The purposes of this dissertation are to provide research that will further facilitate an understanding of two matters of sociological interest: public sociology and video ethnography. In order to achieve this overall objective, a video ethnographic case study was conducted with eight undergraduates at an elite southern university. The students in the study self-filmed week-to week thoughts, feelings, and experiences to provide a methodical comparison of past and current literature of the lifestyles students construct while on campus. A qualitative approach, such as the video diary protocol established for this dissertation, is unlike most research protocols because informants (in this case university students) led themselves through the ethnography rather than being directed by a researcher. As such, one intention of the case study was to observe the phenomenon of student life through the lens of those experiencing it. Recognizing the importance of the interview process in qualitative social science research, after the audiovisual diary footage was thoroughly analyzed, audiovisually recorded interviews were also conducted with the students.
As a qualitative method, audiovisual portrayals accentuate the subjective quality of various human experiences and the interactive production of social processes. Audiovisual data offers a multi-modal means of communication, which should be embraced by sociologists, in general, and by ethnographers, in particular. To appreciate the potential of communicating sociology through audiovisual data, researchers need to recognize the characteristics that envelop its existence. Beyond the fundamental understanding of mainstream sociological theoretical and methodological paradigms, technical film expertise is, of course, necessary - specifically using fitting visuals and sounds to convey both the subject and sociological message. Taken together, the combined methods allow presentation of findings both visually and in print in a more comprehensive and comprehensible way than would have not been possible with just one method in isolation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11102016-154752 |
| Date | 14 December 2016 |
| Creators | Castle, Luke |
| Contributors | Shrum, Wesley, Schafer, Mark, Weil, Rick, Parent, Wayne |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11102016-154752/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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