Reflection and Critique

Samad Iqbal
Word Count:762
2/12/16

For my observational analysis, I decided to observe my schools cross country team at

their meet in Leesburg, Virginia. During this observation, I compared the behavior of runners
pre-race with their behavior post-race, noting the effects that anxiety may have on them before a
race. Being a member of the team myself, I had already understood the nuisances and habits of
runners prior to major races, as well as the inner feelings and thoughts that they experience. My
already biased positon as an observer, as well as lack of interaction with my subjects, likely led
to skewed conclusions about the behavior of athletes before major performances.
Throughout my observations of the team, I made a number of descriptive inferences in
how I described the activity of team members, and as a result, made generalizations about the
behavior of athletes before and after their performance. Viewing only the runners who had been
lying under the tent, I was only observing a small portion of the team before their race, leaving
out the activity of many other runners who had chosen not to lie under the tent before their race. I
also had focused primarily on the Varsity runners prior to their race and payed less attention to
the Junior Varsity runners. As a result of paying more attention to the Varsity runners, I had made
generalizations of athletes behavior prior to performance and not distinguished between runners
with more experience, and those with less. Analyzing these two groups separately would have
provided more accurate conclusions of athletes behavior, as experience would have been a
separate variable, possibly revealing the development overtime of coping with anxiety. However,
sound analysis can be seen if we ignore this distinction and view all these athletes as simply
runners. When these runners are broken down into pre-race and post-race groups, sound analysis
is seen in the differing behaviors noted, and the contrasting attitudes of anxiety versus
accomplishment. Although this analysis is competent, addressing the effects of experience and
avoiding generalizing among runners would lead to deeper and more thoughtful analysis.

Reflection and Critique

Samad Iqbal
Word Count:762
2/12/16

Due to my own position as a runner on the team, an abundance of subjectivity was likely
prevalent throughout my observations. Already understanding the importance of preparing both
mentally and physically before a race, I had preconceived notion that other runners on the team
would have the same purpose in mind for many of their actions. This includes kicking up their
legs, listening to music and eating certain types of food, all of which I concluded to exhibit
anxiety as they seemed to be last minute efforts to prepare for their races as much as possible.
My bias as an observer is also contributed to by my own cultural background as an American
citizen in a competitive, capitalistic society. Growing up in such a culture where people follow
the American dream of working hard and striving for success, Ive imposed these same ideals on
my subjects and assumed that every action theyve committed has been toward performance
enhancement and getting as prepared as possible for their race. Also being aware of the stress
involved in putting all of ones efforts toward achieving an ultimate goal, I assumed that anxiety
has accompanied their presumed preparations, as the risk of failure is another driving force in
American society that influences the need for moving up in the world and causes pressure to
work hard.
Overall, my initial observations werent in accordance with the ethical guidelines for
ethnographers and lacked proper anthropological methodology. Having not informed my subjects
of my observations of them, nor the goals of my observations, my research is violating ethical
guidelines for ethnographers and its reliability is therefore put into question. Without speaking or
interacting with my subjects at all, my research lacks participant observation, which has become
a fundamental part of ethnography in recent years. Without this connection developed with the
subjects, true understanding of their inner thoughts and emotions cant be confirmed. Due to the
this fieldworks focus on the inner thoughts and anxiety of runners before a race, an emic

Reflection and Critique

Samad Iqbal
Word Count:762
2/12/16

approach is highly needed, as the subjects themselves will be able to accurately describe what
they are feeling, as well as the reasoning behind their actions. While an etic approach also allows
some behaviors to be observed, the inner feelings of the subjects are not always prevalent in their
behavior alone and the ethnographer relies solely on his own interpretation of their behavior.
Such an approach lacks accuracy in what the subjects truly feel and therefore cannot be relied on
solely for this study.