Immersion in workers’ daily settings produces richer interview research than detached surveying

Evidence

What was unique about this study was, in the first place, that the authors were far closer to the `objects’ of their research than had been the case in the Mannesmann study. The four authors themselves were among the team of interviewers, and they got to know each workplace in detail and spent nine months in the hostel for single people that belonged to the works. Six other interviewers also familiarized themselves with the workplaces of the workers they were to interview. The interviews consisted of discussions lasting at least two hours, and often considerably longer. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 516

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the lost art of the nine-month factory study versus today’s survey-instrument empiricism, and what thick fieldwork buys you.
• XREF: connects to: Embedded observation immerses researchers in workers’ daily lives for deeper data — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2098; Participant observation yields deeper portraits of mentality than verbal survey data do — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 369; Novelty of first-time survey participation raises arousal and defensive answering — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 864 (+3 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Embedded observation immerses researchers in workers’ daily lives for deeper data — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2098; Participant observation yields deeper portraits of mentality than verbal survey data do — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 369; Novelty of first-time survey participation raises arousal and defensive answering — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 864 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Embedded observation immerses researchers in workers’ daily lives for deeper data #expands (0.93) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2098
• Novelty of first-time survey participation raises arousal and defensive answering #complicates (0.72) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 864