Qualitative Example Benson

Ali Bland
Liza Veysikh
Martin Corral

Qualitative Analysis- Baseball Ethnography


How does the author introduce their project?

The author of this Qualitative piece introduces his piece with a brief summary of what he is reporting on, why he is reporting on it, how he will be reporting his findings, and the argument he is making. The introduction makes a compelling argument toward the claims stated in his paper and uses examples to give a brief overview of how he will debate his argument. The author introduces the project effectively and summarizes all aspects of his essay. The author begins with a general statement about how the small baseball team affects a community. The author on the other hand goes on to discuss that through nostalgia of fans, a community is not affected as crucially as stated by others.

How does the author write up their research methods?

In this Baseball Ethnography article, the author reports what he observed and uses his research methods to further explain, develop and support his findings. The responses to his research methods are clearly cited throughout the paper and are strategically placed to support the author’s standpoint about the stadium.

How does the author write up their results?

The author divides the results into sections. For example, he discusses the city of Bridgeport and says that it was always a “gritty city” and then he discusses the ballpark specifically. So, the author uses multiple points of view in order to get into his argument.

How does the author write up their discussion?
The author specifically focused on city and society and how community relates to the subculture of baseball. The author uses sub-categories and sub-headings to organize a discussion oriented around the culture of the Bluefish, minor league baseball team including: the ballpark, true fans, the team, ect. The author writes with a bittersweet, reflective tone that uses a type of category framework to organize the amount of observation, interviews and other research to generate thoughts regarding baseball and the reflection of baseball as a culture on ideologies of society and community.