On the court, I’m confident in finding that their sportsmanship and teamwork shows in their exceptional performances during games and practices. I think they really know how to work together and leave everything off the playing field, which allows them to compete well and win games.
Research Questions:
· How does their behaviors differ between on and off the court?
· Is the stereotype of this group (snobby, self-absorbed, over confident) accurate?
· Are they all true friends?
· What divides the team the most both on and off the court?
Obstacles: Some obstacles I might encounter while performing this experiment include the girls acting different when I’m around, some might not necessarily like the idea of me doing this project on them or not fully understand it, and getting them to be real and themselves with me.
Ethnography Plan
Interviews:
I will interview Morgan Walter Shailer, Jamie Granzella, Brooke Golden, Lauren McDonald, Maya Godina, Kelsey Peter, Allison Loften, Darian Hushka, and Tristen Bowers. They are all the hoopsters.
Locations:
· The basketball court (games and practices)
· The team dinners
· At lunch
Observations:
· I can observe the girls at least once a week for 30-45 minutes and alternate between on and off the court.
· The only problem I might encounter is the girls not being themselves around me. I will be able to access them but the accuracy of their behavior might be questionable at times.
· I am a complete outsider from this group. I’m two years older than them and I’ve never played basketball so the things I observe are going to be new to me.
· I’m going to take notes using the two-column notes, pictures, sketches, voice recorded interviews, etc.
Hypothesis:
I think I will find the girls to be hard working and dedicated on the court but also have friendship struggles and different conflicts off the court.
