Beyond freeze-frame pictures?Understanding alternative and dynamic

phenomena

Päivi Harinen, University of Eastern Finland Veli Liikanen, Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences

Anni Rannikko, University of Eastern Finland Jussi Ronkainen, Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences

15.1 C Methods and Methodology in Youth ResearchNYRIS Nordic Youth Research Symposium

June 13th 2013 TALLINN

Researching alternative youth sports

• The empirical case through which we examine the issue is formed by a research project (Diverse Spaces and Practises of Sport, University of Eastern Finland & Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences) lasting for three years, where the persistently changing forms of so called alternative sports are under scrutiny

• The main objective is to analyse the changing spatial and social ‘landscapes’ of youth sports culture and their youth cultural meanings

• Funding: Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Escalade_crochet_talon.jpg

Image sources: Carlos Marko-Tapio (roller derby), Maria Hopponen (sirkus), Wikipedia (bouldereraus), Shutterstock (muut)

Conventional starting points

• In our research plan, we set out to gather the following data:

• Online survey targeting young people practising alternative sports– Focusing on the intensity of sport practise, the practitioners’

background, social differences, attitudes– Open online survey invitation distributed via email, websites, forums

(Nov-Dec 2012)– n = 935

• Ethnographic fieldwork: participant observation in order to understand inner dynamics of the phenomenon (from 2013 on)

• Theme interviews with active, quick-witted actors (from 2013 on)– Qualitative focus on the youth cultural, communal and life-style

meanings; and on the social and spatial environments of these sports

I don’t think anyone practises longboardingthe same way as e.g. football or ice hockey,but your questions would have suited thesesports better.

(19-year-old longboarder)

Understanding alternativephenomena?

• Catching reality that continuously changes and creates something new demands dynamic research methods which, however, have to face the more or less stable base and commitments of philosophical epistemology

• Actors observed are invariably moving from one place to another at a good speed

• Alternative sports, as also many other youth cultural forms, are created among both local and transnational communities which are in an intensive interaction with each other

• Conceptual incoherence of ‘alternative’• How to understand and analytically take over actions and meaning

systems that, on one hand, principally and consciously aim at escaping adult eyes, and on the other hand, aspire to public spot lights?

Understanding alternative youth sports calls for discovering alternative theory and alternative methods that go beyond freeze-frame pictures

Inviting early discussion on results

• The survey results give us a profile of sports practitioners• This can be used as reference point in interviews and field work, as

orientation, forming follow-up questions, and to validate results in the field

• Online discussion about results: we plan to publish first sample results of the survey on the project blog, and invite discussion and scrutiny from people involved in alternative sports

• Co-operative inquiry: Are the results realistic? Do they highlight important aspects? Are they biased?

• These discussions and comments can also be analysed• How will this co-operation work? How will the research process

change?• Analogues: group interview, iterative software development

(publish early, publish often)

Alternative ethnography of loose spaces of leisure

• Understanding youth cultural actions requires ethnographic approach, but ‘youth is short, ethnography long’

• Ethnography of brio– multi-sited ethnography, go-along method,

kinaesthetic empathy, virtual ethnography– Aiming at catching momentary actions, gaining

understanding of the inner logics of alternative sports communities, getting closer to their own genres, and their social and physical vitality

Conclusions

• Understanding alternative phenomena calls for:– Methodological compromises, new and

alternative approaches

– Inviting early discussion on results

– Combinations of different methods, triangulation

• Yet we need to admit that everything cannot be empirically, conceptually and methodologically captured

Image sources: Shutterstock