Prompt 2 (Blakeslee p. 105): Researching in Multiple Ways
Cairns, Kate, Johnston, Josee, and Baumann, Shyon. “Caring About Food: Doing Gender in the Foodie Kitchen.” Gender & Society 24.5 (2010): 591-615 . Print.
Cairns, Johnston, and Baumann conducted interviews with 30 subjects to examine how gender is constructed and perceived in foodie culture; they theorize their results in three categories: pleasure, care work, and knowledge/expertise. I would argue that they did use triangulation–although they do not explicitly address it–because they also surveyed literature in the field, including online literature such as the blogs of some of their participants. They also produced tables, which are the results of survey-style questions, that show demographic information for each of their 30 participants. This use of triangulation contributed a sense of accuracy. Rather than collecting one-time only written statements and analyzing what they happened to get, these researchers took the time to get to know their participants and understand those participants’ perceptions of foodie culture. One part of this article I found lacking was the dearth of attention to gender performance as an indicator of views on foodie culture. The article essentially examines the role of sex–that is, how women and men perceive and are perceived differently in this culture. However, several of the participants are listed as “partnered” rather than “married,” and I wonder how this distinction–presumably one of attention to gender roles–might have affected results.
Erin Clark Frost 