Methods

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What I will be concerned with is not only the habitual behaviors, occupational

practices and demographic composition of the Mountain Guide community, but also the

more subjective opinions, beliefs and life stories of individuals interviewed. Qualitative

methods will be employed to gather data. These methods will include general

immersion into Mountain Guide community life in Canmore, semi-structured, informal,

in-depth interviews around town, one or more focus groups with several guides in

attendance, and participant observation. The nature of exploratory research calls for a

multidimensional approach and open-ended research design. Ethnographic research is

iterative-inductive in nature, rather than applying a deductive approach which begins by

constructing and testing a hypothesis, as such ethnographic research should remain

open and flexible, so to gain new insights (O ʼReilly 2012).

Sampling will be an ongoing part of the continual practice of ethnography.

Specifically, snowball sampling will be employed. I am familiar with several Mountain

Guides who reside in Canmore, Alberta. Using these guides as my initial contacts to

generate further contacts, my ethnographic research will continue to accumulate data

by generating new interview participants through this sampling method. According to

O ʼReilly it is important to consider who might be excluded from snowball sampling

because often the initial sample is heterogenous (2012:44). However, given the modest

size of the Mountain Guide community within Canmore and the interactive nature of the

occupation and its affiliations to a central association, the subject group is rather

heterogenous in nature. Therefore, snowball sampling is an appropriate technique.

As discussed above, practice theory will be the guiding theoretical approach to

my research and in-depth interviews with individuals will be the primary method of data

generation. Although my research is focused on the shared characteristics of a

community, my data will be collected from individuals. O ʼReilly (2012) argues that

practice theory can accommodate the gap between the individual and the collective

because practice theory values individual perspectives while shared identities and

dispositions. “Practice theory views individuals as knowledgeable, which calls for

empirical research to pay attention to their perspectives, thoughts and

opinions” (2012:10).

Participant observation relates to practice theory in that it deals with embodied

activity. According to O ʼReilly, participant observation is “a reflexive practice that must

acknowledge our own role in the practice and unfolding of daily life” (2012:99). As such

my participant observation will be centered on two aspects. The first aspect will focus on

Mountain Guide town life and may include documenting the places in town that

Mountain Guides frequent and the activities Mountain Guides practice when they are

not working. The second aspect will focus on the Mountain Guide ʼs workplace. This will

involve the incorporation of various field sites into the research, however it may be

problematic to accompany Mountain Guides on expeditions because the adventure

tourism industry requires the implementation of complex risk management programs

and liability waivers.

My research will primarily take place in the town of Canmore, Alberta. However

my research is not limited to a specific place. If possible, I would like to accompany

Mountain Guides on expeditions either with co-workers or clients. However, as

mentioned above there may be restrictive liability barriers. I chose Canmore for several

reasons; it is easy to travel to and an economically viable option for an undergraduate

research project, it is home to the ACMG ʼs central office, and as such home to several

Mountain Guides. I know this to be the case because many of my instructors at the

College of the Rockies lived in Canmore. As well, Canmore is a tourist town situated

close to Calgary, which attracts wealthy clients. Canmore is also close to several

National Parks and wilderness terrain.

Although my research is centered on a single location, given the opportunity, my

research may become multi-sited and include the trails and mountain tops in places like

Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country. My field site and subject are at once

familiar and exotic. I do not believe many Canadians know of ACMG Mountain Guides.

This professional recreational occupation is considered by some a form of ʻliving the

dream ʼ where work is intertwined with play. Therefore, my subject may in some contexts

be considered exotic. Moreover, the field site is very close to my home; however the

Canadian Rocky Mountains are world famous for the spectacular scenery they offer. In

certain cases this area would be considered exotic as well and may be described as the

ʻ Canadian Wildernessʼ. However, I want to have a relative understanding of my field

site. Just like any field site is for some home and for others exotic, so too is Canmore.

E.L. Cerroni-Long (1995) suggests that the idea that only by being immersed for

a prolonged period of time in an alien culture can insights be gained is outdated. To gain

true knowledge, Cerroni-Long suggests that the ethnographer must internalize cultural

relativism and study one ʼs own culture (1995:2). This requires retraining the

anthropological lens to assess a ʻonce taken-for-granted realityʼ.

Again, I approach my field site from a relative perspective, it is at once local and

far-away for me. However, my research is not focused on place but rather on the

community. As Ulf Hannerz states, “social anthropology conceptually, is primarily about

social relationships and only derivatively, about places” (2006:29). Akhil Gupta and

James Ferguson (1996) note that when studying “home” the field site is de-centered

because it becomes more like a stage, it is more of a meeting place for members of the

same community rather than the defining characteristic of the community itself.

My field site is not limited to just one place or even place in general. I believe

Canmore is an appropriate starting point for exploring the occupational identity and

lifestyle of Mountain Guides who themselves are often migrants from other parts of

Canada. As such my research will reflect a focus on community rather than the “field

site”, as suggested by Hannerz (2006) and Gupta and Ferguson (1996).

The methods I have chosen will generate data that may provide answers to the

preliminary questions I have formulated. This is because individual interviews and

participant observation are useful in describing the general characteristics of

communities and can help answer the specific questions at issue in my research

project. A semi-structured and informal interview is appropriate to capture individual

desires, motivations, life stories and outlooks. Focus groups can reveal shared group

attributes and common insights that the subjects themselves determine rather than only

analyzing individual interviews and drawing out common concepts. Further, “exploratory

researchers tend to use qualitative data and not be committed to a specific theory or

research question” (Neuman and Robson 2009:15). By adopting an investigative stance

that is open and flexible--to reveal the most intimate and accurate account of the

Mountain Guide community--I will be able to generate ethnographic data that can

capture descriptive insights on a relatively unexplored community.

Karen O ʼReilly notes Anthony Giddens important point, “that social life is an

historical process: it therefore cannot be studied by taking a snapshot” (2012:6). In line

with Giddens, I plan to perform a brief examination of ACMG archival material and

examine internet blogs that document communications between guides in the

community. There are several blogs and chat forums through which Mountain Guides

comment on weather conditions, snowpack conditions and area conditions. The majority

of the research on Mountain Guides has focused on the historical progression of this

profession rather than contemporary ethnographic work. Therefore, the aim of my

research project is to understand Mountain Guides as they are today by keeping in mind

the historical transformations that influenced their development.

In conclusion, the practice of ethnography involves an in-depth look at the

subject in question but a vague idea of the direction of the study so to keep an open

perspective to any possible interpretation generated from the data. O ʼReilly notes

James Peacock, “ethnography uses a harsh light and a soft focus” (2012:186). While

this proposal explores key concepts and methods that will be used to guide my

research, I stress that due to the nature of ethnography, these key concepts and

methods will not restrict my research. While conducting research, I will have an end

product in sight--something I can work towards while making and designing new

research questions that will inevitably pop up during the ethnographic process (O ʼReilly

2012:186). This research proposal has highlighted three specific research problems,

addressed several key concepts, provided a guiding theoretical approach, and

elaborated on several ethnographic methods. This research design, in sum, will allow

me to focus on the ʻend productʼ while conducting fieldwork, analyzing data and writing

up findings.

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