Lying Informant by Wolf Bleek
Lying informant describes field experience obtained by Wolf Bleek through his research study in Ghana. The demographer carried on a study on issues like sexual relationships, birth control, family quarrels, and induced abortion. Bleek obtained information through conducting formal interviews and holding casual conversations with the research participants. He crosses checked the data delivered by the participants through ‘gossiping’ and later participants observation. Also, Bleek used survey questions to elicit information from men and women who were visiting a local clinic. He thought to answer abortion, and sexual issues would be more comfortable in a medical context. Generally, Wolf Bleek used Anthropological data collection methods to collect information on his research questions. However, the nurse- interviewers reported to Bleek that some participants were inconsistent and provided incorrect answers while others acted aggressively.
Wolf Bleek determined the accuracy of the data collected by comparing from the information he already had on the participants and the responses delivered. He interacted with the population he was studying and learned some truths about the participants. Bleek was, therefore, able to tell some of the responses delivered were incorrect. The survey method Bleek used for his research was inappropriate because the issues under study are delicate issues. People retract from saying things that cause them shame (Cornwall & Aghajanian 2017). To the participants, it felt like an invasion of privacy based on what the nurse interviewers reported. During the interviews, respondents thought the nurses worked for the police and for that reason, trust was absent between the interviewer and the respondent. Therefore, providing incorrect information by the respondents was as a result of the wrong method of data collection used. The participants did not have the full details on the research process, and that justifies the reason for not entrusting their privacy to the researchers.
Wolf Bleek should have used questionnaires because his research study required privacy. Distributing questions randomly to the respondents and allowing them to answer anonymously would have increased the information reliability (Heller, 2016). The survey questions done through the direct interviews limited the participants extend of answering correctly. Giving the respondents the privacy to disclose things about their private part of life would have been a better approach. Also, ensuring the research participants have informed consent of the activity going on gives them reassurances of confidentiality. Wolf Bleek should have conducted confidential interviews with his respondents to create a good rapport with the people delivering information from. In that way, the data collected would be more reliable. Also, Bleek admits he elicited responses from the respondents due to his different appearance from the rest of the population. The participants felt obligated to respond because it was him.
In conclusion, the lying review by Wolf Bleek presents the lies told by respondents who were studied by other liars. The issues on the question were delicate and deserved people to be well informed of the research process and a better method. Bleek observed people and obtained information which made him release the unreliability of the data. The field experience gained by Wolf Bleek was about the lying informants motivated to tell lies due to the inappropriate ways used to obtain information.
References
Cornwall, A., & Aghajanian, A. (2017). How to find out what’s really going on: Understanding impact through participatory process evaluation. World Development, 99, 173-185.
Heller, A. (2016). Community Health Research Methods. Health Promotion International, 1, 10.
van der Geest, S. (2016). Studying older people in Ghana: Closing reflections. Ghana Studies, 19(1), 190-201.